D.T. Max, the author of The Family That Couldn't Sleep (and onetime Observer writer), submitted to The New York Times Paper Cuts blog "Stray Questions" survey today.

After avoiding an inquiry about what he's working on ("In a way nothing. In a way lots of things," he says) and offering some thoughts on the Web, Mr. Max answers the question, "Whose books are generally shelved next to yours in bookstores? How does it feel to be sitting between them?"

I’d like to say I’m next to Ernst Mayr, the great evolutionary biologist, and some places I may be. But there’s a man named Tucker Max who has a book out on beer and chasing girls. No relation, btw. He throws the wild parties on our otherwise sedate bookshelf.

Come on, there are worse things than having your well-reviewed book sit next a best-selling fratire forevermore. Actually, no, there aren't.