http://denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com/2009/05/alan-presents-69-modern-classics.html
"Amazon.com's Statistically Improbable Phrases, or “SIPs”, are the most distinctive phrases in the text of books in the Search Inside!™ program. To identify SIPs, our computers scan the text of all books in the Search Inside! program. If they find a phrase that occurs a large number of times in a particular book relative to all Search Inside! books, that phrase is an SIP in that book.
"SIPs are not necessarily improbable within a particular book, but they are improbable relative to all books in Search Inside!. For example, most SIPs for a book on taxes are tax related. But because we display SIPs in order of their improbability score, the first SIPs will be on tax topics that this book mentions more often than other tax books. For works of fiction, SIPs tend to be distinctive word combinations that often hint at important plot elements.
"What Amazon doesn’t tell you is that, in the case of fiction, their SIP feature does not merely “hint at important plot elements” but MAGICALLY DISTILS THE ESSENCE OF THE WORK. They don’t tell you that because, obviously, if they did, why would anyone bother to order a novel or short-story collection after reading its SIPs?
"To show you what I mean, I have compiled the SIPs for 69 works of twentieth-century fiction. ..."
15
cultured gestures, pleural shock, little extra therapy, dining attendants, placet experiri, sine pecunia, ragged lips, informal pronouns, wild departure, baptismal bowl, classic gifts, good engineer, light favorites, rest cure, moist spot, purple cheeks, checked trousers, ivory complexion, silent sister, fever chart, social rooms, world republic, nightstand lamp
16.
ostensible acquittal, definite acquittal, pettifogging lawyers, man from the country, first plea, accused men, prosecuting counsel
17.
laughing aristocrats, bad zombies, black pear tree, emerald dust, falling dog, personal worthlessness, captured woman, damned birds, naked models, flee from the wrath
18.
Los Angeles, Captain Blood, New York, Tolstoy Museum, Louis Escher, Hotel Terminus, Engineer-Private Klee, Paul Klee, Richard Widmark, Errol Flynn, Old Testament, Shock Art, Chivas Regal, Count Leo Tolstoy, Fighter Squadron Five, Holy Ghost, Madam Olympia, The Interpretation of Dreams (...)
