11 ms·

To be fair, reading a book and engaging in a conversation about a book are two utterly different bags. And engaging in a conversation about a book is often way

To be fair, reading a book and engaging in a conversation about a book are two utterly different bags. And engaging in a conversation about a book is often way more fun. And shifting gears between the two modes is difficult. So you really can't blame people for faking it.

havblue 4y ago
I've noticed that Wheel of Time can be very fun to complain about: the plot goes nowhere fast, there's too much gender war dialogue, too many characters are belligerent idiots. But people still read it and talk about it, passionately. So it's still somehow engaging despite or maybe even because of the flaws.
- swayvil 4y ago
  In my age and wisdom I find that I can't get through a even a quarter of what I read these days. At best. 29 times out of 30. I throw it aside exclaiming, "what crap!". If it weren't for free blackmarket epubs I would have wasted a fortune. Where have all the good sci fi writers gone?
  - neilv 4y ago
    If there weren't black market epubs, would that be one component to market forces doing their thing for high-quality content? Related example, on a different factor: yesterday, I paid $51 for a nonfiction non-DRM .epub form of a book that was also available for $27 in ereader-specific DRM form. Had I instead pirated the book, that wouldn't have contributed to publisher incentive to offer non-DRM form, but that presumably would've contributed to the publisher wanting hard DRM lockdown. (Or, I suppose, might've contributed to the publisher focusing on other factors than high quality, such as large volume, to bring it back to the earlier question?)
    - swayvil 4y ago
      Here's some high-quality legal free scifi. There is no antimemetics division, fine structure, etc : https://qntm.org/fiction https://qntm.org/fiction Friendship is Optimal : https://www.fimfiction.net/story/62074/friendship-is-optimal https://www.fimfiction.net/story/62074/friendship-is-optimal

havblue 4y ago

I've noticed that Wheel of Time can be very fun to complain about: the plot goes nowhere fast, there's too much gender war dialogue, too many characters are belligerent idiots. But people still read it and talk about it, passionately. So it's still somehow engaging despite or maybe even because of the flaws.

swayvil 4y ago
In my age and wisdom I find that I can't get through a even a quarter of what I read these days. At best. 29 times out of 30. I throw it aside exclaiming, "what crap!". If it weren't for free blackmarket epubs I would have wasted a fortune. Where have all the good sci fi writers gone?
- neilv 4y ago
  If there weren't black market epubs, would that be one component to market forces doing their thing for high-quality content? Related example, on a different factor: yesterday, I paid $51 for a nonfiction non-DRM .epub form of a book that was also available for $27 in ereader-specific DRM form. Had I instead pirated the book, that wouldn't have contributed to publisher incentive to offer non-DRM form, but that presumably would've contributed to the publisher wanting hard DRM lockdown. (Or, I suppose, might've contributed to the publisher focusing on other factors than high quality, such as large volume, to bring it back to the earlier question?)
  - swayvil 4y ago
    Here's some high-quality legal free scifi. There is no antimemetics division, fine structure, etc : https://qntm.org/fiction https://qntm.org/fiction Friendship is Optimal : https://www.fimfiction.net/story/62074/friendship-is-optimal https://www.fimfiction.net/story/62074/friendship-is-optimal