The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for A Vanishing Kind
Because A Vanishing Kind was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.
Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.
This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.
evraealtana
I don't like memoirs, so I was turned off by the subtitle and the official OBC review summary. In the first ten pages, the author's admiration for Wamsley was apparent and added to the interest of the stories shared. I liked that the author, who knew Wamsley personally, was able to bring in his own commentary on his impressions of Wamsley and their first encounter. I did appreciate that the reason for the title was explained in the prologue, which gave a sense of what the book was meant to be "about" up front rather than making the reader wait until partway through the book to discover why it was titled that way. I didn't really like the discussions of Wamsley's childhood, which, although they did make his later life make more sense, didn't really interest me. I don't like to read memoirs, so although the sample seemed well-written, I will not continue. I found two errors in the first ten pages: two instances of misspelling in "Pythagoras' theorem" (since there is only one Pythagoras, the possessive is "Pythagoras's"). Many plant species were capitalized, such as "Mistletoe" and "Water Hemlock", when common plant names are never capitalized, at least in American English. Possibly, to capitalize common names is an Australian custom (I'm not sure), so I don't know whether to count it as an error. It is, however, done consistently, so it appears intentional.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:59 am by evraealtana.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Vickie Noel
I wouldn't have read this book outside the program based on its title and cover art. I'm not a fan of memoirs. In addition, the subject matter of this book which revolves around wildlife conservation doesn't interest me. My opinion didn't change after sampling the first few pages. However, this caught my interest, "We are enriched by those people who are different enough to see the lateral pathways and foolhardy enough to walk them. Such are a vanishing kind." These expressions are quite profound for me, and I wouldn't want to forget them in a hurry. The book is professionally edited. Yet, the word "awestruck" was wrongly written as "awe-struck" and should be corrected. Other than that, I have no recommendations for improvement. I saw an OBC review, but it didn't influence my decision.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:59 am by Vickie Noel.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Manang Muyang
The title and cover wouldn't have meant anything special without the blurb. However, the blurb made me say, "Wow! He's the man!" I admit I was reminded of Crocodile Dundee, and this made me even more eager to sample the book. I loved that clever prologue and the illustration of Australia with the sanctuaries and the animals. I also liked the humor in the writing. However, while I am a believer in the preservation of nature, I am not too excited about the details of conservation work. So I am not reading the rest of the book. I found the sample generally engaging, but there were some complicated parts that I did not care much for. The story of the Cuisenaire rods was one. As for errors, "Only a maverick personality could have achieved what he did in the often hostile climate of the mid twentieth century" in the prologue needs a hyphen after "mid." On the other hand, in Chapter 1, "It had to be done some time, so out-of-the-blue I confessed to John that I owned a Persian cat" doesn't need the hyphens; "some time" should also be "sometime." The author was also not a fan of commas; many introductory phrases were not followed by commas. The official OBC review gave full marks to the book. There might be a need to fine-tune the editing, though.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:59 am by Manang Muyang.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Ekta Kumari
"A Vanishing Kind" documents the story of the Australian environmentalist, John Wamsley, and how he created the world's first publicly listed company devoted to wildlife conservation. Prior to reading this book, I wasn't aware enough to know about John Wamsley's works. Thus, after a quick google search, I was eager to find out more about him. I would have read the book even if it wasn't a part of the top ten program as I was intrigued after reading the blurb. The thing I enjoyed the most while sampling is the author's writing style and the detailing done to portray every scene. The writing makes the scenes vivid and engaging to read. However, I think the book needs some editing work to improve the text quality. I did find three errors in the portion sampled. One error is in this sentence, "Hence there will be a more diverse micro-flora in evidence." I think there should be a comma after 'Hence'. I did see an official review before sampling. I'll read the whole book as I've enjoyed the sample so far and would like to know more about wildlife conservation in Australia and the work done by John Wamsley. Apart from the editing errors, there's nothing I would recommend for improvements.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:57 am by Ekta Kumari.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
psychopathycathy
I do not know who this person is and so I wouldn't really read a memoir about them, although the cover looks really nice. The sample didn't change my mind. Overall, the book was professionally edited and I enjoyed the little photos, but I just didn't really relate to the stories that much, and I felt a little confused by the chronology of the book. Maybe a timeline would have helped, or just even using years — when the writing says there was this big event or that one that changed Wamsley's life, I can't really place it in my head. The official review didn't affect my decision.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:56 am by psychopathycathy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
