Those of you who follow my blog will know that I am a fan of ORCIDs and it is great to hear that there are now over a MILLION ORCIDS issued! The sooner the better as far as I am concerned that I can start claiming all of my books and book chapters against MY ORCID and then moving that information to other platforms. My Amazon Author Page is here: http://www.amazon.com/Antony-J.-Williams/e/B004YRPRV2 and I am glad to say that despite the fact that there is a book called “I Hate Sex” with the author Antony J. Williams, exactly the spelling of my name, is NOT associated with me. Phew…
If we could start to make sure, somehow, that ORCIDs, or at least some form of AUTHOR IDs were utilized by all publishers and associated with books that are published (and listed on Amazon and Google Books) then maybe we wouldn’t have this problem listed below….
My GREAT FRIEND Gary Martin (and often times mentor in NMR) and I are editing a two volume series with David Rovnyak. Volume 1 is listed on Amazon here and Volume 2 is here. Now then…Gary is rather well known in the world of NMR….his Wikipedia page is here. On Amazon his skill set is listed as under “About the Author” as:
“Gary E. Martin graduated with a B.S. in Pharmacy in 1972 from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky in 1975, specializing in NMR spectroscopy. He was a Professor at the University of Houston from 1975 to 1989, assuming the position of Section Head responsible for US NMR spectroscopy at Burroughs Wellcome, Co. in Research Triangle Park, NC, eventually being promoted to the level of Principal Scientist. In 1996 he assumed a position at what was initially the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, MI and held several positions there through 2006 by which time he was a Senior Fellow at what was then Pfizer, Inc. In 2006 he assumed a position as a Distinguished Fellow at Schering-Plough responsible for the creation of the Rapid Structure Characterization Laboratory. He is presently a Distinguished Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories.”
So HOW interesting to see who Google Books thinks he is! See the link here… it reads as
“Gary Martin’s career as a freelance comic book artist spans over twenty years. He’s worked for all the major companies, including Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, and Disney, and on such titles as, Spider-man, X-men, Batman, Star Wars, and Mickey Mouse. Gary is best known for his popular how-to books entitled, ‘The Art of Comic Book Inking’. Recently, Gary wrote a comic book series called ‘The Moth’, which he co-created with artist Steve Rude.”
I am not listed as an editor and for sure the information is out of date since David Rovnyak joined as an editor this year.

This is Gary Martin, the inker.
So…I am very interested in any hypotheses regarding how Google Books picked up a comic inker as an author when Amazon lists Gary as a scientist, clearly. By the way, Gary Martin, NMR spectroscopist extraordinaire is a brilliant photographer, especially of lighthouses…but manipulates light…not ink.
Imagine, if you would, the potential power of ORCIDs in keeping this clear, platform to platform, if the publisher used them, if Amazon adopted them and if Google Books used the data. With time…