Why Finish Books?
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If you are not enjoying a book, feel free to put it down. I have many times. But I don't pretend that I have formed a complete and valid judgment. I forfeit that when I fail to comprehend the work as a whole.
As for whether endings are "necessary" when you have enjoyed a book, it depends on how necessary the author intended it to be, not on whether (as the author was rightly, in my opinion, angered by) the reader felt he was "done." It's a bit like knocking the wings off a statue because you think it looks better that way. What you think looks better isn't the point. The statue was created that way because that's the way the creator wanted it created.
Personally, I think it is critical to read every word as the author intended. Otherwise you are appointing yourself as editor over their artistic imagination. You are in charge of your own time and enjoyment, but not the structure and content of their work.
As a teenager I spend a few weeks reading Ivan Hortan's beginning C++ in depth. But, I skipped the last few hundred pages focused on the STL. I wanted to know the ins and outs of the language, but after that I had what I wanted and I moved on. And considering it's been 15 years and I have never seen a reason to go back and read that section or even write much C++ it was probably a wise choice.
Now you could argue that different rules apply to fiction, but the choice is the same. Do I risk continuing or should I quit and try something else and it's the authors job to convince you that the rest of the journey is still worth it. Feeling you can only judge what you finish is just the sunk cost fallacy in another form, they failed and it's ok to call them on it.
But yes, I would argue that different rules apply to fiction. Completion is an essential part of the process. If you don't like the book, or don't want to finish, by all means don't finish! I've quit books for a number of reasons. If the book isn't holding your interest, that's - well, to say it's the author's fault is perhaps assigning blame where blame doesn't apply, but rather say that the fault is not yours. It's the job of the book to entertain, and while it may entertain some, it doesn't for you. You can put a book down in good conscience, certainly. But I disagree with the author's idea that finishing a book is purely optional.
For reference works, or almost any type of nonfiction these days, nonlinear consumption makes a lot of sense. How many of us have read a dictionary or an encyclopedia from cover to cover? How many of us have read a collection of essays in a perfectly linear manner? Any sort of book that does not confer a specific benefit upon linear consumption offers no real incentive for such. Linearity is largely a convention to which we've grown accustomed, and I would argue that the era of software and hyperlinks -- cross-references at the click of the button -- is steadily eroding that convention. And authors will start to intend for, and eventually optimize for, newer modes of consumption.
Suppose you read 20 books a year. With 50 years of life, that's 1000 more books in your lifetime. (Or 2000, or 5000).
Why waste a slot on a book that isn't useful? Many books, esp. modern non-fiction, are needlessly padded to fill a length requirement (since a 20-page "book" can't be taken seriously).
I read "The Evolution of Cooperation" and it honestly could have been done in 30 pages. Instead, I foolishly suffered through 215 of them.
Also: It's been a long time since I read Godel Escher Bach, so I cannot trust this for sure, but at the time I got the feeling there were hints that the book as such ended before the last page, the remainder was just there as filler.
I vote more for "What Happens Next" and less for the "Hollywood Ending".
Note: in keeping with the theme of the article, I didn't read the second half..
I finish most books I start, but I choose what to read very carefully. However, I stop playing video games partially through all the time and feel little to no remorse over not finishing them.
So here's how I cheated. At one point the main character suddenly takes a trip off to Brazil, and I thought, "man, this is getting ridiculous. I bet if I just skip ahead to whenever he comes back from Brazil, I won't have missed much." It turns out that while I had missed some important things, like a new girlfriend who becomes a major player in the story, I saw enough of them afterwards to conjecture about what had happened in Brazil.
What's more interesting to me is the set of books that I keep returning to. I have probably read Zelazny's Great Book of Amber (which is itself 10 novels) five or six times in my life, maybe more. It just captures me and takes me on a ride, each time.
(Disclaimer: I also read choose your own adventure books straight through.)
Now, Amber.. Loved the first book and have read it repeatedly, but could never get far into the sequels.
More seriously I can see that it might well be a love it or hate it kind of book, sometimes the ability to provoke strong responses can be as important as the polarity of the response. Although by that measure teenage vampire lit has merit...
I'm already saving plenty of time by picking what I read carefully.
If I decide a book is not worth continuing (even if I spent money for it because the free sample was inconclusive) then I won't continue it. I'm too time poor to waste my life on bad books.