I’ve wondered about something recently, and I would like to check back with everybody’s opinions. First of all, I’d like to ask the readers of 博士の愛した数式 two questions regarding the pace of this book. (Sorry that this is coming so late, but life was too much in the way for me to properly make up my mind about this.)
What did you think about the lengths of the weekly assignments in the 博士の愛した数式 book club?
- I thought they were about the same length as for other books in this club
- I thought they were shorter than for other books in this club
- I thought they were longer than for other books in this club
- I don’t know
- I did not read the book
0 voters
What did you think about the weekly “workload” in the 博士の愛した数式 book club?
- It took me about the same time as for other books in this club
- It took me longer than for other books in this club
- I needed less time than for other books in this club
- I don’t know / I have no other books to compare to
- I did not read the book
0 voters
Why am I asking this? (Please read only after answering the polls)
I compared the numbers of pages of this book in physical form and as indicated on Bookwalker, and I found a significant difference (232 pages on Bookwalker vs. 291 pages physical). On further investigating where the Bookwalker number comes from, it turns out that Bookwalker uses a “standardized page count” for their books. I got curious and checked the numbers of other books:
| Book title | Physical # | Bookwalker # | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hakase | 291 | 232 | 80% |
| Kemono no Souja II | 488 | 407 | 83% |
| Kemono no Souja I | 360 | 317 | 88% |
| Konbini Ningen | 168 | 147 | 88% |
| Night Market | 218 | 193 | 89% |
| Koteki no Kanata | 392 | 348 | 89% |
| Kitchen | 200 | 180 | 90% |
| Haruhi | 328 | 302 | 92% |
| Yougisha X | 394 | 373 | 95% |
| Hyouka | 224 | 223 | 100% |
| Kino no Tabi | 222 | 248 | 112% |
So it seems that many books are in the range where one physical page contains 88%-92% of the text of one Bookwalker “standard page”, but we do have some outliers: Hyouka and Kino no Tabi contain more (even a lot more in the case of Kino no Tabi) text per physical page, while Hakase contains quite a bit less text per page.
So I was wondering whether we should take this information into account when establishing the reading schedule for a book? I’m mainly wondering because this is the Intermediate club, and while the weekly amount of text does not matter as much for those who are solidly at an intermediate (or higher) reading level, it might be more important for people just having moved over from the Beginner book club.
Of course this should not be the only thing to look at, because difficulty also plays an important role. So less text might nicely counterbalance a more difficult read (which I’m somewhat expecting to be the case for Hakase) but more text + more difficulty together might be a deal-breaker for some.
Or am I overthinking this?? I’d love to hear your opinions!