I need your help. I’ll give a copy of my forthcoming book to anyone who can come up with the right subtitle…
This, in a paragraph, is what it’s about:
The many, many ways that we humans have seen, revered, laughed at, championed, exploited, pitied the giant panda as it made its way from obscurity to celebrity in just 140 years. In parallel, I will argue, China’s rise as a global political and economic force has tracked a remarkably similar course. It’ll be a fascinating blend of history, politics, economics and cutting edge science. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
In my pitch to Profile Books (who will be publishing my book next year), I proposed calling it Political Animal, where the political animal is both the panda and modern China. Clever heh?
But my editor emailed me this morning. He gave me feedback on the first chapter I sent in – it’s up to standard, which is nice to know – and took the opportunity to appraise me of the latest thinking in the office regarding the title. “There is a strong feeling,” he wrote, “that the book should be called The Way of the Panda, like your blog,” I’m delighted someone’s reading it. The suggestion is that “political animal” should then appear somewhere in the subtitle. The rationale for this seems to be that it’s pandas that will sell the book and not some smart-arse play on words that takes an entire blog post to explain. On reflection, I think this makes a lot of sense.
So if The Way of the Panda is the main title, I now need to come up with a subtitle that contains the words “political animal”. Here are a few possibilities:
- The Way of the Panda: the incredible story of a political animal
- The Way of the Panda: the meteoric rise of a political animal
- The Way of the Panda: the fraught journey of a political animal
- The Way of the Panda: the trials of a political animal
- The Way of the Panda: a political animal’s journey from obscurity to global domination
- The Way of the Panda: how a political animal took on the world
I don’t really like any of them, but you get the idea. So I now solicit all feedback and suggestions, serious or not. If someone gives me a subtitle that ends up on the jacket, I will sign and send them one of my gratis copies. Wow, now there’s an incentive.
Members of my family or employees of Profile Books need not be excluded from taking part. In fact, I demand that they let their views be known.
The Life of a Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: China's Voyage into the World
The Way of the Panda: Global Domination by a Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: A Political Animal Crawls to World Domination
I like above suggestion of:
The Way of the Panda: Global Domination by a Political Animal
Thanks folks. Keep them coming. I had another suggestion by email "The Way of the Panda: the rise of China and its political animal" and would love to get China in there somewhere (as that's what the book's about too).
The Way of the Panda: the rising dynasty of a political animal
The Way of the Panda: China, hegemony, and other political animals
How about The Way of the Panda: China's Political Animal
I'd still like it so the "political animal" could be either the panda or China.
Matius Did you mean hedgehogs?
Nope not hedgehogs (although I dearly want one) – it was a play on "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" (Noam Chomsky, 2003). I read the other day about China's massive extension into Africa, which got me thinking, you see. So as the balance of global power shifts, and China looks more hege .. hege … hegemonaniacal (sorry) than the US, there is an interesting political, financial and military background to the panda story. Which leads me back to Chomsky.
"Political animals just aren't black and white"
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Panda'ing to a nation – Political Animals in captivity
China Laid Bear.
(sounds an interesting book though – whatever it's called!)
pondering the Panda's pandering,
just popped into my head-LOL twittertraks@gmail.com
The Global Panda-emic
Two black eyes and China's rise : the story of the political panda
Zen of Panda
China as a political animal
China … the political animal
Tom H
How a political animal bamboo-zled the world
The Way Of The Panda: From Bamboo to Big Business – The Diet Of The Political Animal
The way of the Panda: the exploration of such a political animal
The Way of the Panda; How a Political Animal Bamboozled the World
Cheesy pun I know.
How about
"The Way of the Panda: the ups and downs of a political animal"
The way of the panda: china's politics in black and white.
The Way of the Panda: A political animal shoots to stardom
The political animals greatest fight
oh no way, someone got there first in the time it took me to write the comment
The Way of the Panda: a party political animal
The Way of the Panda: The political animal in black and white
A Panda in a China Shop!
Tracking Pandas, and other political animals.
The Way Of The Panda – How This Political Animal Got It's Black Eyes
OR
The Way of The Panda, The political Black-Eyed Beast.
How about something simple
The Way of the Panda: the birth/growth of a/two political animals
Delete as appropriate
The plight of the abstaining political animal
The Way of the Panda; This Political Animal Will Leave You….
A Political Pandemic
Two black eyes and China's rise
that suggestion.
The way of the Panda – Animal Policitcs in Black & White
The Way of the Panda; It's No Guerilla Politics
Much prefer "Bamboozled: The way of the Panda".
The way of the Panda – Postcard of a nation
The Way of the Panda- The rise of China as a political animal.
