Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Hum, that might explain some things. Not all authors have the same quality, attention to details or for than matter accuracy. Most of my reading is either genre (SF&F, mystery or adventure for the most part), or related to specific subjects (mostly History, though some science, law and economy). When researching a new subject (say for example, Roman History or WW II), I tend to look for the best regarded books and best authors. I pay for quality, not quantity. It doesn't matter how many pages a book has if the author's main source for Roman history seems to be the HBO series Rome or his main source for the facts about Iwo Jima was John Wayne's Sands of Iwo Jima.
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I have no way to judge the quality of authors. Thus, I use the total page count which includes footnotes. I find serious historical treatises simply have more pages. There is simply no competition between a 1,000 page book and a 100 page book no matter the fame of the author of the 100 page book.
For example, I am reading the 3 volume work on Churchill by Manchester now each volume of which is about 1,000 pages. There is no way even a 400 page book on the same subject could compete with the volume of information in the 3,000 pages.
I also watch a lot of historical documentaries on Netflix. The consultants for those documentaries can be tested in what they way when I watch them.
If I enjoyed a book by a particular author and he also has other works containing large numbers of pages, I also would add them to my excel spreadsheet.
Fiction is probably different where plots and character development are essential.