5 ms·

I feel like many books (especially non-fiction) have this predisposition of making their books much longer than it needs to be. In essence, unless it's highly t

by wppick 10y ago

I feel like many books (especially non-fiction) have this predisposition of making their books much longer than it needs to be. In essence, unless it's highly technical/informational, their book is usually making some sort of an argument that they sometimes stretch out to a certain number of pages to make it seem to have more "depth". I feel like you can summarize a book down to it's essence making it something like 20-50 times shorter, which I do by highlighting and adding notes.

CaptSpify 10y ago
I've long thought that most non-fiction and non-tech/educational books that I've ready could be just a long blog-post. They iterate over every detail of each example for so long that it eventually becomes a book. Turns out, blog-posts aren't really as sellable as books.
DarkTree 10y ago
This sort of underminds the fact that, like any art, many authors write books because they actually enjoy the act of writing (perhaps not physically) and telling a story, and are doing so for their own sake. They aren't making their work convenient for you, but producing a work that they personally feel happy about. Sure, cut the Great Gatsby down to the bare essentials.. but then it probably wouldn't be the Great Gatsby.
- pjscott 10y ago
  I wish them all the best, and will probably be reading something else.
  - slgeorge 10y ago
    It's all a matter of personal taste and the purpose of reading a piece. Think of it as being like food, or some other sensual pleasure you enjoy. If you could condense all meals into a pill and just swallow it would you? Probably not, because sometimes you want to just 'get the sustenance' and sometimes you want to enjoy the experience, to revel in the presentation, flavour, texture and company you're with. Books are exactly the same. There are times when the we want the key pieces. But sometimes, fiction and otherwise, it's worth enjoying the writing itself, the mental images that are created, the use of language, rhytmn and flow to make both major points and to explore subtleties.
hinkley 10y ago
I tried to read The Art of Explanation a couple years ago. 60 pages in the book just started repeating itself. I gave up at about 100 pages, came back later and I can't remember if I finished it or gave up again. For a book about the Art of explaining things it sure did a lousy job of getting to the point. Often audio book versions of books are abridged. You might try those for the classics. If you get a good narrator it can add to the experience as well.
tomkat0789 10y ago
An engineering professor I greatly respect was talking about a book about the class material he liked better than the one the department said he had to use. Author A's book was 1000 pages long, Author B's (the professor's preferred) was about 100 pages. In his words, "The REAL geniuses just need 100 pages. AUTHOR A needs 1000 pages." Personally, I'd rather read 100 pages of clear, concise prose than 1000 pages of the author rambling and making sure everybody's on the same page and adding his buddy's research about something remotely related to the subject and blah blah blah...
int_19h 10y ago
For fiction, there's the separate aspect of enjoying the writing style (including the more verbose ones, or the ones with more "unnecessary" flourish) by itself. Obviously this is very subjective and depends on the reader - just keep in mind that if you find the book too long and tedious because it dwells too much on "uninteresting" points, or repeats itself, someone else might actually find all that enjoyable. In fact, that someone else may even be yourself at some later date - I have found that some previously read books make more sense and become more enjoyable after having personal life experiences that enable you to relate emotionally, or just get you interested in the subject.
- posterboy 10y ago
  > just keep in mind that if you find the book too long ... ... maybe you are reading too slow. I know I was reading faster when I was much younger
stepvhen 10y ago
If you would like an author who can do such a thing, read Borges. His fiction is rarely over 50 pages, is absolutely riveting and beautiful, and his nonfiction mirrors this.

by wppick 10y ago

CaptSpify 10y ago

I've long thought that most non-fiction and non-tech/educational books that I've ready could be just a long blog-post. They iterate over every detail of each example for so long that it eventually becomes a book. Turns out, blog-posts aren't really as sellable as books.

DarkTree 10y ago

This sort of underminds the fact that, like any art, many authors write books because they actually enjoy the act of writing (perhaps not physically) and telling a story, and are doing so for their own sake. They aren't making their work convenient for you, but producing a work that they personally feel happy about. Sure, cut the Great Gatsby down to the bare essentials.. but then it probably wouldn't be the Great Gatsby.

pjscott 10y ago
I wish them all the best, and will probably be reading something else.
- slgeorge 10y ago
  It's all a matter of personal taste and the purpose of reading a piece. Think of it as being like food, or some other sensual pleasure you enjoy. If you could condense all meals into a pill and just swallow it would you? Probably not, because sometimes you want to just 'get the sustenance' and sometimes you want to enjoy the experience, to revel in the presentation, flavour, texture and company you're with. Books are exactly the same. There are times when the we want the key pieces. But sometimes, fiction and otherwise, it's worth enjoying the writing itself, the mental images that are created, the use of language, rhytmn and flow to make both major points and to explore subtleties.

hinkley 10y ago

I tried to read The Art of Explanation a couple years ago. 60 pages in the book just started repeating itself. I gave up at about 100 pages, came back later and I can't remember if I finished it or gave up again. For a book about the Art of explaining things it sure did a lousy job of getting to the point. Often audio book versions of books are abridged. You might try those for the classics. If you get a good narrator it can add to the experience as well.

tomkat0789 10y ago

An engineering professor I greatly respect was talking about a book about the class material he liked better than the one the department said he had to use. Author A's book was 1000 pages long, Author B's (the professor's preferred) was about 100 pages. In his words, "The REAL geniuses just need 100 pages. AUTHOR A needs 1000 pages." Personally, I'd rather read 100 pages of clear, concise prose than 1000 pages of the author rambling and making sure everybody's on the same page and adding his buddy's research about something remotely related to the subject and blah blah blah...

int_19h 10y ago

For fiction, there's the separate aspect of enjoying the writing style (including the more verbose ones, or the ones with more "unnecessary" flourish) by itself. Obviously this is very subjective and depends on the reader - just keep in mind that if you find the book too long and tedious because it dwells too much on "uninteresting" points, or repeats itself, someone else might actually find all that enjoyable. In fact, that someone else may even be yourself at some later date - I have found that some previously read books make more sense and become more enjoyable after having personal life experiences that enable you to relate emotionally, or just get you interested in the subject.

posterboy 10y ago
> just keep in mind that if you find the book too long ... ... maybe you are reading too slow. I know I was reading faster when I was much younger

stepvhen 10y ago

If you would like an author who can do such a thing, read Borges. His fiction is rarely over 50 pages, is absolutely riveting and beautiful, and his nonfiction mirrors this.