11-15-2010, 09:36 AM | #1 |
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I Don't Want to Know How Much of the Book Is Left
A few years ago I read Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow. In it was a chapter called Investigation Approaches Climax . I looked down at my progress bar and saw I still had over a third of the book left to go (almost half). I immediately knew there would be no ending anytime soon because there would be some twist introduced. That foreknowledge denied me the experience of the twist (it should be noted that the pbook readers experience the same thing).
It got me thinking that there was an opportunity here for readers of e-books to not see the end coming. It also reminded me of the movie Minority Report , where there's a scene, far enough into the movie to be plausible, in which the audience believes the ending is near, only to have a twist introduced and the story take off again. As such, I now turn off the progress bar on my reading software so that I truly don't know when the climax will come. I've been doing it for a couple years now, and I enjoy the feeling. I still turn the progress bar on when I'm not enjoying a book, just to see how much more I have to endure. If it's a lot, I give up and move on to something else. Has anyone else tried turning off the progress bar? What do you think? If you haven't, I recommend giving it a try. It's a little weird at first, and some may find it unbearable, but I think it's at least worth a try. |
11-15-2010, 09:53 AM | #2 |
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No, but I rarely look at it. I usually look when I'm so bored with a book I'm wondering if there's any hope of it getting better.
I don't seem to be as consumed with my place in the universe as some people. |
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11-15-2010, 10:03 AM | #3 |
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Isn't this a little bit silly? Cause you can feel that also with a real book. I really don't care but with ebook readers it's easier to forget about it...
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11-15-2010, 10:25 AM | #4 |
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The only time I even think about it is when I'm getting close to the end and I have to decide if to finish it later or if I have time (or can make time) to finish it now.
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11-15-2010, 10:45 AM | #5 |
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I find it's more useful to know how much of the chapter is left, which can be used to decide whether to stop or keep reading.
As what's left of the whole book, sometimes the main plot finishes a fair bit before the book ends, like in The Lord of the Rings. Other times the end of the book is packed with ads, previews, interviews... |
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11-15-2010, 10:51 AM | #6 |
Can one read too much?
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I had been reading a very long book (over 1000 pages) and was startled that it ended with a couple of hundred pages to go (according to the numbers at the bottom); the rest was all notes, index, etc.
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11-15-2010, 10:55 AM | #7 |
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I usually look when I want to know if I have time to finish it before having to do soemthing else.
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11-15-2010, 11:05 AM | #8 |
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11-15-2010, 11:29 AM | #9 |
Can one read too much?
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I've been known to hold down the fast forward button to get to the end of the chapter, and go back to my page from there.
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11-15-2010, 11:43 AM | #10 |
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I've never considered turning off the progress bar before, but it sounds like a great idea! Will definitely try with my next read. I love the idea of the device affecting the content like that...very cool.
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11-15-2010, 12:55 PM | #11 |
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Just did a quick look at the manual - how do you turn off the progress bar?
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11-15-2010, 01:47 PM | #12 |
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You can't on stock Kindle, AFAIK.
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11-15-2010, 01:47 PM | #13 |
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FF2, as far as I know, you can't on a kindle.
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11-15-2010, 01:56 PM | #14 |
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Never occurred to me to want to turn it off. As mentioned, paper novels give a fairly good feel for how much of a book is left at any time. P-book story collections can be more of a surprise.
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11-15-2010, 03:09 PM | #15 | |
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