Books are Getting Significantly Longer Every Year

[4691mls]

I have no idea how many words are in the books I read. Where would I find this information?

[Cinisajoy]

A standard paperback has roughly 300 words per page.

Personally I Googled that 1000 page book.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I have no idea how many words are in the books I read. Where would I find this information?

If you use Calibre, you can use the Count Pages plugin to count the number of words in your eBooks.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I always have bigger books on my H2O than anyone using any of the current model Kindles.

Originally Posted by eschwartz

My Kindle has bigger books than your Kobo.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My H2O does not have War and Peace.

That is what used to be known as a joke. (I guess jokes don't exist anymore.)


You made a ridiculous claim -- which you now acknowledge has more to do with the size of the books one normally reads.

In fact, I don't have War and Peace -- I've never read it, don't plan on reading it.
But I do have a number of pretty large books (epic fantasy). I daresay I do pretty well on that front.


I found your statement amusingly similar to "my-brother-is-bigger-than-yours thinking and " ______-measuring (<-- can be any one of several things).

[JSWolf]

My screen is bigger than your screen so my books are bigger than your books.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

But I think the usual complaint against the unmentionable... thing... is not so much that it is badly written, but that it's mere existence is an offense against good taste.

The usual complaint known to me is "lack of knowledge about practices and lifestyle described within"; an author who screws up with research is IMO rightfully under attack.

[leebase]

I've lost all track of the size of my books. Not being able to physically see the book is my one complaint with ebooks. I used to derive a certain amount of pleasure reading big books and seeing my book mark make it's progress.

Now I simply have ZERO idea how big the books I read are.

[Dusky Rose]

Originally Posted by leebase

I've lost all track of the size of my books. Not being able to physically see the book is my one complaint with ebooks. I used to derive a certain amount of pleasure reading big books and seeing my book mark make it's progress.

Now I simply have ZERO idea how big the books I read are.

I can tell the approximate size of my ebooks when they're in Calibre by using one of the plug ins. I can see my progress on my various machines by either page county, or % of the book read, depending on the options or settings. And I can easily go to most of the on-line ebook stores and look up the page count.

If you need to know, are any of these and option for you?

For me, I'm reading anything from 100 pages on up. I find I don't tend to get much involved in anything too short. For anything 100 pages and up it gives me time to get invested, and the book should just be exactly long enough to tell a good story.

[cvkemp]

I really do not care about the size of the books as long as it tells a good story and does not go off rambling too far from the story line. I love a book that gives you the background information you need up front, and I love chapters that do not bounce around all over the place. Some stories can be told in a hundred or so pages and some may take 3 or 4 hundred pages to tell the store correctly. As long as it keeps my interest then I am happy. So far I have only put down one book and stopped reading it. It just did not follow a reasonable story line.

[DiapDealer]

I've read door-stopper-sized books that were too short and short-stories that were too long. I prefer books that are just the right length for the stories they contain. I don't worry about some externally applied "length" based on page/word-count or physical dimensions.

The only time "size" deters me is when it's measured in the number of books a series contains (or has planned). I'm not interested in any series that go beyond three or four books these days (and would prefer it only be one or two at the most). I like endings; so much so that I prefer each book I read have a solid one.

[cvkemp]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've read door-stopper-sized books that were too short and short-stories that were too long. I prefer books that are just the right length for the stories they contain. I don't worry about some externally applied "length" based on page/word-count or physical dimensions.

The only time "size" deters me is when it's measured in the number of books a series contains (or has planned). I'm not interested in any series that go beyond three or four books these days (and would prefer it only be one or two at the most). I like endings; so much so that I prefer each book I read have a solid one.

So I take it you do not like my favorite series of books that Tom Clancy has done, and that some really good authors are still using his research and material to continue his legacy.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

So I take it you do not like my favorite series of books that Tom Clancy has done, and that some really good authors are still using his research and material to continue his legacy.

That'd be a no.

Although technically, I would probably enjoy the first couple of books in the series. But that doesn't mean I want to marry it and have 15 or 20 books together!

[cvkemp]

Well this year I have read the complete Jack Ryan, Jack Ryan Jr, and the John Clark series along with keeping up with my Steve Martini, and Alex Lukeman series. But hack I am retired and I love to read.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by leebase

I've lost all track of the size of my books. Not being able to physically see the book is my one complaint with ebooks. I used to derive a certain amount of pleasure reading big books and seeing my book mark make it's progress.

Now I simply have ZERO idea how big the books I read are.

Does your reader not have various methods of displaying location/percentage information to communicate that to you? All mine do.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by ApK

Does your reader not have various methods of displaying location/percentage information to communicate that to you? All mine do.

I know exactly what percentage of a book I've read. But it's without context. Word count is without context. A big dead tree book had heft and visual size.

So truly, not kidding, I have zero idea "how big" the books I read are. Don't even bother TRYING anymore.