Books – I’ve got them covered

Yesterday I had some VERY minor surgery. I had a troublesome mole removed from my cheek by a GP in Tiptree. It was over incredibly quickly and without pain. The wound was cauterised after the removal (not sure I liked the smell of burning ‘me’) and now there is a black spot on my face. I have been assured that it will disappear in due course, but at least you have been warned if you see me around.

While I was in Tiptree I took the opportunity to visit the Oasis Christian bookshop and was delighted to be able to buy another in Tom Wright’s superb series of New Testament Commentaries: ‘[insert name of book or author] For Everyone’. I bought Mark’s gospel (it was the only one they had there) but would have bought any of them that I did not already have because they are so good.

I thought you (dearest blog reader) would like to see the cover so that you can spot the books elsewhere if you trusted my opinion and decided to buy one or more for yourself. So (no effort is too much for you) I went online to find a picture of the front cover and was surprised to find that in the USA the same commentary is available but with a different cover. 

WHY?

Presumably someone somewhere did some research that shows that British people are more likely to buy a commentary that has a multicoloured cover whereas in America they will be more likely to buy a commentary if it has people on the front.

I am baffled. It reminds me of a comment from my erstwhile Theology tutor at Spurgeon’s College, Nigel Wright (now the Principal of Spurgeon’s). He wrote a great book a while back on the question of pain and suffering in a world created by God which was published in the UK as ‘The Fair Face of Evil’. In America it was published as (must be said in a deep film trailer-style voice) ‘The Satan Syndrome’.

WHY?

These reflections lead me to several further thoughts.

Thought the First – Any Christian book written by someone called ‘Wright’ must be good.
Thought the Second – We Brits are not as similar to Americans as we think we are.
Thought the Third – Are we presenting the Good News of Jesus to people in ways that are most culturally appropriate to them?
Thought the Fourth – I need to change the colours of my blog layout so that they are more appropriate (did you notice?).
Thought the Fifth – I need a cup of coffee.
Thought the Sixth – This is not intended to be xenophobic or derogatory. Any relative judgements you have made about Brits or Americans come from within you!
Thought the Seventh – Isn’t ‘xenophobic’ a fabulous word? (Not being xenophobic but the spelling and sound of the word itself as you say it aloud).
Thought the Eight – I have probably lost most of my readers by now so I had better get on with a joke.

A joke.

A librarian was stunned one day when a chicken strolled up to the counter and said, “Buk.”

The librarian picked up the nearest book and gave it to the chicken who tucked it under a wing and left the library clucking happily to herself.

The next day the chicken came back. “Buk, buk.”

The librarian picked up two books and gave them to the chicken who tucked one under each wing and left the library clucking happily to herself.

The following day the chicken was back again. “Buk, buk, buk.”

The librarian gave the chicken three books and the chicken put one under each wing and carried the third in her beak. She left the library (quietly this time as she had a book in her beak). The librarian was intrigued so she followed the chicken out of the library, down the street, into the park, across the bridge and down to the edge of the lake where a frog was waiting for her.

The chicken proudly laid the books in front of the frog. “Buk,buk, buk,” she clucked happily.

The frog looked at the books disdainfully and said, “Reddit, reddit, reddit.”