Quote:
Originally Posted by rcuadro
That is because you read eBooks  I think that for most people a single book is sufficient for a short trip and I always make sure that I have at least one on my Kindle that I want to read before I leave |
For me, this is a problem (and the solution is taking multiple books, which is why I take eBooks). A single book is sufficient for a short trip-if it's one I want to read. Some books grab me from page one. I call those 'great' books and when I find one, if I know a trip is coming up, then I'll save it for the trip.
For most books however, I need to read at least 50 'pages' (depends on so many variables-call it 5000 words?) before I can decide whether or not I really want to read it. (I'm stubborn-my spouse drops a book if it doesn't grab her within 15-20 pages.) If I continue, I usually call those 'good' books, and if it takes me longer to decide (but it still keeps my interest until I finish-there have been cases where I've finished the book before I've been able to decide whether or not it was worth reading) I call it a 'fair' book. If I don't finish it (due to running out of interest) then I call it a 'poor' book.
So many are borderline. Plus, tastes differ. The above is pretty crude but it points out the problem of 'just take one book'. Huh, unless it's a 'great' book I've probably already read far enough into it that it won't last thru the trip-and if I haven't then (again, assuming it isn't a 'great' book, which is more common than not, unfortunately) I don't know whether I want to read it or not. So I end up taking a number of books, even on a short trip.
Something that I believe enhances the reading experience is a better 'user rating service'. Sure, many sites I've seen have them-and when different sites offer the same book they rarely rate it the same and none of them consistently match my ratings.
I don't know-would it help if users had to 'register' to rate a book and part of the registration process was answering a series of questions about their reading tastes? Then people could request a rating that's relevant to them by also answering questions about their tastes. (Better yet, if the requesters registered then relevant ratings could appear in the 'catalog' they're browsing.) Again, I don't know the answer, but if there were some way to know, before reading a book, whether or not I'd like it then I wouldn't have as great a reason for taking eBooks with me. (Problem-such a rating system seems much more likely to be implemented on ebook sites than in brick & mortar stores. Oh well, it's not like I'm against taking ebooks with me, I was just thinking about why I take so *many* with me.)