Unbalanced partnerships equal book sales, or so goes the hope

5 May 29, 2008March 17, 2009

Unbalanced partnerships equal book sales, or so goes the hope

by javabeans

Oh, pleeez.

Kim Ah Joong is putting out a book and has announced plans to donate proceeds to a hospital for handicapped children. She’s co-editing with Koryo University’s writing professor Kim Kwang Su, and the book Emotional Communication goes on sale on May 30.

The book is described as dealing with a study on the spectrum of human emotions as classified into several categories such as horror, anger, sadness, love, happiness, etc. It takes a look into several academic fields in its synthesis of the human emotional experience, such as neuroscience, physiology, and psychology.

Professor Kim explains that he’d come up with the concept of the book in early 2007, and was impressed with Kim Ah Joong’s enthusiasm and insight when she attended his lectures on the topic (read: He saw his ticket to publication). He apparently approached her and suggested her participation, and thus the collaboration.

Yeaaaah, I’m sure. A pretty young actress and jeans model, whose claim to fame is a mainstream romantic comedy fluff hit, seemed like the perfect partner for compiling an examination of human emotions using an “academic approach”? A university professor works on a book for more than a year, brings in a student, and now they’re “co-editors”? I wish the workload balance tilted in this direction when I was a college student.

Hey, maybe she has a knack for the subject (also, maybe not) — but no matter how bright a student is, no way does a college intro-lecture-attendee have any sort of business co-authoring a book bearing this description. This is no slam against her — it’s miles away from Horan‘s essay collection, Yoon Eun Hye‘s craft projects, Jung Ryeo Won‘s sketchbook, or Park Jiyoon‘s photography. Even pop- and pseudo-science ought to require the bare minimum in the way of academic credentials.

Via Star News

SONG OF THE DAY

Bless – “남자답게, 옴므” (Homme) [ Download ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Required fields are marked *

1 belleza

May 29, 2008 at 7:40 PM

Speaking of, I'm about to finish my book "Ontological Historicism and Inquiry: Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality." The forward will be written by Lee Hyori, Korea's leading historian of sexuality.

I love it. Hallyu + academia = Hallyumia!

Required fields are marked *

2 Di

May 30, 2008 at 6:31 AM

Her name might boost sales, but i bet at least 60% of the buyers won't understand anything in the book. haha XD
I think in the long wrong, it might have a negative impact on the professor and his research. I wouldn't take him seriously if he had to use a celebrity just to get his stuff published. x_X

Required fields are marked *

3 lisa

May 30, 2008 at 12:17 PM

Yeah,
I'm a Ph.D student at a really good university (not bragging, just saying)... and I am actually doing social psychology, and have taken graduate seminars on affect/emotion and am familiar with all the academic literature/work/studies on the topic.

I would just like to say that this whole thing makes me a bit ill. It is complete bullshit that she would have anything to contribute beyond the association of her celebrity, and it's such a cop-out for that professor to use influence and persuasion in this manner.

It might get his book sold, but no one in academia is going to take him seriously after this.

What would have been a really cool use of a partnership with a celebrity is to use her in experimental studies to manipulate emotion... I'm sure a lot of social and/or cultural psychologists would kill for that connection, but only in order to somehow manipulate experimental conditions. It would contribute A LOT to our understanding of celebrity/fame and social influence, which is mostly (currently) ascertained through the use of image association. Having a real live celebrity could take that research to the next level.

So, a pity on multiple levels.