va2016
The cover with the author being in the wild and wearing an animal-themed hat conveys the idea that the book is about conserving the wild animals. The title "A vanishing kind" conveys the concern about saving a dying species. There are only 4 Amazon customer ratings for the book, which is not a sufficient number for me to decide if I should sample the book or not. The Amazon summary gives a clear description about the content of the book, which is a memoir of the famous Australian conservation activist John Wamsley. As I am interested in the topic of conservation in Australia, I would have sampled the book even if not for the First Ten program. As I sampled through the book, I found the narration describing how the plan for this memoir book came into being. As I am interested in reading all about the conservation efforts of John in Australia, I am going to read this book in full. I found the sample professionally edited. There were no grammatical or mechanical errors. What I liked most about the book is its eloquent narration. I don't have any recommendations for the improvement of the book. Although I found one OBC review of the book, my decision to read the book in full is based on my own sampling.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:55 am by va2016.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Shrabastee Chakraborty
The cover intrigued me. I love memoirs and from the official OBC review, Wamsley's efforts seemed commendable. Based on these, I would have read the book. I failed to find an error in the first ten pages. It starts with a prologue by an acquaintance who perfectly showcased John's marvelous attributes. I have no complaints or suggestions for improvement. Rather, I find myself willing to read about this bush care enthusiast and how he achieved his goals. I will gladly read the book.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:47 am by Shrabastee Chakraborty.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
winecellarlibrary
I wouldn’t have sampled this book outside the program because I do not read memoirs. The official OBC review was positive but had no effect on my first impression.
I appreciate all of John’s contributions to wildlife conservation, but reading the first ten pages of this book did not change my mind from my original decision. I will not be finishing this book simply because I do not read nonfiction or memoirs.
I liked that this was written in the third person. Most memoirs I’ve seen are written in the first person. I have no recommendations for the author besides having the book edited a bit more. I found a few errors while reading. For example, “mid-twentieth” should be hyphenated in “...climate of the mid twentieth century....” (loc. 95)
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 4:31 am by winecellarlibrary.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
xsquare
I’m not a big fan of biographies in general, so I don’t think I would’ve sampled the book based on the cover, title or blurb. The official OBC review did not really convince me. I like the anecdote about how John was able to give up his smoking habit – the fact that he actually struggled with quitting it cold turkey at first highlighted the dangers of addiction. I did not see any typos, and I don’t think that there was anything the author could have done better. However, I don’t think I will be reading the rest of the book – I’m not very familiar with wildlife conservation efforts in Australia, and admittedly, it’s not a topic that interests me very much.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 3:24 am by xsquare.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mutai Marshal
People possess diverse interests. For John, he found purpose in nature. He reckons that making up your mind is essential to doing something. For instance, one can choose to quit smoking and never look back. The book deploys simple and straightforward language. I loved most the enthralling conversations between the characters. It gives the book a natural flow. The cover page hinted at this book being a memoir, which is a genre I love. Therefore, I would have read this book without sampling. Having read the OBC review and sampled the first ten pages, I will buy this book to bolster my understanding of the ecosystem. I only noted missing commas (for example “During the tenth taped interview I asked John if he had any creative pursuits...” Inserting a comma after “interview” will make the sentence more coherent. I, therefore, recommend another round of proofreading for this book.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 2:09 am by Mutai Marshal.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Annelore Trujillo
I would not have sampled this book based on the genre, blurb, OBC review, cover and title. I don’t read non-fiction, and this memoir didn’t interest me. After reading the first ten pages, I won’t be finishing this book. I liked the map at the beginning, and I enjoyed all of the facts the author learned such as the fact that soil under a tree with mistletoe will have more nutrients. However, I thought the introductory information was boring, and I had a hard time wanting to continue reading. There’s nothing that needs improvement; it just isn’t my style of book. The book did seem to be professionally edited.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 1:28 am by Annelore Trujillo.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sou Hi
The cover is not very eye-catching, and it's not suggestive of the content. There are not many ratings on Amazon, but the official review and Amazon's blurb seem interesting, so I opt for reading. The book is the memoir of Dr. John Wamsley, written by Stephen L. Davey. Chapter 1 is used to recount Stephen's thoughts about Dr. Wamsley after he interviewed him many times. To Stephen, Dr. Wamsley's various skills make him feel that John is like a polymath. He then starts to tell us about Dr. Wamsley's childhood.
