A book's life is sometimes extremely bumpy. Some books have enjoyed good luck since their birth, while others have been given the cold shoulder.

Recently, the first domestic data report on unsalable books has attracted many people's attention. From June 20 14 to June 20 17, 10, the investigation was as follows:

According to the data, among the books that have sold less than five books in the past four years, the number of comprehensive books including culture, economy, science and technology, social history and philosophy of all countries in the world is the largest, followed by life and leisure books, and the third is social science books. Science and technology books account for the least number of all books. Among the books with sales below 10 in recent four years, the top three books with the largest number of total varieties are: comprehensive books, language books and literature books.

In sharp contrast to bestsellers such as The Kite Runner, Worry-Free Grocery Store and Three-body, the annual sales of nearly half of the books are less than 10. In other words, when we walked into the bookstore, in the endless bookcase, it was already left after thousands of choices. A large number of books do not even have the opportunity to enter the consumer's field of vision. From the production workshop directly to the overstocked warehouse, there is no chance to wander on the bookshelf.

It is a tragic fate that "unsalable books" become a pool of dregs, partly because of content problems, but not just this aspect. Analysis, there are several reasons:

First, poor publicity. The content of the best-selling book is not necessarily good, but it takes the lead in propaganda and forms the focus of public opinion and attention. And some unsalable books stem from backward propaganda methods.

Second, there is little content. There's really no need to kill them right away. The right opportunity will meet the right person.

Third, born at the wrong time. These books are excellent in content and quality, but they were born on the wrong day. The untimely birth is a congenital deficiency of this kind of books. Such unsalable books will not lose value because of poor sales.

In the vast sea of books, although most unsalable books can't escape the fate of turning into dregs, there are still some books that can gradually counterattack and become eternal classics on the shelves, although the starting point is backward.

The following five books belong to this kind of "heritage", and their counterattack journey lasts for 70 years!

I. "Young Babylon"

Douban score: 8.6

Counterattack time: 8 years

Classic index: inspirational index:

It is unnecessary for some literary critics to position this novel as a bildungsroman. But the usual bildungsroman, even the most influential world-class classic The Catcher in the Rye, is not as interesting as Young Babylon.

-Times commentator Wang Qian

This is the exclusive report of the Oriental Morning Post on Neilu in 2009. At that time, Nei Lu's Harvest in 2007 published two long articles, Young Babylon and Follow Her Journey, within six months. "Babylonia Junior" starts at10.5 million copies, but it has been unsalable.

20 15 Lu published Compassion, which was praised as "a novel comparable to Yu Hua's Living". He was awarded the 14th Chinese Literature and Media Award "20 15 Novelist of the Year". The previous works on the road have also been "rediscovered" by everyone. In 20 17, Babylonia Junior was shortlisted for the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival, and all tickets for the Tokyo Film Festival were sold out.

Two. A Brief History of Time

Douban score: 8.8

Counterattack time: 10 year

Classic index: inspirational index:

The milestone of scientific works recognized by the world in the past 30 years!

Since the first edition of 1988, A Brief History of Time has become a milestone in global scientific works. It has been translated into 40 languages, with a sales volume of nearly100000 copies. This version has been updated, incorporating many observations and new knowledge revealed by Hawking's latest research, with 250 photos and computer-generated three-dimensional and four-dimensional space maps.

What many people don't know, however, is that the first edition of 1992 A Brief History of China Time has been unsalable for ten years. At that time, ordinary readers had not heard of the principle of cosmic uncertainty and black hole expansion, let alone accepted it. However, all this changed with Hawking's visit to China in 2002!

At that time, Hawking stepped off the plane like a superstar, and the media rushed to report that hundreds of people rushed to send flowers to Hawking. Hawking's academic report tickets were copied to sky-high prices, and there was no market price. Previously, the publishing house re-published the exquisite Brief History of Time (a book with pictures and texts) and held activities in various places. Through the charm of black holes, people's thirst for knowledge, people's worship of heroes and media hype, they echo each other. It's overwhelming!

Facts have proved that this is indeed a great physics book!

Three. Wuthering Heights

Douban score: 8.6

Counterattack time: 15 years

Classic index:? Inspirational index:

"I don't know any novel that describes the pain, infatuation, cruelty and persistence of love so amazingly."

-Mao Mu on Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is a novel by emily bronte 1847, which tells the story of Heathcliff, an orphan, and Cathy, a rich woman. Their stormy emotional entanglements and disparity in status eventually led to a tragic ending.

