Nabokov's favorite word is mauve
by Ben Blatt · first published 2017
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In Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve, statistician and journalist Ben Blatt brings big data to the literary canon, exploring the wealth of fun findings that remain hidden in the works of the world's greatest writers. He assembles a database of thousands of books and hundreds of millions of words, and starts asking the questions that have intrigued curious word nerds and book lovers for generations: What are our favorite authors' favorite words? Do men and women write differently? Are bestsellers getting dumber over time? Which bestselling writer uses the most clichés? What makes a great opening
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A similarly blunt-but-informative measure is counting "he"s vs "she"s. In Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve, Ben Blatt found that among New York Times bestsellers, "he" appears more often than "she" in 90% of those written by men and two thirds of books written by women.
on “Gender bias in popular movies – A computational approach” ↗Location: Los Angeles Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Depends on Location Resume: I am currently a data analyst for an NFL team. Previously I was a data journalist and authored two books(Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve and I Don't Care If We Never Get Back) and was an interactives creator for Slate Magazine. I am interested in working full-time for a company that has unique data or a unique role for data in their industry.…
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