10 Least Popular Posts of 2012

While everyone else rings in the New Year by commemorating the best and brightest of 2012 in formulaic Top Ten lists, The Neurocritic decided to wallow in shame. To mark this Celebration of Failure I have compiled a Bottom Ten list, the year's least popular posts as measured by Google Analytics.

Methods: The number of pageviews per post was copied and pasted into an Excel file, sorted by month with each month placed into a different tabs. Then the total pageviews for each post was prorated by month, to give an estimate of monthly views.

Results: The posts are listed in inverse order, starting with #10 and ending with #1 (least popular).

10 Most Unpopular Posts of 2012

10. (Every Day Is) Halloween - A list of 15 posts from The Neurocritic's Halloween and Horror archive.

9. Blow Your Mind with Hostile THINKIES (Brain Filled Hostile THINKIES!) - From the Wacky Packages 8th Series.

8. All about the brain and its workings. - This one hurts, because it's a Very Short Review of this blog in the New York Times Magazine by Professor Tyler Cowen. I very rarely brag, and this just reinforces its pointlessness for someone poor at self-promotion.

7. Last Chance to Vote in the Neuro Film Festival - This is the final post in a series of four that attempted to promote the Neuro Film Festival. Unsuccessfully, I might add.

6. Sister Rose Pacatte Explains It All For You - The story of Sister Rose, a very entertaining nun living with MS.

5. Scrumptious Skulls - Delicious chocolate skulls handcrafted by artist Marina Malvada. Chocolate? Skulls? What more could you want?


4. 2012 Neuro Film Festival - Sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology.

3. Morbid Curiosity in Chicago - An exhibit of the Richard Harris Collection, which included a lot of skulls.

2. Speaking of Aphasia... - Aphasia Speaks, a short film about Kristen, a 34-year-old physical therapist, who suffered a stroke.

   ...and bringing up the rear:

1. Nineteenth Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting - Unless you're advertising a party, don't write blog posts to announce a conference, even if you include an abstract of Your Brain on Food.


Discussion: We can see three major themes emerge: Halloween and Skulls, the Neuro Film Festival, and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeting.

Conclusion: People do not like documentary films about neurological illnesses, skulls of any kind, and the CNS Meeting or morbid cultural events when held in Chicago.