I like the contribution of Dr. Wamsley to protecting the natural environment and wildlife. It's a meaningful job, and I am curious about his doings in this field. The fact that his life is described by a third party is also refreshing. However, the beginning of the book is the same as the other memoirs, where the authors' past is described. This is not what I expect to read, because this motif is too common. Besides, I suggest another round of editing, as I found some errors. Also, the lack of comma after the introductory phrases can be distracting and confusing. For now, I won't buy this bio yet, since I need more of the selling points (the wildlife and environment aspects) to decide whether to read on.
Error example: It had to be done some time, so out-of-the-blue I confessed to John that I owned a Persian cat. -> Since "out-of-the-blue" is not used as the adjective here, I don't think there is a need to hyphenate it.
First Ten review added on February 19, 2021, at 12:56 am by Sou Hi.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
PeterRabitt20
Based on the genre, I wouldn't read this book. I am just not interested in a memoir at the moment. Even after trying the sample, my decision remains the same. However, I like that it is about wildlife conservation. The typo I found might be subjective; "mistletoe" was capitalized numerous times. It might not be an error after all—I thought I'd still mention it. Otherwise, The sample seemed to be professionally edited. There was an OBC review, and it didn't sway my decision. I would suggest adding colors to the maps to improve the look of the book.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 8:50 pm by PeterRabitt20.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Rodel Barnachea
After I perused the title's official OBC review and Amazon page, I decided not to acquire the book. I didn't find myself interested in how they established Earth Sanctuaries Limited Company and the struggles that went into its establishment. I also wasn't fascinated by John Wamsley's personality or passion. At the moment, I'm not looking to read for a memoir like this. Sampling the title failed to change my mind. I wouldn't purchase the memoir because nothing in the sample had me wanting to read the rest of the biography. Also, my first impression of the book remained even after I went over its Amazon sample. The first ten pages include a prologue, Chapter One, and some pages of Chapter Two. My favorite part is when John "hypnotized" himself into kicking his habit of smoking. I noticed that the scientific name Cassytha pubescens in Chapter One isn't italicized when it should be. The identified error is minor, so I still believe the book is professionally edited. I suggest the author fix said error.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 6:41 pm by Rodel Barnachea.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Stephanie Runyon
I would not have sampled this book because I am not fond of autobiographies. The story of John Wamsley was written from the point of view of an interviewer. The unique viewpoint was what I liked the most. I also found the humor of the "cat hat" entertaining. The book appears professionally edited and there was an OBC review. I didn't read anything online. I did not find anything I disliked about the book and will give this autobiography a try. The cover seemed appropriate for the contents of the book.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 5:05 pm by Stephanie Runyon.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Diana Lowery
I was not a fan of the man in the cat-hat on the cover, and the title does not sound like something that I would choose to read because of the subtitle. The blurb did not change my mind about reading the book. The review mentioned that the book was error-free, and I did not see any errors in the pages that I read. I will not finish reading the book because it sounds too much like a textbook to me. My suggestion is to change the photo on the cover. There was nothing about this book that I liked except that it was well-edited.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 4:32 pm by Diana Lowery.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Justine Ocsebio
I wouldn’t have sampled this book based on the blurb, as I’m not interested in books about wildlife conservation. In the sample, I liked John Wamsley’s background. He grew up on a farm and didn’t go to school, yet he was a polymath. However, the premise doesn’t sound appealing to me. I’m not going to read the whole book for this reason. I disliked nothing, and I didn’t see anything that needed improvement. The text is well edited. The official review did not affect my decision.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 4:26 am by Justine Ocsebio.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sanju Lali
I could barely guess anything about the book from its cover and its title because I was not sure what the author meant by "A Vanishing Kind." I read the official review of this book to know the contents of the book. The official review helped me to understand that this is an inspirational biography regarding the hardship faced to establish the Earth Sanctuaries Limited Company in Australia. This information intrigued me to read the sample of the book before purchasing it. When I read the first ten pages, I realized that this book is not professionally edited because I found some grammatical errors in the sample. For example, the sentence, " After a few meetings I thought it better to come clean...". The sentence could have been, "After a few meetings, I thought it better to come clean... ". The thing l liked the most is the set of wildlife conservation techniques, which are interesting to read. I wholeheartedly respect the hard work of the environmentalist to start the Earth Sanctuaries Limited Company in Australia. My suggestion to the author is to go for a round of professional editing and make it easier for reading. Anyway, I am quite happy with this book. After looking at all these aspects, I decided to purchase and read this book today.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 3:35 am by Sanju Lali.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Kaitlyn Canedy
