September 13, 2008


should I read this?

Merlin Mann lists his 90 second method for deciding whether to read a book.

Then there is the turn to page 69 rule, popularized by Marjorie Kehe.

My rule is even simpler. If the first sentence isn’t written well, the rest of the book isn’t written well.

posted by Deron Bauman in books, tips and tricks 

comments

6 Responses to “should I read this?”

  1. Daryl Scroggins on September 13th, 2008 at 11:41 am

    I’m with you, Deron. I’m sure I have missed a few important works this way, but given that I won’t live long enough to read everything–this is a good way to get at most of what matters.

  2. Lucy on September 13th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    Well yeah, and the same book can appeal and not appeal to you, grab you and make you feel indifferent to it, at different moments too. For instance, I made a deal with a friend recently that we would trade 2 books that had rocked each of our worlds and talk about them. We were both living in Barcelona at the same time, and seeing each other regularly so it seemed like a great idea. My choice for her was JM Coetzee’s Disgrace, and hers for me was Virginia Woolf’s The Waves. Well, we each acquired the books, and started reading. And were each totally underwhelmed. Now, Caroline finished Disgrace all the way through to the end, and we had a number of conversations about it because she felt very different about it than I did. I love that shit. But I am more of a book wuss, and so I got a chapter into The Waves and the whole thing kind of petered out really invisibly. It just didn’t grab me at all. But I hope I get to read it some time. I think there will be a moment for it.

  3. Deron Bauman on September 13th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    there are definitely moments for books that in some cases transcend the qualities of the book or ideally amplify them so that the two meet and support each other.

  4. Lucy on September 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    yeah you know, like a record that just rocks your world for a while and ever after you can listen to that record and your relationship to it is not about whether you like it or not. It’s kind of in your blood. Cos it was around, in your life.

  5. Lucy on September 13th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    The moment and the book meeting and amplifying each other. I like that. I had that experience while reading Disgrace, and most recently, intensely, actually talking about The Age of Iron. It all happened in the conversation, like the yoga really happens in the rest.

  6. looking for ugly : clusterflock on September 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 am

    [...] Which reminds me of my system for deciding whether to read a book. [...]

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