Comments on: The 150 Page Rule

By: Pam Phillips

Pam Phillips — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:21:35 +0000

@emucompboy
That’s what you get when you try to read a biology textbook for the fun of it. I hear all the good stuff is in the sixth edition.

By: Emucompboy

Emucompboy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:50:59 +0000

The one that I gave up lately was Campbell & Reece Biology, Seventh Edition.
There are a number of reasons I gave up on it:
1. Library lets you keep things only three weeks, which isn’t even enough time to look at the pictures
2. The book is heavy. I mean, you can’t curl up in bed with it. If you try lying down on your back with the book on your chest, you stop breathing.
3. I disagreed with some of the wording in the pages covering human evolution — feeling that in one part, the author had tried to put too much separation between us and apes. We’re great apes. I’m a great ape. You’re a great ape. LOL.

I read the first 250 pages, then spent the rest of my three weeks with the book looking at the pictures, and I didn’t finish.

By: Pam Phillips

Pam Phillips — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:16:41 +0000

Very true. Bad writing makes it a lot easier to put a book down.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:20:57 +0000

I have given up on many books, mostly because the writing was terrible, and the writer preachy. Other books have not held my attention due to the language content.

By: Pam Phillips

Pam Phillips — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:10:53 +0000

It’s easier to learn from a book you don’t like. Your heart isn’t getting in your brain’s way.

Thanks for stopping by!

By: JGS

JGS — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:47:38 +0000

I remember the *first* time I quit a book–I was a teenager, and the book was some generic sword n’ sorcery re-hash. I don’t know if it was a sign of reading maturity or what, I just remember the sudden dawning realization that this book was a lousy imitation of books I’d already read, even if it was about dragons.

Kind of like when your palate wakes up and you realize that McDonalds is not, in fact, very good.

These days I find that even if the book is terrible I keep reading, so I can analyze what makes it terrible and avoid it in my own writing. Even pleasure reading is work now… stupid writing classes.