Is it true the book was journalistically flimsy? The articles you linked, as I remember, only talk about the Dylan chapter, which is quite a bit different than an entire book.
(caveat - a return to the days of pulp print and penny dreadfuls is actually a return to the norm, not a change per se, but I just wanted to whack you on your soft puppy nose with a rolled up newspaper ...)
But.... we KNOW Jonah Lehrer! He's familiar! He's our friend! We love him! Why would we want to try out someone untested when we can just keep lazily going with what we know?
Wake up and smell the change.