The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Graham44

I thought you were being sarcastic with the title so I clicked on the link, had a good laugh - that's certainly some title!

That's your average modern romance title, nothing unusual

[ownedbycats]

Nearly 50% of a nonfiction eBook taken up by an index. Why do eBooks need indexes?

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Nearly 50% of a nonfiction eBook taken up by an index. Why do eBooks need indexes?

Wouldn't be useful with ebooks that are a compilation of books. An example of this is Laugh Lines by Ben Bova. It contains a collection of previously published books that are humorous, so an index would allow you to locate each book.

[Uncle Robin]

On bluesky and Mastodon, My profile pic is a shot taken from the home of very dear friends in the Republic of San Marino, a country with no real airport. Their twin Heads of State are elected by popular suffrage, and I've occasionally checked Sammarinese newspapers online for info about election campaigns and results. I've also read a really interesting short history of the country, by a sammarinese resident, in Italian.

On my last trip there, I got an official RSM stamp in my passport, a tourist gimmick that amused the Sammarinese friend I was staying with and which he thought was a waste of (then) five euros. A few weeks later, flying home out of Fiumicino, an Italian customs officer saw the RSM stamp in my passport and was confused. He said "how did you fly into San Marino?"

So when an author calls the RSM a 'principality' and has a character say they're "flying there tomorrow', it takes me out of the story. Don't just pick a random micro-state and hope nobody will know and/or care.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Wouldn't be useful with ebooks that are a compilation of books. An example of this is Laugh Lines by Ben Bova. It contains a collection of previously published books that are humorous, so an index would allow you to locate each book.

That would be a ToC (table of contents) not an index. An index would give you a list of terms, names, or topics found within the ebook and their corresponding page numbers or locations. I.e. how many places is 'Leviathan' used in a book. For even more detail, you could create a concordance.

[ownedbycats]

Good lord!



I get a kick out of the inexplicably giant horse in the back. And one that has no head.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That would be a ToC (table of contents) not an index. An index would give you a list of terms, names, or topics found within the ebook and their corresponding page numbers or locations. I.e. how many places is 'Leviathan' used in a book. For even more detail, you could create a concordance.

Wouldn't an index be useful since it would put information on all terms in one place? I've got a number of pbooks where an index would be helpful so you can locate specific information within the book. Although a search function with an ebook reader is useful, an index would also be helpful.

An example of this is a book listing listing the 52 most depressing songs. A weakness in the book is that it has a table of contents, but that is all. If you want to find a specific song you have to go through the table of contents until you find the song you are looking for. An index of the song titles and groups would be a help you locate a specific song. I've got a VH1 book of the Top 100 albums has the same issue.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Graham44

I thought you were being sarcastic with the title so I clicked on the link, had a good laugh - that's certainly some title!

Romance books can have some really goofy titles.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Wouldn't be useful with ebooks that are a compilation of books. An example of this is Laugh Lines by Ben Bova. It contains a collection of previously published books that are humorous, so an index would allow you to locate each book.

That would be a table of contents, not an index.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Good lord!

Attachment 215723

I get a kick out of the inexplicably giant horse in the back. And one that has no head.

That is one really bad AI drawing.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Wouldn't an index be useful since it would put information on all terms in one place? I've got a number of pbooks where an index would be helpful so you can locate specific information within the book. Although a search function with an ebook reader is useful, an index would also be helpful.

An example of this is a book listing listing the 52 most depressing songs. A weakness in the book is that it has a table of contents, but that is all. If you want to find a specific song you have to go through the table of contents until you find the song you are looking for. An index of the song titles and groups would be a help you locate a specific song. I've got a VH1 book of the Top 100 albums has the same issue.

For the average fiction book, an index would be about as useful as your vermiform appendix.

The ToC in the book of depressing songs you mentions does not list the songs as part of the chapter title which would reduce the need for an index?

[theducks]

Except for using an Index as a list of Keywords, I just use the Search built into my reader when I want to find something.

[Sirtel]

When you guess the culprit(s) halfway through a murder mystery, solely on the basis of their being the least likely suspects.

It's a medieval mystery series I really enjoy - the books are pretty hefty (400-600 pages) and brimming with all kinds of interesting details about the daily life of the period. But I do hope the murderers won't become too obvious from now on (I'm about halfway through the series).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

When you guess the culprit(s) halfway through a murder mystery, solely on the basis of their being the least likely suspects.

It's a medieval mystery series I really enjoy - the books are pretty hefty (400-600 pages) and brimming with all kinds of interesting details about the daily life of the period. But I do hope the murderers won't become too obvious from now on (I'm about halfway through the series).

Which series?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Which series?

Matthew Bartholomew by Susanna Gregory.