Scorpio rising, reluctantly

I sympathise with Jay Kennedy ("My Dan Brown moment", 4 November). Things could be worse, though: at least he was in the limelight for an important contribution. My "real" work on religious change has generated a modest amount of birdcage lining, but what made a big splash was a short paper showing that census data on 10 million married couples offer no support for astrological "love signs".

Every broadcaster from Sydney to São Paulo found it entertaining, especially if I could be rubbished by a local astrologer pointing out my failure to consider the Moon, or Venus, or Mars, according to taste. Short of publishing on vampires, I'll never receive as much attention again. My tombstone will bear the inscription: "He was a Scorpio, of course."

David Voas, University of Manchester.