Titles of books and papers

I am working my way through “Pragmatic Thinking And Learning” by Andy Hunt and something keeps popping out at me. A large proportion of the books and articles that Andy cites (in fact it’s one half – 45 out of a total of 90 in the bibliography) have a title that consists of a short punchy phrase, followed by a comma, followed by a longer explanatory phrase.

For example: Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity.

At first I thought this was just a cliché by publishers, but as I read the book I think I see more significance in the pattern.

I have a theory that – in accordance with the principles explained in the book – the poetic or metaphorical phrase before the comma is addressed to the holistic, intuitive R-mode of your brain, and the prosaic, explanatory phrase after the comma is addressed to the logical, analytic L-mode of your brain. Thereby allowing you to see the import of the book with both halves of your brain at the same time.

Am I on to something?

Huh. I hadn’t noticed that, but you’re right. I thought that sort of thing was just a marketing ploy. For whatever reason, it’s clearly effective :-)