amathews wrote:
Author Vadya Taikon's first novel, The Good Road, was reviewed by many critics who felt that it was well written, creative, and had a unique perspective. However, the critics unanimously said it had too much historical detail to sell well, as did all of the literary agents to whom Taikon sent the book. Taikon's second book, The God in the Cauldron, has been a top seller and avoids any mention of historical detail. Clearly, the comments of critics and agents caused Taikon to change his writing style.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion of the above argument?
a) Taikon made a profit from sales of the first book.
b) Another historical novel published in the same year by a different author contained as much historical detail as The Good Road and was a best seller.
c) Taikon's primary goal in writing novels is to provide entertainment for his family and friends, regardless of how many copies of the book are sold.
d) Taikon's first novel was intended to be a historical novel.
e) Taikon's first novel was considerably longer than his second novel.
Source: Barron's LSAT
Hi,
since the confusion is between C and D, let me concentrate on these TWOPARA:-
The first book was full of historical data and it did not sell well. Critiques and others found the book good but believed that too much time historical data. Next book sold very well and it did not have any historical data. So the author changed his style on critiques recommendation.
Now C is
c) Taikon's primary goal in writing novels is to provide entertainment for his family and friends, regardless of how many copies of the book are sold.The very reason the author writes book is for entertainment for his family. Clearly what others think doesn't matter and he would not have changed his writing style for selling more copies.
Clearly the answer
d) Taikon's first novel was intended to be a historical novel.First novel was intended to be historical. So he could have decided to change his style and contents on critic advice. So it doesn't weaken the argument.
But you may assume that the first was intended to be historical and second was to be fictional, do the advice did not affect the style.
Surely it could be the case but nothing tells us that the initial could not be the case where he changed his style due to others
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