Another day, another rotten candy apple for giggling postliterates.
Judge a book by its first pages
21–30 of 45 posts
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#22When I visit a bookstore, I will look for things I recognize/want. But I also will open random books and read the first page to see if anything hooks me. I try to come away from any bookstore visit with one book I've never heard of and may have never been recommended otherwise. This is a nice recreation of that experience (sans the paper smell).
exactly my thoughts too, this is a great way to digitally recreate the bookstore experience :)
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#23If the book is boring after the 40th page then it's not for you.
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#24I always follow the rule in the book "How to Read a Book": give the book a superficial reading to decide if it is worth reading deeply and carefully.
Would not recommend for fiction - at least not mass market fiction. But Mortimer probably felt those were not reading, and the method would work for him :-)
When I read How To Read a Book, I was quite impressed. In practice ... it's not very useful for the types of book I read. Likely better for deeper, philosophical books (including fiction of that category).
For a lot of fiction books, my rule is to read the first 50 pages. If I'm not engaged, move on. Life is short. I believe Stephen King also used that heuristic. It's fine if you miss out on some great books. You're not going to get to read all of them anyway.
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#25I don't know, I think some books like for example Frank Herbert's need a couple more pages to set up the scene. Also, some of the best tv shows I watched need a couple episodes build up to get a nice payout.
I don't think the site is claiming otherwise.
And as for Frank Herbert's Dune, I gave it a try. I read the first two books, and was 20% of my way through the third when I realized that "No, this whole story is not going to get good ever."
Should have just stopped after a few pages of the first book :-)
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#26I always follow the rule in the book "How to Read a Book": give the book a superficial reading to decide if it is worth reading deeply and carefully.
Would not recommend for fiction - at least not mass market fiction. But Mortimer probably felt those were not reading, and the method would work for him :-) When I read How To Read a Book , I was quite impressed. In practice ... it's not very useful for the types of book I read. Likely better for deeper, philosophical books (including fiction of that category). For a lot of fiction books, my rule is to read the first…
I use Mortimer's system for non-fiction works, which is where it makes the most sense.
I would also use it if I was doing a really deep dive in a fiction work.
For most fiction that I am reading for entertainment, the first 50ish pages will tell me if its worth finishing.
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#27I don't know, I think some books like for example Frank Herbert's need a couple more pages to set up the scene. Also, some of the best tv shows I watched need a couple episodes build up to get a nice payout.
I don't think the site is claiming otherwise. And as for Frank Herbert's Dune, I gave it a try. I read the first two books, and was 20% of my way through the third when I realized that "No, this whole story is not going to get good ever." Should have just stopped after a few pages of the first book :-)
It's a good thing that people have different preferences
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#28Ignoring whether this is a good business, I feel like this is a pretty terrible way to judge a book. If it took off it would result in everyone just starting their book with a real hook, which only works for a small number of genres and only if nothing else needs to be setup before "hooking" (simple "nothing is unfamiliar" stories).
I've read plenty of books on recommendation that I think are great, but they were not the kind of books that could start with a hook I think.
But, the counterargument to this is if it helps people start books, then who cares if it is an effective strategy or not.
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#29I don't know, I think some books like for example Frank Herbert's need a couple more pages to set up the scene. Also, some of the best tv shows I watched need a couple episodes build up to get a nice payout.
I don't think the site is claiming otherwise. And as for Frank Herbert's Dune, I gave it a try. I read the first two books, and was 20% of my way through the third when I realized that "No, this whole story is not going to get good ever." Should have just stopped after a few pages of the first book :-)
Ha, I love Dune personally, but it definitely doesn't get better after that.
Re: Judge a book by its first pages
#30Ignoring whether this is a good business, I feel like this is a pretty terrible way to judge a book. If it took off it would result in everyone just starting their book with a real hook, which only works for a small number of genres and only if nothing else needs to be setup before "hooking" (simple "nothing is unfamiliar" stories). I've read plenty of books on recommendation that I think are great, but they were not…
Still better than judging by the cover. Also, it is important to know that there aren't any deal breakers in the author's style.