Fabrications acknowledged, a bestseller is withdrawn
The Harvard Book Store in Cambridge had sold well over a hundred copies of Jonah Lehrer’s nonfiction bestseller “Imagine: How Creativity Works.” But on Tuesday, the remaining six copies of Lehrer’s book were pulled from store shelves at the direction of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the book’s Boston-based publisher, since the book will no longer be sold.
The unusual move — prompted by Lehrer’s admission Monday to having fabricated quotes he attributed in the book to Bob Dylan — surprised many book-trade veterans, who have seen other well-publicized scandals roil the publishing industry in recent years.
“This isn’t unheard of, but it’s certainly not common,” said Harvard Book Store general manager Carole Horne, who has been in the business for 35 years. As for Lehrer’s fabrications, Horne added: “I don’t know how people think they can get away with this in this day and age.”
To date, more than 200,000 copies of “Imagine” have been sold in hardcover or e-book form. Released in March, the book debuted at the top of The New York Times bestseller list and has remained on the list for 16 weeks.
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“I understand the gravity …. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers,” said Jonah Lehrer, author of “Imagine: How Creativity Works.”
Houghton spokeswoman Lori Glazer declined to elaborate on the recall of Lehrer’s book, other than to say that books would be returned at the publisher’s expense and that it was Houghton’s decision alone, not Lehrer’s, to take such dramatic action. In her 21 years in publishing, Glazer could not remember another Houghton title being pulled from circulation in this manner.
‘I understand the gravity …. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers.’
Lehrer, 31, is a former Boston resident now living in Los Angeles. He has, in years past, been an occasional contributor to The Boston Globe’s Ideas section. In a statement released through his publisher Monday, Lehrer said, “I understand the gravity of my position. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers.”
He also announced his resignation from his staff position at The New Yorker, a job he’d held only since June.