http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/Frame.htm

Professor Nel: Thanks for the clarification! There also seems to be a Philip Johannes Nel who has written Deciduous Fruits and Vines: Pests and Diseases and Their Control, among other works.

It’s true: Amazon doesn’t distinguish between different types of works by the same author, nor between two authors with the same name. This, in turn, leads to some odd recommendations, as you note.

For the sake of clarity, I’m the author of Dr. Seuss: American Icon (2004), The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats (2007), J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide (2001), and The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks (2002). I am not the author of Democratizing Foreign Policy?: Lessons from South Africa, nor of The Politics of Inequity in Developing Countries. Those are both a by a different Philip Nel. He’s a South African political scientist based in New Zealand (see his webpage, here: http://www.otago.ac.nz/politicalstudies/philip_nel.html). I’m an American Professor of English based in Kansas, U.S.A.

So… I can’t take credit for his books! It would be interesting, though, if Amazon lead readers of one Philip Nel to become readers of the other Philip Nel. However, as you note, the dissimilarity of the titles render this rather unlikely.

Best regards,

Philip Nel
Associate Professor of English
Kansas State University

Fit of pique, chubby cheek, take a leak, what a geek, widow’s peak, hide and seek…