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We now come to the next distillate - Diesel Oil.
This fraction of book-hooks can be labeled: "Impatient Readers". Or, "Storyliners".
They are interested neither in the craft of writing, nor plot, nor theme, nor the setting, nor the frills and flowers of writing. They want the story. The sooner they get it the better. They have no time to waste. Often, after reading the first fifty pages, they turn to the last 3 pages to get to know how it all ends...who got killed, who got caught, who are the winners, who the losers, and how it all ends.
Francis Bacon said:
The man belonging to this species never reads for readings own sake nor for pleasure. But he would do well in the All-India Central Services Exams like IFS, IAS, IPS and their cousins, particularly in the Interview Section, if he is clever enough to steer the questions his way...don't tell this to my IAS B-i-L...he will beat me up.
Finally there is this story told me by my friend NP:
One of his friends happened to be doing his BA in Eng Lit at Nellore where my Shakespeare Uncle was teaching. Apparently he was too busy to read up Hamlet before the final exams and so made an appointment with his class topper to meet at Ramana Vilas for a few minutes the night before the Drama Paper. And he asked his friend to quickly answer a few questions, like:
"Is Hamlet a tragedy or a comedy?"
"Who is the hero and who the heroine and who the villain?"
"How does the story start and how does it end?"
"Who are the survivors and who get killed and how and by whom?"
"Are there any soliloquies and if so how many?"
When he got this info, he got up and thanked his friend and said:
"Leave the rest to me...I am an expert in fillers and if you have read one Shakespeare Drama, you get to know how every other goes.."
Apparently he passed in flying colors in this Paper, scoring way above those who mugged up the entire text but didn't know which answer is where.
I recall an injunction to the authors of American Physical Society Journals that went something like this:
"Abstracts should be as brief as possible, but not so brief that the reader has to read the entire Paper to follow its Abstract"
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We now come to the next distillate - Diesel Oil.
This fraction of book-hooks can be labeled: "Impatient Readers". Or, "Storyliners".
They are interested neither in the craft of writing, nor plot, nor theme, nor the setting, nor the frills and flowers of writing. They want the story. The sooner they get it the better. They have no time to waste. Often, after reading the first fifty pages, they turn to the last 3 pages to get to know how it all ends...who got killed, who got caught, who are the winners, who the losers, and how it all ends.
Francis Bacon said:
"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be
chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts,
others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly,
and with diligence and attention."
For them all books are to be drunk bottoms up if only they could be liquified. They rarely buy books. They borrow them from Lending Libraries @ Rs 2 for 24 hours; and money is precious..the quicker they can finish one the sooner they can borrow another.
They would prefer Abridged Versions...the more abridged the better. During the 1960s when the cold war was at its peak, Readers Digest was very popular...it was a staunch supporter of the American Values like valor, magnanimity, chastity, family, thrift, work ethic, and of course, Capitalism as opposed to Communism. To sell these sedate ideals, they had a fat pull-out at the end of each issue. It was called the Condensed Book Section. In 50 pages it tells you the entire story of the latest bestseller of 500 pages and it was cheap at Rs 2.
They would rather read Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare than wade through the original heavy drama itself.
They are always in a hurry.
But they want to be considered 'well-read', so they can show off their erudition at Parties where once upon a time books used to be discussed rather than guns and sex.
They also like Book Reviews. Often the book reviewers tell the story up to the middle of the book and then leave out the end. That is ok with them. Something is better than nothing.
They also browse apt entries in Encyclopedias beforehand.
Abut encyclopedias there used to be this popular joke: One novice entered a bookshop and was scanning through the titles from a distance. And he found written on the spine of one of them: "How to Hug". He bought it surreptitiously and took it home and eagerly opened the first page...only to find that it was the seventh volume of a popular encyclopedia.
Autocrat mentions the story of a man who was Master Know-All in a gathering on every subject...till Milwaukee. But knew nothing on Montana, not to speak of Zilwaukee.:
Discreet investigations revealed that he progressed up to the middle of M in Encyclopedia Americana.
The man belonging to this species never reads for readings own sake nor for pleasure. But he would do well in the All-India Central Services Exams like IFS, IAS, IPS and their cousins, particularly in the Interview Section, if he is clever enough to steer the questions his way...don't tell this to my IAS B-i-L...he will beat me up.
Finally there is this story told me by my friend NP:
One of his friends happened to be doing his BA in Eng Lit at Nellore where my Shakespeare Uncle was teaching. Apparently he was too busy to read up Hamlet before the final exams and so made an appointment with his class topper to meet at Ramana Vilas for a few minutes the night before the Drama Paper. And he asked his friend to quickly answer a few questions, like:
"Is Hamlet a tragedy or a comedy?"
"Who is the hero and who the heroine and who the villain?"
"How does the story start and how does it end?"
"Who are the survivors and who get killed and how and by whom?"
"Are there any soliloquies and if so how many?"
When he got this info, he got up and thanked his friend and said:
"Leave the rest to me...I am an expert in fillers and if you have read one Shakespeare Drama, you get to know how every other goes.."
Apparently he passed in flying colors in this Paper, scoring way above those who mugged up the entire text but didn't know which answer is where.
I recall an injunction to the authors of American Physical Society Journals that went something like this:
"Abstracts should be as brief as possible, but not so brief that the reader has to read the entire Paper to follow its Abstract"
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