Thousands are buying "Going Rogue" because they believe Sarah Palin is Ronald Reagan returned to Earth in a dress. Thousands are ignoring it because they think Sarah Palin is Ronald Reagan returned to Earth in a dress.

Not much middle ground here. The only thing we can all agree on about the "Rogue" is that she's easy to market.

Compared to the McCain campaign, this publicity blitzkrieg was smooth and professional, from the $5 million contract announcement, lightning fast writing by ghostwriter Lynn Vincent (not credited), round of TV appearances including "Oprah" (where was Katie Couric?), copies planted ahead of the publication date for the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times to drum up excitement with advance stories to tour stops planned where "real Americans" live, such as Washington County, so the local TV cameras can neglect the usual car accidents and puppy mills to pan the revved up crowds.

All of this attention is really gratifying for those of us who still honor the traditional book, the cultural mainstay whose rumored death is still exaggerated. In the era of Facebook, Twitter, digital readers, blogs and Web sites, the book still commands respect and attention. After all, you can't have an author sign your Kindle and put it on the shelf with those other favorite books.

Political winds are changeable, so it's too early to know if "Going Rogue" will be a quaint artifact or the first of several treatises from the former Alaska governor.

"I'm very glad this writing exercise is over," says Palin, then adds, "... next time the focus will not be on me."

Gosh, I hope not. When she does focus on herself -- it is an autobiography -- the experiences seem genuine, if unremarkable, much like the lives most of us live yet feel no need to write about.

It's when Palin creates her own fantasies of history that "Going Rogue" reveals an embarrassing ignorance of the facts. As:

"Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession" than President Obama. "He showed us how to get out of one." That's not quite right. Reagan faced high unemployment in his first term, and the economic distress contributed to large losses in the midterm congressional races. Indeed, Reagan, who had been elected as a tax cutter, actually had to raise taxes.

"We will achieve economic growth and energy independence if we ... responsibly tap conventional resources" such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but Palin offers no definition for "responsibly" amid many critics' charges that the amount of oil isn't worth the environmental damage.

As for evolution, she "didn't believe in the theory that human beings -- thinking, loving beings -- originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea" as though that statement sums up evolutionary science and Palin had the scientific education to dispute it. It's an amazing remark for anyone with ambitions for higher office.

Palin's believers will be offended by my observations; her detractors -- 7 out of 10 Americans find her unqualified for the presidency -- won't be impressed either because they've heard it all before.

In the end, "Going Rogue" is yesterday's news in a new package aimed at keeping her "base" awake until the next Palin publicity drive.

The country's highest book prizes were announced Wednesday night in New York.

Poetry -- "Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy" by Keith Waldrop (University of California Press). The University of Pittsburgh had a finalist in the competition, "]Open Interval[" by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon.

Fiction -- "Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann (Random House).

Nonfiction -- "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt" by T.J. Stiles (Knopf).

Children's literature -- "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

"Bob Hoover's Book Club" is available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.