The Way of the Panda: does a political animal shit in the woods?
how China's political animal went from surviving to thriving
The Way of the Panda: The fall of the Bamboo Wall
China: The way of the (still) Living Pandas
I agree, you def need the word China in there. I would be interested in reading this book if I knew it was about China. Just pandas? Don't think so.
The Way of the Panda – Tracking a Political Animal
The way of the panda: the world is my Bamboo forest.
Pulling back the bamboo curtain
The Way of the Panda:obscurity,exstintion,fame and all i want is bamboo.
The Way of the Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: History's Politcal Animal
The Way of the Panda: Today's Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: China's Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: A Political Animal
Other than those you should definitely go with the Bamboozled one above.
The Way Of The Panda: A Political Animal That Simply Refuses TO Shag!
The Way of the Panda: The Bear Necessities of a Political Animal 🙂
The Way of the Panda: How China's political animals are avoiding extinction…
Eats Shoots and Leaves.
The Political Animal that ignores the laws of evolution
Eats shoots and (tea) leaves
China's Panda eyes
The Way of the Panda: It's a political animal
raising the bamboo curtain
A Panda's Perspective – the rise of China and it's political animal
Mamamuse on Twitter ( it's me – sorry can't do the techy stuff)
The Way of the Panda. The Giant of Animal Politics
How about "Bear politics"? Just because it sounds like "bare politics"
The Way of the Panda. Survival of the Political Species
The Panda is also the name of the 1oz pure gold coin used in China, so it might be an idea to include the word 'gold' in the subtitle. Something like:
The Way of the Panda: a political animal's search for gold
Or given that the olympics was recently in Beijing, include that too:
The Way of the Panda: a political animal goes for gold
the way of the panda: or how pandas cant be racist.
The endangered political animal (guesswhotoday via twitter)
The Way Of The Panda: Animus Politicus
beneath black eyes
what about…
iPanda – the role of a political animal in mondern China
or
The Way of the Panda: the role of an political animal in mondern China
I knows the first os a little off the original idea.
The Way of the Panda – smarter than your average bear.
The Way of the Panda – China's boo-boo!
The Way of the Panda : Pandamonium
The way of the Panda: Propping up an extinct species long after evolution deems them an unworthy dead end.
The Way Of The Panda – And We Thought Man Was A Political Animal
The Way Of The Panda : The Film Bruce Lee Should've Made !
You've got to get China in, otherwise its just a book about an animal (and will lose historical/ political readers – such as myself. Also, don't let an affection for 'Political Animal' take away from great creative genius as a result of the new headline – are you sure you are not square peg/ round holing this?
The Way of the Panda: The parallel journey from obscurity to infamy of China and its most famous export
The Way Of The Panda: Eats, Shoots and Leaves. (sorry!)
The way of the Panda: China's cuddliest political animal.
how about
The Way of the Panda: Defiance of the political animal
How about simply Animal Politics?
I'll tweet the shortlist @wayofthepanda
Animal Politics – not always black & white.
The Way of the Panda: China as political animal
If you want to get both in, I say go simple.
The China Panda
The Way of the Panda: China's political animal and its bare necessities
No idea if this will work – but I can't help humming the disney tune now dammit!
The Way of the Panda: the rise of the Chinese Bear the most notorious political animal of our time
The Way of the Panda: A political animal's escape from captivity
The Way of the Panda: China Bears All.
If you don't care about having the word 'China' in there, then I'd suggest:
The Way of the Panda: The changing fortunes of a political animal
Panda Diplomacy: The People's Republic of China?
How about;
The way of the panda; The emergence of China's political animal.
A.E
The Evolution of a Political Animal
China in your Pand – T'Mau
Is that a panda in your pocket or is china just pleased to see us?
The Way of the Panda: Pandering to the Political Animal (from mygametoday on twitter)
The Panda And His Keepers – The evolution of the political animals.
The Way of the Panda: The rise of a masked political animal
The Way of the Panda: A Giant leap to global domination
The Way of the Panda: A masked giants rise to global domination
The Way of the Panda: China's masked Political Animal
China – It's political PANDAmonium!
Zen and the art of Panda maintenance
Panda
China's political animal
The Way of the Panda: Licked by a Mousey Tongue
The Way of the Panda A Road of a Polital Animal … catchy me thinx!! from Elaine Sheehan
The Way of All Pandas: China's Political Animal
The rise of the political panda.chinas gentle animal
I would simply call it "China/Panda". The subtitle would be "Political Animal".
Cover could show a yin and yang symbol, which would double as the face of a panda, with the two dots as the panda's eyes.
Alternatively, just the symbol, with the top half titled China and the bottom Panda. The subtitle would appear beneath.
Not just Pandas – The Story of China's other political animal.
The Way of the Panda: How to cook a political animal – Although, you mention that you don't like any of the 6 options you listed, and I think it is because of the title rather than the sub-title? no? Publishers. tsk.
