Forget Oprah, now it’s the Tiger Effect

A formerly obscure title, Get a Grip on Physics by U.K. professor John Gribbin, has experienced an increase in sales after a photo of Tiger Woods’ car accident revealed the book lying among the wreckage.

According to The Independent, the book has jumped to 2,268th on the Amazon bestsellers list from 396,224th the previous day.

From the article:

“This is one of my older and lesser known books – a guide to new physics for non-scientists. I can only guess that Tiger has been interested in the various stories about the Large Hadron Collider, and wanted to learn more. Several of my books have been doing better than usual this year,” Dr. Gribbin said yesterday.

The National Post has compiled reader comments from Gribbin’s Amazon page relating to Woods’ accident, such as:

“Just a warning, that although this book really does help you get a grip on physics, it should not be read while driving, especially at 2:30 am” 

The 2003 book is now out of print, and although Dr. Gribbin is delighted that people are reading his books, he wishes they were reading one that is in print.