On Goodreads: The Gamification of Reading Is Changing How We Approach Books

[issybird]

Topic, please.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

How about when the book title at Amazon contains a description?

The Girl Who Sat On A Tuffet: An unputdownable domestic crime thriller with a shocking twist that will leave you breathless

I understand why lesser known authors do it. But I still don't like it.

I don't like that either. I also don't like when some books add A Novel. I'm not stupid and I know what a novel is.

[JSWolf]

One thing that's a real problem on Goodreads is that before a book is released, there is an entry and all these comments/reviews/ratings that are worthless. It takes too long for a new book to have this garbage replaced with either proper reviews or removed and properly rated and more people to red the book and help fix the mess.

This could easily be sorted by the staff at Goodreads do not care about data accuracy.

I could post reviews done by AI and the staff would not care.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't like that either. I also don't live when some books add A Novel. I'm not stupid and I know what a novel is.

The only time this makes sense is when the author is well known for writing non-fiction on the same topic as the novel.

[astrangerhere]

The British Journal of Educational Technology published a study on how gamification can help turn kids into readers in 2020. I am sure there are more, but this was the most cited article I saw on my quick drive-by of the research engines I still have access to.

I think the bottom line is that challenges, book counts, goals, and spreadsheets, no matter where they are accessed are sort of a "get out of it what you put into it" schema for many.

If you know that the carrot of that little number ticking up is going to decrease your quality of reading, then sure, don't use them. But some people prefer to lower a number and state the intention of more quality. I know some here have in our various reading lists and challenges.

Don't get me wrong, I like very little of what remains of Goodreads post Amazon takeover, but I'm not going to yuck someone's yum if it helps them read more.

[Quoth]

The best thing for kids being readers, or not, sadly is if the parents are. A book-free house mostly results the next generation being book free. Yet our library in most deprived area has only one staffer, so no kids without adults, and it's only open weekdays & office hours!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The best thing for kids being readers, or not, sadly is if the parents are.

Not sure about that. My parents weren't readers, but they bought a lot of books, both adult and kid ones. And yes, I was an avid reader since I was 3 years old. But their granddaughters (my nieces) grew up in the same house, with the same books (plus newer ones I and occasionally my sister bought) and they had no interest in reading at all. Not when they were kids and not when they were adults. So a home filled with books and the presence of other readers is apparently not enough to make one a reader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

The only time this makes sense is when the author is well known for writing non-fiction on the same topic as the novel.

What authors have written both fiction and non-fiction on the same subject?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The best thing for kids being readers, or not, sadly is if the parents are. A book-free house mostly results the next generation being book free. Yet our library in most deprived area has only one staffer, so no kids without adults, and it's only open weekdays & office hours!

My father read the newspaper and some magazines. My mother read books. My sister also read books. I read books ahead of my age.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I read books ahead of my age.

Like right out of the womb or something? Tolstoy at four? What?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Like right out of the womb or something? Tolstoy at four? What?

Books at an adult level when I was not yet a teen. The first "classics" that I read were H. G. Wells books.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What authors have written both fiction and non-fiction on the same subject?

Peter Benchley

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Peter Benchley

The novel White Shark was soon renamed to Creature as to not case confusion.

Other then that, that's it.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What authors have written both fiction and non-fiction on the same subject?

Maybe almost same subject: Len Deighton, Michael Scott.
But one reason to use a pen name.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Books at an adult level when I was not yet a teen. The first "classics" that I read were H. G. Wells books.

Lots of kids in very booky households read books for adults when they are 9 to 15 yo. Some younger.
Some kids also learn to read very early (Hyperlexia). Only some are autistic (many are otherwise normal), but it might be more common with autism.
Hyperlexia is really just a catch-all label for anyone reading competently before age 5 and youngest seems to be slightly younger than two. It could be a more common ability than detected as most kids under 5 might not have the environment.

It used to be simply called being precocious.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.

Reading ability need have no connection to spelling ability as competent reading in the west isn't much different to Chinese reading. You recognise the word, you aren't reading the letters and deciding what word it makes. Hence early readers or keen readers living in certain backgrounds may poor spellings and no idea of pronunciation of words they don't encounter orally. This one reason why language courses start with the spoken language.