"Hypothesis: There is more to be gained intellectually by reading 10 novel synopses on Wikipedia that reading any one of the novels all the way through." That

"Hypothesis: There is more to be gained intellectually by reading 10 novel synopses on Wikipedia that reading any one of the novels all the way through." That depends completely on what your goal is. What do you "gain intellectually" when knowing the overall story? Aren't novels more about the experience you get while reading them? For news I can understand summaries can be as good as the whole thing, especially if you're not that interested but want to know what is going on.