This is the kind of spontaneous publicity, your name in print, that makes people. I’m in print! Things are going to start happening to me now! Navin R. Johnson

I’ve actually been in print before, with some cartoons published in Physics Today back when they had an art editor with taste who liked my work. Since then, not so much.

A little over a year ago, a book editor asked for permission to use a cartoon and I agreed, shrewdly negotiating a free copy as my payment. The book was originally scheduled to be published this past summer, but that slipped a bit and confirming publication fell off my radar. It looks like it was published in November, and I went a-lookin’ for it this week, because I haven’t gotten my copy yet! (and email to the editor keeps bouncing)

The first big-chain bookstore I visited (the one that starts with a “B”) didn’t have it, but if they did, it would have been in “Young Adult Non-Fiction,” which is a section that didn’t appear to exist in their store. Plenty of Young-Adult Fiction, with many warnings about how the content may not be appropriate for some readers, and I’m sure that would be an effective lure if any young adults read anymore. The second big-chain bookstore (that other one, that starts with a “B“) had it on one of their display tables that was still being stocked with a whole bunch of science-y books. (Overheard: “Mumble mumble Women’s brain. OK, Woman’s brain over here. Men’s brain? Is there a men’s brain? No men’s brain? OK.)

Anyway, the book in question is “The Story of Science: Einstein Adds A New Dimension” by Joy Hakim, published by Smithsonian Books. My cartoon appears on p. 162

From my quick glance through it, it looks great, and I’ve read good things about the first two books in the series. (I also noticed at few Sidney Harris cartoons in it. I wonder what kind of deal he got?)

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My other exposure news (that involve neither a trench coat nor shrieking) was some sweet, sweet linkage from Uncertain Principles that pushed my Technorati authority into double-digits and my ranking to the sunny side of the Mega mark. I’m slightly more relevant than before! Woohoo!