That is news to me!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Would you? I don't think it's as simple as that. Books aren't fungible; you aren't looking for 'a' book, but for a 'specific' book, at least most of the time.

Funny. I think the exact opposite, that most of the time books are fungible. There's the occasional highly desired specific book, but generally there's something else as appealing as the book in question.

Theorizing some more, I can see that if you read only a handful of books in the course of the year each one matters but if you read a lot of books you live with more of a spectrum of quality and desirability anyway. Not every book is going to be the best book you ever read.

[DiapDealer]

I'm rarely looking for THE book nowadays. I'm only looking for A book that sounds interesting.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm rarely looking for THE book nowadays. I'm only looking for A book that sounds interesting.

And is a good read. A poor reading experience (poor editing, bad research, author style) will override any interest in the book/author for me.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by maddz

And is a good read. A poor reading experience (poor editing, bad research, author style) will override any interest in the book/author for me.

I don't worry about any of that. I bought terrible books sight unseen from physical book stores (or mail-order) in the past before I had a fraction of the tools I have today to sort the chaff. It happens rarely enough to me these days that it's not a concern for me. I'm fine with abandoning the rare dud and moving on. I'm not looking for the next all-time favorite to fall forever in love with (though that's fine if it happens), I'm just looking to keep on feeding the brain some content.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I don't worry about any of that. I bought terrible books sight unseen from physical book stores (or mail-order) in the past before I had a fraction of the tools I have today to sort the chaff. It happens rarely enough to me these days that it's not a concern for me. I'm fine with abandoning the rare dud and moving on. I'm not looking for the next all-time favorite to fall forever in love with (though that's fine if it happens), I'm just looking to keep on feeding the brain some content.

Same for me. It's very rare for me anyway to like a book so much I give it 5 stars. All I want is to be moderately entertained, and most of the time I am.

Most books are fungible, yes. The only exceptions are books in a series I've started and definitely want to continue. Which is a pretty regular occurrence for me, as I prefer multi-volume series to singletons.

[JSWolf]

The library can be a good place to browse. Even if the book has a rather long wait, I can still have a read of the sample to decide if I might want it.