I likely would have read the sample of A Vanishing Kind even if it wasn't the OnlineBookClub's book of the day. The man with the animal on his head caught my attention the most and convinced me to read the sample. While I liked the detail that the author gave when describing woodworking and plants, I found the text to be too complex to read. As such, I will be skipping the rest of the book. There were no grammatical errors that I could find, and I cannot think of any improvements that can be done to the sample. Readers that do not mind complex text and have very analytical and scientific minds may enjoy what it has to offer. There is an official OnlineBookClub review for this title, but I did not need to read it to make a decision.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 1:58 am by Kaitlyn Canedy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Verna Coy
Although not my usual style of memoir, I liked the way the book is written in honest and straightforward terms. I don’t plan to buy the book, but I had no problems with the cover or genre. The unvarnished truth is so liked in the world of books, and this book delivers that. I think that’s what I liked the most about what I read today. I enjoyed how John’s character comes through the narrative well. It seems professionally edited. I didn’t see any errors. I enjoyed the 4-star review on Online Book Club. Congratulations to the author. I could find no need for improvements in what I read. This book seems like it would be well-liked by fans of memoirs.
First Ten review added on February 18, 2021, at 1:27 am by Verna Coy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mbrooks2518
I'm not a fan of biographies, so I would not have sampled this book without The First Ten. I did like the start of the book, which had personal stories from Stephen Davey about meeting John Wamsley and interviewing him. I also liked the smaller stories told about John in the first chapter, like how he stopped smoking, which really showed his personality. However, it was not enough to make me want to buy the book, and nothing in the official review made me any more interested in buying the book either. There were no editing errors, and nothing needs to be improved.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 11:58 pm by Mbrooks2518.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Odette Chace
I like the title, but the image on the cover is questionable. Why is a wildlife conservationist wearing an animal skin? The synopsis on Amazon didn't interest me. The official Online Book Club review gave the work a perfect rating of 4 out of 4 stars. However, the review did not make me feel any more or less inclined to read the book. I don't generally enjoy memoirs and I don't anticipate this work being an exception to the rule. "And then there is the interesting weed which resembles celery but one species is, in fact, the famous poison called Water Hemlock" (loc. 119). Water hemlock should not be capitalized. As I only noticed a few minor errors in the first ten pages, I believe the work was professionally edited. I liked that the author mentioned that water hemlock is often mistaken for celery. I was curious enough about these plants that I stopped reading to perform an image search to compare the two. My least favorite aspect of the first ten pages was the author's tendency to provide long-winded descriptions of Wamsley. These descriptions interrupted the flow of the book and also made the author appear slightly starstruck by Wamsley. While I enjoyed the first ten pages, I don't plan to finish the book. As the book is about Wamsley and the sections of the book I disliked the most were about him, it does not make sense for me to continue reading the book.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 9:41 pm by Odette Chace.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Ari Martinez
If it hadn't been for the First Ten program, I would not have sampled this book based on the title, cover, or Official OnlineBookClub review because I am not familiar with John Wamsley. I will not continue reading the book because, even after reading the first ten pages, I am still not sure of what exactly Dr. Wamsley has done. I know that "we owe the continued existence of more than one animal species to his work," but I would have liked to know a bit more details than that. This book is clearly aimed at fans of Dr. Wamsley's work; however, I would improve the book by adding one or two more pages about his work in the prologue for those people like me who might not be completely familiar with him, but might come across this book. My favorite part of the sample is the intimacy felt throughout the narration. From the beginning, it is clear that the narrator is a friend and true admirer of Dr. Wamsley, which makes the book feel more sincere. The book appears to be professionally edited.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 9:32 pm by Ari Martinez.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Juliana_Isabella
I wouldn't have chosen this book because I don't usually read nonfiction. Even though the review I read was positive, it didn't make me want to read the book because I don't really like biographies. I didn't find any errors in the first ten pages, and I was impressed by Mr. Wamsley's accomplishment of creating the model sanctuary for Australia as described in the prologue. There wasn't anything in particular that I liked or disliked in the portion that I read, but I'm choosing not to finish the book. This is because I would need to be really impressed by the first ten pages to choose to read a biography.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 8:06 pm by Juliana_Isabella.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
MsH2k
Based on the cover, genre, and blurb, I would not have sampled this book if I were not part of this program. Wamsley seems like an interesting person, but I was not drawn to his story. The sample pages were descriptive, but I still was not interested enough to buy the book and find out more about his wildlife preservation efforts.
