A simple index drawn from e-books shows which best sellers are going unread (we're looking at you, Piketty).
by: Jordan Ellenberg
It's beach time, and you've probably already scanned a hundred lists of summer reads. Sadly overlooked is that other crucial literary category: the summer non-read, the book that you pick up, all full of ambition, at the beginning of June and put away, the bookmark now and forever halfway through chapter 1, on Labor Day. The classic of this genre isStephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time," widely called "the most unread book of all time."
How can we find today's greatest non-reads? Amazon's "Popular Highlights" feature provides one quick and dirty measure. Every book's Kindle page lists the five passages most highlighted by readers. If every reader is getting to the end, those highlights could be scattered throughout the length of the book. If nobody has made it past the introduction, the popular highlights will be clustered at the beginning.
Thus, the Hawking Index (HI): Take the page numbers of a book's five top highlights, average them, and divide by the number of pages in the whole book. The higher the number, the more of the book we're guessing most people are likely to have read. (Disclaimer: This is not remotely scientific and is for entertainment purposes only!) Here's how some current best sellers and classics weigh in, from highest HI to lowest:
"The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt : 98.5%
This seems like exactly the kind of long, impressive literary novel that people would carry around ostentatiously for a while and never finish. But it's just the opposite. All five top highlights come from the final 20 pages, where the narrative falls away and Ms. Tartt spells out her themes in a cascade of ringing, straight-out assertions.
This seems like exactly the kind of long, impressive literary novel that people would carry around ostentatiously for a while and never finish. But it's just the opposite. All five top highlights come from the final 20 pages, where the narrative falls away and Ms. Tartt spells out her themes in a cascade of ringing, straight-out assertions.
"Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins : 43.4%
Another novel that gets read all the way through. "Because sometimes things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them" is the most highlighted sentence in the seven-year history of Kindle, marked by 28,703 readers. Romantic heat in the late going also helps to produce a high score.
Another novel that gets read all the way through. "Because sometimes things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them" is the most highlighted sentence in the seven-year history of Kindle, marked by 28,703 readers. Romantic heat in the late going also helps to produce a high score.
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald : 28.3%
Like "Catching Fire," a love triangle set against a dystopian America deformed by vast inequalities of wealth and power. The most popular highlight isn't the boats against the current or the green light on the dock. In a nice piece of literary crowdsourcing, it's Nick Carraway's line, "Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known." It's the axis around which the novel spins.
Like "Catching Fire," a love triangle set against a dystopian America deformed by vast inequalities of wealth and power. The most popular highlight isn't the boats against the current or the green light on the dock. In a nice piece of literary crowdsourcing, it's Nick Carraway's line, "Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known." It's the axis around which the novel spins.
"Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James: 25.9%
Perhaps surprisingly, the top highlights here are family-friendly. You should apologize to the people you thought were reading this as pure smut, because they actually were just noting the names of the characters' favorite operas and marking, for further study, slogans like "The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."
Perhaps surprisingly, the top highlights here are family-friendly. You should apologize to the people you thought were reading this as pure smut, because they actually were just noting the names of the characters' favorite operas and marking, for further study, slogans like "The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."
"Flash Boys" by Michael Lewis : 21.7%
Mr. Lewis's latest trip through the sewers of financial innovation reads like a novel and gets highlighted like one, too. It takes the crown in my sampling of nonfiction books.
Mr. Lewis's latest trip through the sewers of financial innovation reads like a novel and gets highlighted like one, too. It takes the crown in my sampling of nonfiction books.
"Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg : 12.3%
The top highlight in this no-nonsense self-help book—"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any"—is a sentence that Ms. Sandberg didn't even write: She attributes it to Alice Walker. Delegating and outsourcing are the keys to success for today's busy professional!
The top highlight in this no-nonsense self-help book—"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any"—is a sentence that Ms. Sandberg didn't even write: She attributes it to Alice Walker. Delegating and outsourcing are the keys to success for today's busy professional!
"Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman : 6.8%
Apparently the reading was more slow than fast. To be fair, Prof. Kahneman's book, the summation of a life's work at the forefront of cognitive psychology, is more than twice as long as "Lean In," so his score probably represents just as much total reading as Ms. Sandberg's does.
Apparently the reading was more slow than fast. To be fair, Prof. Kahneman's book, the summation of a life's work at the forefront of cognitive psychology, is more than twice as long as "Lean In," so his score probably represents just as much total reading as Ms. Sandberg's does.
"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking: 6.6%
The original avatar backs up its reputation pretty well. But it's outpaced by one more recent entrant—which brings us to our champion, the most unread book of this year (and perhaps any other). Ladies and gentlemen, I present:
The original avatar backs up its reputation pretty well. But it's outpaced by one more recent entrant—which brings us to our champion, the most unread book of this year (and perhaps any other). Ladies and gentlemen, I present:
"Capital in the Twenty-First Century" by Thomas Piketty : 2.4%
Yes, it came out just three months ago. But the contest isn't even close. Mr. Piketty's book is almost 700 pages long, and the last of the top five popular highlights appears on page 26. Stephen Hawking is off the hook; from now on, this measure should be known as the Piketty Index.
Yes, it came out just three months ago. But the contest isn't even close. Mr. Piketty's book is almost 700 pages long, and the last of the top five popular highlights appears on page 26. Stephen Hawking is off the hook; from now on, this measure should be known as the Piketty Index.
So take it easy on yourself, readers, if you don't finish whatever edifying tome you picked out for vacation. You're far from alone.
Which recent books have you left unfinished? What percentage of them did you read before you gave up? Tweet your responses with #unreadbooks.
—Dr. Ellenberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of "How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking."
from: Wall Street Journal
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