ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — There are about as many ideas about how to save Atlantic City as there are residents of Atlantic City (39,551). I don’t say that hyperbolically. When I was there this past weekend every single person I talked to knew exactly what was wrong with it and how to fix it: it’s either Trump’s fault, or the lack of Trump, or because too many casinos opened, or because the casinos aren’t fancy enough—many don’t offer luxury massages and club experiences like in Las Vegas. Or it’s because the city’s inherently gritty casinos tried to be fancy and that was a bad idea. If Atlantic City just goes back to its roots, some people said, perhaps it could be the seedy, smoke-filled pleasure capital of the northeast once again.

Former Village Voice editor and J-school prof David Blum is confused about something. Why is Josh Ferris's Then We Came To The End not a New York Times bestseller, even though everyone—including Gawker!—thought it was "pretty good?" Blum puts on his reporter cap and discovers that sometimes even well-reviewed, well-marketed books don't sell hundreds and thousands of copies! He also has some pretty groundbreaking (as in wrong) theories as to why this might be.