I noticed a few minor grammatical errors in the sample pages. For example, there were instances of missing hyphenate in a compound or phrasal adjective. At loc 143/434, [three-dimensional]: “To find the three dimensional form inside a piece of wood is a skill which one must be born with.” At loc 208/434, [two-year-old]: “His two year old child would probably die.”
There were also a few cases of a missing comma after an introductory prepositional phrase (longer than four words). One example is the missing comma after [understory] in this sentence at loc119/434: “Once we were among the trees and the understory he would not usually stop to talk for very long.”
As previously stated, I will not buy this book. The featured OnlineBookClub review was positive, but neither it nor any Amazon rating had any bearing on my decision. A suggestion for improvement would be to have another round of editing.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 6:22 pm by MsH2k.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sarah_Khan
At first glance, I thought the cover of this book was cute and the title was interesting. I would not have picked this up if it was not a part of the First Ten program because I am not a fan of memoirs. I liked the concise Amazon blurb. I also liked that the author offered an explanation before telling stories that did not connect to the rest of the narrative, instead of just listing random facts. This book seems professionally edited. As an introvert myself, I could definitely relate to John's need to be alone to recharge. The OBC review was positive, but it did not change my mind. I can see how people who enjoy reading about others' lives would enjoy this book. Personally, this genre is not my cup of tea. Therefore, I will not be reading the rest. I do not have any suggestions for the author.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 5:28 pm by Sarah_Khan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Chelsy Scherba
John Wamsley has led a very influential life. A maverick, he designed and pushed through ways to preserve many endangered animal species. I like that he has a creative side as well, the author observed a couple wood carvings he did, one being the face of Wamsley’s grandfather. The cover is very fun and interesting, especially the animal hat on his head. The review was informative, but I don’t typically read memoirs, so it’s unlikely I would be very interested in this book if I saw it on my own. The editing appears to be professional, I saw no errors thus far. I don’t have any suggestions for improvements because the writing flows and tells the story well. I’ll pass on this book today because I’m not very interested in reading books about conservation, but I support the efforts Mr. Wamsley has made to protect wildlife.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 5:18 pm by Chelsy Scherba.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Lisa A Rayburn
If I had not been a member of this program, it is probable that the genre alone would have kept me from running across this book. Memoirs are not one of my favored genres, and I do not normally peruse those areas. If I had, by chance, come across the book, the subtitle and cover might well have caught my attention. I am interested in Australia, especially its wildlife. The author is unknown to me, so that would not have affected my decision. The blurb mentioned that Wamsley was an environmentalist who opened the first Australian Wildlife Preserve. I found this especially interesting. There were four customer reviews on the Amazon site, all of which were positive. Although I did not see a review from this program on the Amazon site, if I had, I would have been interested in what the reviewer had to say. The review on this site was quite complimentary of the book and writing. This set high expectations going into the sample. It did not disappoint. I loved that the author used humor and a more serious tone in telling the 'story' of Wamsley's life. Perhaps my favorite line was when Davey describe Wamsley's physical stature as 'immovable' followed by saying that his stature was like "the stolid features of a rock outcrop which has grown moss and lichen upon its surface as a reaction to the dynamic processes around it." It allowed me to understand and relate to his nature's pure sturdiness (and not just physically). Unfortunately, as much as I liked the writing and the man the memoir was based upon, the book remained a memoir, a genre I seldom enjoy. Given this, I made the decision not to read the book. It seemed well-edited. I found no 'countable' errors in the first ten pages.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 4:30 pm by Lisa A Rayburn.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mvictoria
After reading the online book club review and the blurb, I was pretty uninterested in this book. I prefer fiction and this book sounded very serious, not fun. After reading the first ten pages, I have not changed my mind. I was bored reading about the weird plants in “the bush” and appalled by the idea of making a cat hat. I think this would have been a better story down the road with more context. Overall, I was uninterested in the book. I was also bored when the author was describing John’s artwork. I was interested in the story about quitting smoking and I think this was my favorite part about the sample. It illustrates the qualities of John that the author noticed most. I will definitely not be buying this book, simply because I am not interested enough in the topic.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 4:20 pm by Mvictoria.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Kajori Sheryl Paul
