Comments on: Review of ‘Mail Obsession: A Journey Round Britain by Postcode’ by Mark Mason

By: nsford

nsford — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 17:35:55 +0000

In reply to lucindablogs. Good point! Trivia is of course subjective if we are assuming what men are interested in. The publishers need an audience to aim at. This book was particularly male focused but if it had been more about female focused subjects I'd probably have enjoyed it equally.

By: lucindablogs

lucindablogs — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 17:30:29 +0000

Someone told me years ago that trivia is highly biased towards men. Until then it wasn’t something I’d thought about but I’ve been casually taking note of questions asked in game shows, pub quizzes etc. ever since and it seems like whilst it’s totally normal to have categories on (almost exclusively men’s) sport, (massively male dominated) history, (hugely male dominated) politics etc. you’ll never see a round – or even a question – about something more female oriented like makeup (that’s my highly biased, totally unscientific take on matters anyway). So I guess that (like you said above) books like these are catering to a specific male market which is annoying because I also really enjoy them!

By: Jee Wan

Jee Wan — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 20:57:05 +0000

In reply to nsford. I love reading books like that too (I have one just about space) but guess what, I can hardly store them in my memory! ??

By: nsford

nsford — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 15:11:07 +0000

In reply to Jee Wan.

I think the male focus is part of its appeal to a certain audience. Mostly I really liked the book and I’ve added more useless trivia to the store in my head 😉
Thanks Jee!

By: Jee Wan

Jee Wan — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 03:55:38 +0000

What an interesting book! It's just too bad that it's so male-focused... Love your honest review!