Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Peter Dicken

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. MBisanz talk 07:36, 5 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Peter Dicken[edit]

Peter Dicken (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) (delete) – (View log)

Fails WP:ACADEMIC as in no significant coverage in independent reliable secondary sources. Also I think the motive here is to promote his new book. DFS454 (talk) 10:44, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  • Weak Delete - Appears to fail WP:ACADEMIC, though might meet #5 because of his status as "Emeritius Professor" at University of Manchester [[1]]. I cant tell what that title means. --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 11:04, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete Keep - As Kraftlos stated, "Honorary Fellow" might fall under #5 as "Distinguished Professor" but common sense tells me not to agree with that in this case. Also, the article claims attempts to claim notability by his book Global Shift. I did find a listing for Global Shift at the British Library which could prove the book to be notable under WP:N. Although the book may be notable, this doesn't prove an author to be notable per WP:CREATIVE. The article also claims that the book is rated number 2 on the Amazon bestseller list for Economic Geography. I've done some searching and can only just barely find the book on amazon.com at all. The paperback is rated 615,458 while the hardcover is rated 2,644,134. I'm also unable to find where Amazon has an Economic Geography section at all. Again, my senses are telling me that this is a WP:ADVERT for his book as DFS454 also stated.OlYellerTalktome 11:18, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm changing my vote per Cunard's finding of notability under WP:BIO. OlYellerTalktome 22:04, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak Keep - The article's title had been on my watchlist before it was created, and I had been wondering why there hadn't been an article about the author of "Global Shift", which is featured quite prominently in my university's (which isn't a British one) library's textbook section. It is an important book in economic geography, having been re-edited 4 times. Of course it's not rated highly on Amazon, it's from 1986. "Location in space" is another standard textbook co-written by him, and its third edition was translated into German. This article, however, doesn't do his notability justice and lacks any reliable sources. --Axolotl Nr.733 (talk) 12:15, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment - Btw, I've collected some quotes. Andrew Leyshon (Progress in Human Geography 1994 (18), pp. 110), then lecturer at the University of Hull, wrote on the occasion of the second edition of "Global Shift": "The astonishing rate at which the towering piles of this book are reduced to ground level in our university bookshop by voracious swarms of undergraduate geographers testifies to the fact that this is an extremely popular textbook." Kris Olds (Progress in Human Geography 2004 (28), p. 507) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison claims that it has sold many tens of thousands of copies and is an 'obligatory passage point' in the subdiscipline of economic geography. Nigel Thrift describes the fifth edition on its backcover as ‘not just recommended but essential’. So at least the book is quite notable. --Axolotl Nr.733 (talk) 13:23, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As I'm currently a university student (at one of the largest universities in the world /puke), I can attest that I've seen many books go from thousands in stock to nonel with people who still need the book. Alas, they're required text for major/popular courses offered by the university. I guess at that point the book would fall under Wikipedia:Notability_(books)#Academic_books:WP-Academic Books which is incredibly vague about what passes and what doesn't but states that it should come down to common sense. Is there any other info you could provide that might, more concretely, prove notability?OlYellerTalktome 16:09, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hm, on the supposedly picky German Wikipedia, having been a regular university professor and the author of two standard works would be totally sufficient, and a musician selling tens of thousands of records would easily be notable, so apparently I can't just rely on my common sense in this case. Other book reviews (there's quite a handful) call "Global Shift" a ‘classic’ or ‘the definitive text on globalization’, but finding anything more concrete especially about the person himself is a tough task... --Axolotl Nr.733 (talk) 20:24, 28 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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