'A Vanishing Kind' is written by John Wamsley and Stephen L Davey. It is a memoir. It chronicles the story of John Wamsley. He is a polymath. His works include recreating biodiversities in degraded landscapes. He is truly a lover of nature. I like the friendly tone of the writing. I also like the photographs included. There is nothing in need of an improvement. There were no errors. Hence, I consider this book to be professionally edited. The title and cover are both amazing and allude to the subject matter of the book. The OBC review and the Amazon reviews are appreciative. I will give this book a skip as I am not in the mind-frame to read books of this genre as of now.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 4:15 pm by Kajori Sheryl Paul.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Brenda Creech
I was a little curious when I saw this book's cover with a man in a cat hat. The title was also intriguing, so I would have checked this book out without any reviews to read because I wanted to learn the story of the cat hat. After reading the official review, I found John Wamsley's story interesting but not within my scope of 'want to read' books. I think wildlife conservation is an important issue, and I am impressed that Mr. Wamsley is so dedicated to it, but this is not a book I could stay interested in until the end. I did not find any errors in the sample I read, so I believe the book had professional editing. I also did not find anything that needs to be improved. The sample was primarily about the author learning about John's life through interviews with him for this book. He commented on John's excellent mathematical skills and shared some stories Mr. Wamsley had shared with him about his various jobs before he began his work in wildlife conservation. This book will be well- received by those interested in such things as advanced mathematics and wildlife. I believe wildlife conservation is essential, and I admire John's dedication. However, it is just not a book I am interested in reading at this time.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 4:13 pm by Brenda Creech.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Laura Ungureanu
I didn't know what to think about the book. The OBC review convinced me that I will enjoy it, but seeing an animal turned into a hat on the cover repels me completely. I thought that he joked about making hats out of cats, but seeing the cover makes me think that maybe he didn't. As an animal lover, I don't support this sort of cruelty, so it goes without saying that I won't continue reading this book. I definitely liked the helpful information provided, like how celery has a plant that looks exactly alike, but it is poisonous. Besides that, I didn't find anything else to like. I think that the way John is described in the first chapter is too exaggerated, so I was rolling my eyes a lot. Maybe some modesty could improve the reading experience. I didn't find any grammar errors.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 2:45 pm by Laura Ungureanu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Kirsi Cultrera
I love reading good memoirs. I believe, even without this program, I would have taken a second look at this book with a cover picture of a man wearing a cat on his head. I enjoyed the straightforward style of writing. I loved the attitude of John Wamsley, which was shining through from every page. I cherished his vast knowledge of wildlife and figured that this book could teach me a lot about the topic. This book seemed professionally edited. The Official OnlineBookClub review confirmed my thoughts of wanting to read this book further. To find something to dislike proved to be impossible. Therefore, I am going to add this book to my reading list.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 2:43 pm by Kirsi Cultrera.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Emy Katherine
In all honesty, I would not have read the book based on the genre. Throughout the book, Stephen L. Davey shares the journey of John Wamsley, an Australian environmentalist determined to save the most vulnerable and endangered species of plants and animals in Australia. Because I am not interested in reading memoirs, neither the OBC review nor the sample convinced me to buy the book. However, the writing style was pleasant to read, and I particularly appreciated the inclusion of Wamsley's personal photos throughout the sample. I liked how the black-and-white photos brought people and places to life, making the first four chapters more entertaining to read. I would suggest another round of editing, though; I found many punctuation errors that distracted me from my reading. For example, I noticed a missing comma after "me" in the following sentence: "When he set it down in front of me I saw it to be a perfectly carved wooden head." (location 123 of 434 • 28%) I noticed a missing closing quotation mark at the end of the following sentence: "I said, 'Look, I’ve got a bit of a problem. I didn’t understand a word you were saying." (location 323 of 434 • 74%) I also noticed a missing period at the end of the following sentence: "Normality is just the average of deviance." (location 285 of 434 • 66%) Despite the editing issues, this book sounds a must-read for those concerned with preserving wildlife.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 1:19 pm by Emy Katherine.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Timothy Rucinski