The Way Of The Panda: Not a book about Pandas…
or
The Way Of The Panda: It's really a book about China…
Is it my imagination or is there a little silliness creeping in?
You know who you are.
The fight for Survival by a black and white politician
The Way of the Panda : The political animal's long march from hidden China to Superstardom
The Way of the Panda : China's bamboo curtain raiser.
panda-ing to the masses
The Way of the Panda: how a political animal has mirrored the government of China.
On the basis that the top level of old (imperial) China used to be all about lavish luxuries (pandas were one); whereas the modern-day People's Republic has become a major player in many facets of global society (which you have described pandas as also doing).
Way of the panda: the only animal
not able to get it up.
Way of the panda: leaving the gene pool
way of the panda: last one out please turn
off the lights
The way of the Panda : China's Rise
Way of the Panda : China and the Cat Bear
Way of the Panda : China's Bamboo Climb
The way of the Panda : The bamboo growth of China
China and the way of the Panda
The way of the Panda : The Gowing pains of China
Bamboo Rise : China and the way of the Panda Bear
@vaunearlnorman (twitter)
How about…
"Black eyed view of a Political Animal"
"Black eyed" being your Panda reference. 🙂
Worth a try anyway
Through the eyes of China's Political Animal.
Or
The Parallel explained The Chinese Panda and The Chinese Government, The rise and rise!
jennifer6murray@yahoo.co.uk
The Way of the Panda: China's most endangered political animal
The Way of the Panda: An incredible journey with China's biggest Ally
A Paralleled Existence: China and the Political Panda
The way of the panda – China and its political animal
The Way of the Panda: A Political Animal Made In China
The Way of the Panda: Setting the standard for China's Global domination?
The Way of the Panda: Introducing China to Global Stardom
I think you should keep it as simple as possible, while retaining all the meanings you want, such as-
The Way of The Panda: Political Animal of China
The Way of the Panda – Don't call me fluffy
Pandamonium
The Way of the Panda: A political animal in modern China
The Way of the Panda: Sleeping Giant – Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: How a political animal bears the weight of China *worst pun ever*
The Way of the Panda: China's ever wandering political animal
(seeing as panda's do wander and don't hibernate)
The Way of the Panda: How China's political animal extended a bamboo branch to the world
I really like the above "not black and white but red all over", so how about The Way of the Panda: Political Animal: Black-and-White And Red All Over.
Or…
The Way of the Panda: Ascension of the Political Animal: From Obscurity To Celebrity In 140 Years.
They're a bit wordy, but non-fiction works sure love the colons with multiple sub-titles.
The Way of the Panda: Beyond Black and White
How about an Acronym: The Way of the Panda – the Political Animal Not Darwin's Analogy.
The Way of the Panda: Marking its territory on China's Global domination
Political Giant: How China and its Native Panda simultaneously reached global domination.
The Way of the Panda – living on the dole in communist China
The Way of the Panda – more than just bamboo.
ps sorry it doesnt have 'political animal' in it 🙂
The Way of the Panda – China in your hand.
Sorry, that was rubbish…
The way of the Panda – natures reflection of a political animal.
oh God.
The way of the Panda – I'm terrible at this but really want a free book.
The Way of the Panda – symbiosis of a political animal.
I'll go away now.
The Way of the Panda: China's birth of a political animal
The Way of the Panda: Not Tonight Dear i Have a Headache :-s
Eats, Shoots and Leaves.
Like the joke.
The Way of the Panda: One political animal's struggle against another…..
The Way of the Panda: The most important political animal since the Trojan Horse.
The Evolution Of A Political Animal?
Lisa Dawe
I really like the subtitle your blog already has to tell you the truth…
But here are some options:
Subtitles:
The red political animal
A red gift of diplomacy
China's political bear
The red bear that travelled the world
The red traveller
Black and white diguise
As a title: Panda Diplomacy, Panda Politics or China Bear
"Black and White and Red All Over"
The Way Of The Panda with a bit of political Salt & Pepper
Lizzi Johnson
The panda in the china shop. A political animal
The Way of the Panda: Evolution of a political animal
The Way Of The Panda: Not As Black And White As You Think. Lee Buswell
The way of the Panda: Living with the worlds political animal.
The way of the Panda: showing self consious to a political animal.
the way of the panda: the animal's china vs the political panda
the way of the panda: the animals china tea party (lol)
Before I read your blog above, I was going to propose: "Black, White & Jade." So how about: "Black, White & Jade: The Way of the Panda and Rise of a Political Animal."
The Way of the Panda: political animal, political habitat.
Panda-monium in China Towm
The Way of the Panda: no paws for thought for this political animal.