1847, the later novels Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray were finally published. However, only Jane Eyre was successful and attracted the attention of literary circles at that time. Wuthering Heights was not understood by readers at that time.

Wuthering Heights was criticized by the public at the beginning of its publication because its description and characterization were too dark at that time. In addition, it contradicts the sentimental sentiment prevailing in contemporary works, and replaces deep sadness and melancholy with strong love, furious hatred and ruthless revenge.

However, after 15, as readers lost more and more interest in sentimental literature, this "strong" work touched many readers, and the characters in it became classics in the literary world.

Regrettably, in September of 1848, Emily felt pity and sorrow for her brother's death, and her body became weak sharply, and she died in February of the same year. This woman writer, who later became famous in the world literary world, silently left the person who made her feel indifferent and didn't have time to see her success. She is only 30 years old.

Four. Walden

Douban score: 8.6

Counterattack time: 40 years

Classic index: inspirational index:

Thoreau has brains, just as fish has water, birds have wings and clouds have the sky. Thoreau is my cloud, the cloud of neighboring countries, quiet in the west of the bean field, on my straw hat. lake

He was always immersed in meditation, so he paid little attention to what the public thought of him, but unfortunately, this thinker who influenced Martin Luther King and Gandhi and was deeply loved by them was very unpopular at that time.

Conservatively speaking, Thoreau was not very famous at that time, and there were not many readers. The social radicalism shown in his theory and works is not accepted by the society. But Thoreau didn't care. He enjoys his time with nature, which is also the theme of the famous work Walden. He can't find a publishing house willing to publish his works, and his life is extremely difficult. He once published his own works, but in the end he only sold a small part.

1862 before Thoreau's death, only two works were published, which were not popular with the masses. In the literary world, henry david thoreau was just a nobody all his life, but it was not until the turn of the century that critics discovered that he was an extraordinary man. Works such as "On Civil Disobedience" inspired the great leader, and his reflection on nature also called on artists and thinkers to re-examine the importance of simple things in nature and life.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) Stoner

Douban score: 8.8

Counterattack time: 50 years

Classic index: inspirational index:

Originally published in 1965, the market in stoner is between the fear and hope of novelists. Comments on novels are respected and sales are within a reasonable range. It didn't become a bestseller, and then it was out of print.

Few people can imagine that 50 years later, stoner has become a bestseller. An unexpected bestseller, a bestseller that swept across Europe, a bestseller that publishers themselves found incomprehensible, a pure bestseller-a bestseller promoted almost entirely by word of mouth.

In 20 1 1 year, this novel was a sudden success in France, which aroused the vigilance of other publishers on its possible prospects. Since then, the book has sold 200,000 copies in the Netherlands and 80,000 copies in Italy. It has become a bestseller in Israel and is now selling well in Germany. Although Williams died on 1994, it is gratifying that his widow is still alive and can enjoy royalties from all over the world. Copyright has been sold to 2 1 countries and registered in China.

6. Moby Dick

Douban score: 8.4

Counterattack time: 70 years

Classic index: inspirational index:

Moby Dick is one of the three books that have the most profound influence on me. It is "the cultural symbol of America"!

-20 16 Nobel Prize in Literature can hold Bob Dylan.

Moby Dick was written by American writer herman melville and first published in Britain on June 5th, 2008. However, after it was published in Britain, critics were very dissatisfied. Critics can't tolerate a novel in which the protagonist doesn't survive. At that time, it was considered as a structural defect.

Melville revised many details and published them in America a month later. However, the work still failed to meet his expectations. In Britain, the first printing was 500 copies, but four months after publication, 300 copies were not sold. Publishers suffered heavy losses. There is no luck in America. Moby Dick sold 2,300 copies in the first year and a half of publication, and only sold 27 copies every year for the next 30 years.

19 19, the anniversary of Melville's birth 100 officially announced the beginning of the renaissance. Critics began to re-read his works, scholars began to explore his life in detail, his main novels began to be hailed as literary classics, and his poems began to gain respect.

Moby Dick is a slow-moving book with an annual sales volume of less than 30 copies. After nearly 80 years of snow storage, it has become a classic of American literature and attracted countless readers, including Lawrence, Foster, Mao Mu, Faulkner, Garcí a Marquez and Bob Dylan. ...

It is said that Jobs also liked Captain Ahab very much. Starbucks coffee comes from the character Starbucks in the novel, because the founder likes the name very much.