From the Official Review and the cover, I knew that I would not be reading this book. The first ten pages didn't change my mind. This just isn't a genre of interest to me. There wasn't anything that I disliked about the book, although I found the cover rather strange. But then again, I understand that this image was a part of the subject's persona. I enjoyed most learning a new word, "artefact," as opposed to "artifact." And I also enjoyed the dialogue attributed to Mr. Wamsley, which was quite realistic and easy to read. I'm not sure whether the book was professionally edited or not, or that the errors I found are commonplace uses of grammar in Australia. For example, in the Prologue, "mid twentieth century" should be written as "mid-twentieth century." In the fourth paragraph of the first chapter, there should be a colon following "real person," then a lower case T. In the penultimate paragraph of chapter two, the word "botany" is unnecessarily capitalized. I have no suggestions for improvement.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 12:38 pm by Timothy Rucinski.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Scerakor
After reviewing the title, genre, cover, blurb, and review of this book, I would not have read this book. Although the idea of conservation is extremely interesting, I'm not interested enough in it to buy and read this book. After reading the first ten pages I didn't change my mind and therefore will not be buying and reading the rest of this book. I liked and enjoyed the anecdotes provided to the reader early on about John's childhood. In particular, the story about how he should have died were not not for Weet-Bix was very interesting. That being said, I just don't think that I'm interested enough in Australian conservation to buy this one. Although the book looked well written and edited, there was one thing I picked up on that was awkward, if not an objective error. The caption under the image of John as an 11-year-old child seems to be missing a comma after the word "horse". There was an official OBC review, and although it was very praising of the book, it did not affect my final decision at all.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 12:19 pm by Scerakor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Gabrielle Sigaki
A Vanishing Kind by John Wamsley and Stephen L Davey is a non-fiction biography book that brings the story and the life experiences of people who fight to protect animals and plants in Australia. If I didn't sample this book, I wouldn't read it based on its Official OnlineBookClub review since I'm not interested in reading about organizations like this one and how they work in Australia. After sampling it, I didn't change my mind and I won't read the entire volume because the theme didn't interest me. However, the book seems professionally edited, there's nothing to be improved in it, and I liked the fact that the descriptions of the authors' resemble a fantastic narrative with details about the person and the animal on his head like they were only one being.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 11:06 am by Gabrielle Sigaki.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Yvonne Monique
The book title and book cover did not appeal to me as I do not know who this gentleman is, nor does the title explain what the book is about. However, after reading the blurb and OBC review, it becomes clear that the author has played a big role in preserving Australia's wildlife. The first ten pages were interesting and seem to be well edited, although I found one minor error at the beginning of chapter two in the following sentence: "His two year old child (should be two-year-old) would probably die." Unfortunately, I cannot give the exact page because the Amazon sample did not have page numbers. I liked that the story is accompanied by pictures.
Personally, I am not a big fan of memoirs, but I am an animal lover and, furthermore, I am not familiar with Australia, so I think that this book can teach me many things I do not know. Therefore, I will read this book. As an improvement, I would suggest to slightly adapt the book cover and clarify that this biography is about the preservation of Australia's wildlife.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 10:56 am by Yvonne Monique.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Kasun Perera
By looking at the cover page, where an old man with a cat-hat on his head is smiling at us, and under the title stated as 'memoir', I knew that this book is out of my comfort zone. Then I happened to read the OBC official review. I got the general idea that this is a memoir regarding a man who did tremendous work for protection of Wildlife. And it confirmed my assumption that this book is not for me.
