You Between the Covers

I’m a sucker for online assessments designed to tell you which Dickensian character you most resemble or which celebrities could be your twin, or that measure your blog according to today’s movie-rating standards. So, naturally, after I heard from Bill Crider about the Blue Pyramid site’s survey meant to tell you which book best exemplifies your character, I had to take it.

You have to answer six questions, and there are supposed to be 64 books with which you might be matched. I was of course hoping to be associated with some seminal crime-fiction creation. (When Crider took this survey, he was linked with J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.) However, the software says that in book form, I would be Barbara Tuchman’s 1962 military history, The Guns of August. Explains Blue Pyramid:

Though you’re interested in war, what you really want to know is what causes war. You’re out to expose imperialism, militarism, and nationalism for what they really are. Nevertheless, you’re always living in the past and have a hard time dealing with what’s going on today. You’re also far more focused on Europe than anywhere else in the world. A fitting motto for you might be “Guns do kill, but so can diplomats.”

Hmm. I’m “interested in war”? Well, only insofar as it’s affected societal evolution. Otherwise, I’m no more of a war or armaments enthusiast than U.S. presidential robo-candidate Mitt Romney is a “lifetime hunter.” And to say that I’m “far more focused on Europe” is simply to acknowledge that I love traveling abroad and am hardly America-centric. On the other hand, I am certainly a history lover. And I shouldn’t complain too loudly, as I could have been associated with much less interesting works than Tuchman’s.

Try the survey for yourself here.