Area 51 » Arts

The Literature site didn't have enough activity during the beta, and has been closed. You can download the data dump of all questions here.

148

followers

Announcements

My writing proposal was originally called "Books and Writing", but I dropped the Books part as it was for slightly different audiences. Let's hope they can both live as separate sites. area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1623/writing – juanformoso Jun 17 '10 at 13:44

With "libraries" there already is a proposal about collecting books and organizing collection of books: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/12432/… The most voted question so far would also fit there. What is the purpose of the "Books" proposal in contrast to the libraries proposal? Writing books? Publishing books? Reading books? – Jakob Oct 13 '10 at 16:14

why is "What happens in Chapter [X] of [Book]?" off-topic? If I don't understand a chapter I'm reading, is this (future) SE site not the place to ask? – Lukman Apr 24 '11 at 4:26

show 5 more announcements

66 Example Questions (10 closed)

active newest votes

up vote 21 down vote

added by Sniffer, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Oct 4 '10 at 17:53

This is IMHO the great benefit of sites like this - recommendation based on similarity, crowesourced. Currently best source of this information are rertailers like Amazon that a have large dataset of peoples buying behaviour – Miro A. Jul 10 '10 at 18:06

up vote 20 down vote

added by nik, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Oct 4 '10 at 17:51

Start with HG wells, in time you can get to Asimov. – Binoj Antony Jun 17 '10 at 9:40

I'd also suggest Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card to some people who have been reading a lot of non-science-fiction work. – nik Jun 17 '10 at 13:59

up vote 20 down vote

added by juanformoso Jun 17 '10 at 18:14

	Isn't that a pretty subjective question though? BY THE WAY, please remember to spend your (5) votes per category on the questions that have few or none! – Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:30
	@Marc, not allowing subjective questions is a thing of SO, not every SE site feels the same way, have you seen programmers.stackexchange.com ? – juanformoso Sep 18 '10 at 17:37
	I retract my original comment after considering all the questions on this site and its general nature. However, you are directly contradicting what you said 7 hours ago here: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/20517/… Are you implying the proposal editor should re-name the site "Factual Book Q&A"? The idea is ridiculous. – Mark C Sep 22 '10 at 21:16

up vote 19 down vote

added by Binoj Antony Jun 17 '10 at 5:36

	Good example. I'd ask Officer Barbrady :P – adamcodes Jun 24 '10 at 20:42
	Indeed a question to be addressed. – Barton Aug 18 '10 at 3:57
	it's "Atlas Shrugged". – SilentGhost Sep 16 '10 at 10:09
	I don't know whats wrong but I am unable to edit the title... – Binoj Antony Sep 17 '10 at 10:03

up vote 19 down vote

added by juanformoso Jun 18 '10 at 17:29

	I'm curious if this would be on or off topic – juanformoso Jun 18 '10 at 17:30
	Yes, Does it amount to a scheme that might be potentially considered as piracy? And, if so, would that make it off-topic/banned here? – nik Jun 19 '10 at 6:03
	I didn't mean the actual books but which ones I own – juanformoso Jun 19 '10 at 12:27
	Lending books is not piracy. In most Europe, making private copies (digital or otherwise) to share privately with friends/relatives/whatever isn't illegal either. – Jaime Pardos Sep 19 '10 at 15:23
	This better fits to the "libraries" proposal. Good librarians know dozens of such online resources (I'd recommend LibraryThing) – Jakob Oct 13 '10 at 16:17

up vote 18 down vote

added by Sniffer, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Oct 4 '10 at 17:53

I'd have been happier if this question asked about the chronological order of publication. After all, that's virtually never wholly wrong to use as an order of reading. – Donal Fellows Oct 3 '10 at 15:54

up vote 10 down vote

added by nik Jun 17 '10 at 9:35

up vote 9 down vote

added by rlb.usa Jun 21 '10 at 7:53

this seems a little meta-ish, but very on-topic for discussions of "books" .. maintenance and care seems to be important to me – warren Aug 25 '10 at 3:38