Then I read the first ten pages, and I actually liked the narrative style of writing. It was simple and easy to read. But as the author says, the initial pages carry some details that are irrelevant to the main theme. So I am not sure whether my interest will persist throughout the book. Out of what I read, I did not find any typos or grammatical errors. Anyway, I don't think that I am going to buy this and continue reading, since simply it is not a kind of book that I prefer.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 10:52 am by Kasun Perera.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
gen_g
Based on the title and cover, it seems to be a memoir, which I am not in the market for; hence, I would not have sampled it. I have also come across a positive OBC review of the book, but this would not have changed my decision not to sample, since this book does not belong to a genre that I am looking for. After sampling, there are a couple of errors present. For example, at 1% in the sample, there is a missing hyphen to mark a compound modifier: "...of the mid(-)twentieth century...". I suggest more editing. However, I appreciate that there was information given about John Wamsley in the book which was somewhat personal, as it helps readers to relate to him better as a person. For example, we learn that John was a smoker who started smoking at 16, and he was also a very heavy smoker, even using a pipe (which his grandmother actually encouraged). He managed to quit smoking for 2 years when he was 37, but then, he went back to smoking. He then decided to stop smoking on his 40th birthday, but he actually stopped a month before his fortieth birthday. However, as I am not in the market for memoirs, I will not be buying the book today.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 10:21 am by gen_g.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Bertha Jackson
I like the book cover and title, but I do not particularly care for memoirs, so I would not have checked this book out. The customer and OnlineBookClub reviews are favorable for the book. Although I am not interested in reading the entire book, I did find a couple of things I liked about the book while reading the first ten pages. Firstly, the sanctuary with animals illustration and photos of a young John, his childhood home, and his father give the book a personal touch. Secondly, I like John’s attitude that problems are not about if they can be done, but how they can be done. There are no page numbers in the sample, but I did find an error in the last sentence of Chapter 2. There is no ending punctuation in the sentence, “Normality is just the average of deviance[ ]’.” Other than this error, the book appears to have been edited by a professional editor. I did not see anything I would change in the first ten pages. I will not be purchasing and reading this book because nothing in the first ten pages grabbed my interest.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 10:06 am by Bertha Jackson.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
AntonelaMaria
If I haven't read this sample through the First Ten program, I wouldn't have read this book otherwise. It is not the type of book I look for on Amazon, so I don't know if I would randomly stumble upon it. As an animal lover, I can see it being appealing to me. However, the sample didn't draw me in as much as I hoped to continue reading. I love the inclusion of pictures. It makes this book more personal. I didn't notice any grammatical errors in the sample. There is an excellent Offical OnlineBookClub review that gives an informative report of the book. I wouldn't change anything about the book, and it is my subjective reasoning for not picking it up. Nevertheless, I wouldn't shy away from recommending it to other readers.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 9:58 am by AntonelaMaria.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Theresa Moffitt
I wouldn’t have picked this book up based on the cover alone because I am not familiar with this man. His life story is the subject of the book but the title and photo don’t tell me enough about him to spark my interest. I would not have picked this book up based on the cover alone. After reading the Online Book Club review, I learned that the subject of the biography ran an animal sanctuary in Australia. The OBC described the book as written very well and gave it a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. This increased my interest in the book. I didn’t read an additional customer review. The first ten pages described the author’s first experience meeting John Wamsley and how intimidated he was by him at first. Eventually, he gets the nerve to ask him if he could write his biography. From the first ten pages, it is obvious that Mr. Wamsley is famous in Australia. I didn’t see any errors in the first ten pages, so I believe the book was professionally edited. I also didn’t see any area that the author could improve upon. I wasn’t familiar enough with Mr.Wamsley or his work to want to finish reading this book and the first ten pages didn’t draw me into the book enough to want to finish it. So, I will not finish reading this book.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 9:32 am by Theresa Moffitt.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda
The cover of the book is unusual if one doesn't know who the man on the cover is. I'm all for wildlife conservation and all efforts towards saving our planet, but the idea of the blurb clashes in my mind with the man on the cover wearing what appears to be an animal carcass. Because of this dissonance, that's why I wouldn't have chosen to read the book based on my first impressions, despite it having excellent ratings.
What I liked the most about the first ten pages was the story about how John gave up smoking. It speaks to the power of the human mind, but it's also told hilariously. The hypnotist had nothing to do with it, except planting the idea in his mind that he could convince himself to quit. His many talents (wood carving, yarn spinning, etc) also surprised me. Once in a lifetime, there comes a person like Dr. John Wamsley, who seem to have a talent for everything.
The only mistake I found is that the scientific names of plants ("Cassytha pubescens" on position 121) should be italicized. Other than fixing minor editing issues, I suggest explaining the cat hat or changing the picture on the cover because it sends a strange, dissonant message. The conversational narrative tone and interesting anecdotes convinced me to read the book. The official review furthered my enthusiasm for the read.
First Ten review added on February 17, 2021, at 9:14 am by María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Total ~ 18%
A Vanishing Kind earned a score of 18%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 18% plan to read the whole book.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.
Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.
Go to main Bookshelves page for A Vanishing Kind