The Way of the Panda: To Kill a Political Animal
(I'm sure Harper Lee won't mind)
orrr
The Way of the Panda: A Departure from the Realms of Average, Sordid Mammalia into the Perfectly Bizarre and Beautiful Lives of China's indigenous Political Animal
Less is more IMHO. How about 'Panda-moany-im' cheezy and probably already suggested but i don't have time to read all the comments!
Words can't express the beauty of this political animal.
The Way of the Panda – A Political Animal from Cultural Revolution to Cultural Evolution.
The Way of the Panda – How the world nursed a healthy political animal
This came to me in my sleep last night – thats partley responsible for why its rubbish.
The Giant Panda: Black, White and Red All Over.
(red refering to communism.)
Panda! Panda! Panda! Icon and characture of China's progress.
or
Panda = China ≠ Panda
or
Panda. China's mascot or victim?
from @craigcargill
The way of the Panda: Insignia of Political China
The way of the Panda: Raising a Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: Political Animal eats shoots and is here to stay
is that the book cover? why is it a stamp celebrating Moscow zoo's 100 year anniversary? Would love to read the book. My masters dissertation at uni was on Rise of the Middle Class in China… so a very dear topic to me.
The Way of the Panda: political animal is here to stay
The Way of the Panda: A Bamboo Trail of a Political Animal.
The Way of the Panda: A Political Animal in Black and White
The Way of the Panda: The Political Animal within China
The Way of the Panda: China's inner Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: The Animal within China's History
—
The Way of the Panda: China's parallel to the black & white
The Way of the Panda: Political Land and Political Animal
Year of the Panda, Green shoots of bamboo
The Way of the Panda :The story of China's Political Animal
The Way of the Panda :The adventures of China's Political Animal
History's takeaway that Panda 8
Climbing to the stars: Panda's last race
Maybe a better title for the sequal.
Adeyla
The stamp is a picture of An-An, the "Soviet" panda. During the early 50s, China modelled itself on the Soviet Union. When tensions began to grow in the late 50s, they attempted to patch things up with a couple of pandas. It's just one of the many, many ways in which the panda has been politicised. My publishers are preparing mock-ups of the jacket and I hope to post on them in due course…
Bipolar Panda: The communist capitalist China
The Way of the Bipolar Panda in Communist Capitalist China.
Ok I give up now. Its the best I can do without reading the book.
Best of luck Henry…
The Bipolar Panda: China's Communist Captalist Mystical Beast.
Maybe it could be a lovely illustrated children's story. (c)Copyright John King 2009 all rights reserved… 😉
I could even do a series…
Panda Astronaut Bamboo on Mars
(c)Copyright John King 2009… hehehe.
The way of the Panda: How China has reared a political animal that now demands the world's respect
Political pandomonium
What about something like,
A Political Animal: The Ways of the Panda and the Land It Calls Home
Sort of gets all the elements in there?
The Way of the Panda: The Chinese government has never seemed more black and white
The Way of the Panda: Introducing China's most powerful politician
The Way of the Panda: From China's Capture to Profitable Freedom
The way of the panda – political pandas, bringing black and white together
Thanks again to everyone who posted on this. I've had lots more suggested by email. Here they are:
(a) portrait of a political animal
(the) rise of a political animal
the rise of a masked political animal
a giant leap to global domination
a masked giant's leap to glob al domination
China's masked political animal
the progress of the political animal
the story of China's political animal
a global political animal
the political animal of the East
an ancient political animal
the political animal in black and white
pulling back the bamboo curtain
Oh, and these on Facebook
putting the Chi in China
the awakening of the Chinese political animal
how the Chinese political animal took on the world and won
the Chinese political animal's secrets of success
My favourite so far is by Anonymous
it's really a book about China
I also like the suggestions by
Giles Newton, Chosha, Birdy (very sharp), Pete, Simon, Rock Owl (v. funny), Joanne and several Anonymouses
How about:
The Long March of a Political Animal
(apologies if someone has already suggested)
The bear economy in black and white
That's very good Michael. A friend did suggest incorporating the Long March but didn't put it into a coherent title.
Also by email:
how black and white became a political animal
how China made a political animal black and white
how the Great Powers grabbed an impotent bear by the balls
how lazing about, consuming a lot of grass and looking cute saved the world from nuclear armageddon: ten lessons for conflict resolution in today's workplace
how Great Power diplomacy made the first/greatest/a peculiar political animal
emergence of a political animal – from evolution through revolution
And one I like very much:
don't call me fluffy
Black and white, and red all over.
The way of the Panda … and its journey as a Political Animal
what's Black and White and red all over…..
Black, White and Red
The rise of the Chinese political animal
The Way of the Panda-The Evolution of China as a Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: China's Born and Bred Political Animal
The Way of the Panda: China's Born and Bred Political Animal