Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Must Read Faster!


Awhile back I read a blog post by a certain favorite author that I can't seem to get out of my head. Well, he's actually written a few posts recently that have stuck with me, but this one post particularly because it's all about books.

This author, Dan Wells, shared a mathematical formula for how many books we will most likely read before we die. Click on over to his post to read it and see this formula. But basically you take your age and minus that from how long you think you'll live, and times it by how many books you normally read a year.

Using a life expectancy of 80 and an average figure of 90 books a year (obviously that number will go way down as I get older, but for now, that's where I'm at!) I get the number of 2970.

Does that sound like a lot? Or hardly any?

Here's what it makes me wonder:

-- what books should I be spending my time reading? All the classics? All the new books? All the books by my favorite authors? And what about the never ending re-reading question? Should I even "waste" my limited number of books by doing re-reads?

--and if you tend to think that I should only be reading "good" books and don't waste time on the "bad"... how would we even define that? A book is mostly good or bad simply depending on my mood....

-- does this mean I have all the more power to DNF a book if I want? No guilt? No regrets? No apologies? Ah, but still, what if that book ends up being a favorite if I stick with it? What if it's just my mood again?

-- should I try to up the amount of books I read? Read less chunksters and more littles? Or more chunksters and less littles?

In the end, I've decided there's no use feeling stressed by this! And I'm sure I won't change my reading habits in any significant way, except for maybe being easier on myself for not finishing a book that's just not working... or at the very least being okay to put it down and try it again later.

So... what's your number and what do you worry most about when you see it? Or does the thought even worry you at all?

Anyway, bottom line? GET READING! :)

24 comments:

  1. I feel very guilty that I have all these wonderful books to read and have not been successful at all!

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    1. Kailana: But you are successful! You read more than the rest of us even during a slump! :)

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  2. Interesting! I've got 2405 books to read, assuming I keep up a pace of 4 books a month. Since I mostly read for fun, I think I'll just keep on reading whatever I'm in the mood for. :)
    But it is kind of sad to think of all the books I'll never read.

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    1. Kathy: It is sad, I know. But I guess we can just do our best!

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  3. My number is only 920 if I go with about 20 books per year, which has been my average. That doesn't even cover my entire TBR list!!! I need to get reading faster. Or, I need to seriously cut down on my TBR list. Sigh. Why can't I spend all my time reading?

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  4. My # is 2650. I like Dan Wells, will go to his post.

    I do not reread and I have put a page count on myself, not interested in 550/600+

    If a book becomes torture I will DNF and other times I say not the right timing and I will try again which sometimes could be a year or more later.

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    1. Marce: Interesting about the page numbers! I couldn't do that... too many awesome huge books. :)

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  5. How fun! If I read an average of 100 books a year (which the past couple years as been normal), I have about 5480 more books to read. Which sounds like a lot, but what scares me is knowing that I just may not live until 80 and I could die next year, which means so many less books...

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    1. Sarah: It DOES sound like a lot. I try for 100 a year, but the past few years, I've not made it. Oh, well...

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  6. hehe, I read only 70-80 per year, so I have no time to read all I want! I don't know what to do! :)
    I sometimes think about giving up the books that I don't like or I found boring, but I feel guilty and I finally read them.

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  7. that seems like a lot to me. Dan Wells is awesome I love that he posted that! I gave up on reading books that I "should" once I ditched grad school. I'm all about reading Whatever.I.Want and I find that I can get so much from even what other people might think are fluff and just for fun.

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    1. Marissa: Yeah, huge Dan Wells fan here. I'm pretty much about reading whatever too... but it's fun to ponder what that means...

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  8. Math = Yuck! ;)

    I have no idea how long I'll live and I don't even want to hazard a guess, lol. I do know that I won't live long enough to read all the books that I want to read! Thinking about that makes me a bit sad.

    The power of DNF! Yes! I won't spend time with a book that doesn't dazzle me or teach me something. Who has time for mediocre books? Not this girl :)

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    1. Jannifer: I agree with your math ideas. Yep. And the DNF? I'm still trying to get there.

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  9. I'm always finding some books I feel like I MUST read and I tend to read them first because you just never know what is coming your way.

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  10. I love doing this kind of calculation, but it stresses me out big time too. There are so many books I want to get to, and I don't want to waste my time. But I also want to have fun and discover books randomly. Ah, the dilemmas of reading.

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    1. Jessica: There's something to be said about the random books, that's for sure. I'm good with them.

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  11. Well this is kind of sad and inspring at the same time. I got 2600. That doesn't seem like enough! Maybe I should think my whole never DNF rule but at the same time I didn't like Tale of Two Cities until the end. I think this makes me want to prioritize more and make sure I'm picking books I think I'll LOVE.

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    1. Jessica B: Yep, it's makes you think a bit, huh? But hopefully not too long. Back to reading!

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  12. Time spent with a book you enjoy is never wasted. I love to re-read old favorites.

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  13. You know, 3000 books is a lot, but not compared to the number of books I'd like to read! I actually find that figure horribly depressing...

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