Physics and Tiger Woods

Did something good actually come from the Tiger Woods debacle of last week? Author John Gribbin probably thinks so because one of his books just received a huge sales boost after it was spotted in one of the photos of Tiger's wrecked vehicle. This kind of thing has happened before, of course, when celebrities or presidents are spotted carrying a book around, but this is a surprise because Gribbin's book is about physics, of all things. Take a look at this picture.


That's a copy of Get a Grip on Physics there on the floorboard. According to Britain's The Independent:

The book deals with the basics of physics, from its earliest developments to cosmology – although there is no mention of what happens when you shunt a heavy SUV into a stationary fire hydrant.

[...]

The book was 2,268th position on the Amazon sales list, up from 396,224th the previous day.

If these numbers are for real, and that's a big if, I wonder how many of the recently purchased copies of Get a Grip on Physics will actually be read. I suspect the percentage read will be very low - not that Mr. Gribbin is likely to care.