How to tell, if a book is really good?

"a really good book, demands no more of you, than is necessary to make it's point"

Academics have a really hard with brevity. Research papers are notoriously long and laboured. In Universities its just not possible to get a great mark with a very short paper, no matter how much genius is contained in it. Boring is rewarded and humor frowned on. So then when people like this, write books for the public, they continue over-writing and demand too much from us readers. Why is that?

Perhaps it's because they think it will come off as more scholarly or maybe they fear a weakness in their arguement or idea. After all, how can you be taken serious and win some snooty writing award, if have the genius to write a brief, entertaining and highly informative book?

Einstien said, 'things should be made as simple as possible and not any simplier'. That means once you have sufficiently made your point, move onto the next one. And what is wrong with having a little fun along the way?

I've read more than a few books that have to do with happiness. None of them made me laugh or made me happy. What's with that? I think they missed the point. How are you going to sell me on your theories of happiness if you don't show me any joy.

So how do I determine the worth of a book to me? Glad you asked. If I get 25% of the way through the book and my feeling is that I'm bored with it, I stop and chuck the thing. This is much how I feel about watching movies. Any writer who can't catch my interest that far in, isn't worth the rest of my valuable time.

Next, I read with a highlight marker and pen at the ready. If I read something that really resonates with me, I highlight that part. If it spurs an idea, I make notes either in the margin or on a pad of paper if there isn't room. Once I've finished the book, I can simply flip through the pages...a lot of marked up pages and I know its good, a ton of marked up pages and it's great.

Also, I can go back to the book at any time and find the important points in a flash by looking for highlighted parts. Quick retrieval of the good stuff, is fun and easy. I admit that at one time, I was reluctant to mark up a fresh new book. I guess I wanted it to keep it looking pretty and new. Now I figure if I really marked up a book, I'm paying the ultimate compliment to the author.

Good grief, I just figured out how to study, I'm so disgusted, I'm going out to play!

Adios amigos

Eduardo