Word: gissen
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...distilling each week's output of new volumes falls to Books Editor Max Gissen. Gissen scans an average of almost 100 new books a week. (During the spring and fall publishing seasons, the weekly figure sometimes goes as high as 150.) By the end of the year he has thumbed through virtually every published "trade book," i.e., those offered to the general public...
...spite of this prodigious amount of reading, Gissen says that he is a slow reader. "Books that I scan, I scan very quickly. I can usually tell in ten minutes if they're worth reviewing. For a review, I read very, very slowly. It's one thing to read for simple enjoyment; it's quite another thing to read for style, meat and accuracy. That isn't to say that I don't enjoy reading the books I review. It's not carefree reading...
...Gissen finds that he must spend a disproportionate amount of time on new writers. He first reads 30 or 40 pages to find out how well the new author writes. Then he samples the rest of the book to see what the writer has to say. Gissen believes such careful screening is one of the most important parts of his job, says: "It is the cardinal sin of a book reviewer or editor not to spot a fine new writer...
Needing some background for his review, Gissen managed to arrange for the only interview Eisenhower would grant before publication date. It was to be off the record and was to last 15 minutes. When he was ushered into the general's office on the Columbia University campus, Gissen shook hands and said: "Well, general, the last time I saw you we were both covered with mud." Eisenhower wanted to know where that was and when. Gissen recalled a scene in France in November, 1944 when he and other officers of the 26th Division assembled for mess in the village...
When Books editor Gissen, who gets around as much as any good reporter, left John Marquand in Nassau to fly back to New York to write his story, the author asked to have lunch with him and Miss Mehrtens in Manhattan on the day TIME and the Marquand cover would appear on the newsstands. "Thinking about it on the way home," said Gissen, "it occurred to me that I would have to meet him with a copy of TIME in my hand and that that might turn out to be the bravest thing I've ever...