I don't think it's "meta" at all. "Meta" would be a question about the kinds of questions we ask on the site. See the above,"I'm storing large amount of books for several years. How can I keep them in good condition?" I think that is an excellent question. – Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:25

up vote 7 down vote

added by Miro A., edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jul 15 '10 at 9:46

up vote 6 down vote

added by Binoj Antony Jun 17 '10 at 5:33

	I don't consider this a good example question, because in the end everybody will come up with his/her favorite book. In my opinion it would better to ask: "I have to choose between book A and book B. What would you prefer and why?" – qbi Jul 18 '10 at 23:46
	Yes, avoid "best" unless it really is provable. – Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:16

up vote 6 down vote

added by juanformoso Jul 6 '10 at 15:03

up vote 5 down vote

added by Sniffer Jul 14 '10 at 17:45

up vote 3 down vote

added by Beska Jun 17 '10 at 13:58

If you vote this as "off-topic", please explain why. I think this is a legitimate question: would you vote the same way for a question about Kindles on an eBook site? – Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:28

up vote 3 down vote

added by Mehper C. Palavuzlar Jul 12 '10 at 11:18

up vote 3 down vote

added by Mehper C. Palavuzlar Jul 12 '10 at 11:20

up vote 3 down vote

added by David McDavidson Jul 31 '10 at 0:22

This rings as "Homework" tagged to me. – Rixius Aug 24 '10 at 16:39

up vote 3 down vote

added by Maulrus Sep 14 '10 at 14:35

	I thought this might be a little subjective, but so are some of the most on-topic questions. With books you pretty much have to throw out the concept of a subjective question, cause any question that isn't "What software can I read with?" will probably result in a different answer from everyone. – Maulrus Sep 14 '10 at 14:36
	I don't think that's quite accurate---this is a much different question from "Who's the best mystery writer?", although it could benefit from more definition of what you mean by "intellectually challenging". – Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:15
	Yeah, the message body would probably include "By intellectually challenging, I mean a book that really tested your mind, a book that left you mentally gasping for air at some of its passages" or something like that – Maulrus Sep 19 '10 at 23:16

up vote 2 down vote

added by AVD Jul 3 '10 at 2:24

up vote 2 down vote

added by Sniffer Jul 14 '10 at 13:03

There's nothing wrong with this question, but it's basically the same as the travel guides question. If you put "travel guides" in brackets in your other question, it would be understood that travel guides is just an example and could easily be substituted with "books for learning a foreign language" or anything else. – kitukwfyer Jul 20 '10 at 18:32

up vote 2 down vote

added by juanformoso Aug 24 '10 at 15:59

up vote 2 down vote

added by nik Aug 26 '10 at 15:24

up vote 2 down vote

added by tsudot Sep 14 '10 at 9:38

up vote 1 down vote

added by nik Jun 17 '10 at 9:32

closed as off topic by adamcodes, A J, Grant Palin, random, Kyra Jul 13 '10 at 20:21

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	This question is inquiring the possible wider circulation of a book when it is available as a paperback -- something, publishers have lately been focusing on too. – nik Jun 19 '10 at 6:00
	The answer should be obvious, I think, unless the book is worthwhile and you intend to keep it for a long time. – Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:17

up vote 1 down vote

added by Beska Jun 17 '10 at 14:02

closed as off topic by adamcodes, Grant Palin, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, moodygrrl, wdypdx22 Aug 12 '10 at 6:54

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

I think this should probably be off-topic, since it's primarily concerned with magazines, rather than books, but we'll see what the community thinks. – Beska Jun 17 '10 at 14:02

up vote 1 down vote

added by Tim Jul 12 '10 at 1:22

Mostly asking for speculation, rather than fact or the opinions of the participants. – In the Booley House Aug 10 '10 at 21:29

up vote 1 down vote

added by Mehper C. Palavuzlar Jul 12 '10 at 11:17

up vote 1 down vote

added by Sniffer Jul 14 '10 at 13:04

up vote 1 down vote

added by Max Gontar Aug 6 '10 at 5:40

I think this is a little too subjective. People base judgements like this on personal criteria that may or may not agree with yours. If you rephrase it as "Best eBook reader gadget for [function]?" it might be more on-topic. – kitukwfyer Aug 12 '10 at 0:06

up vote 1 down vote

added by Gordon Gustafson Aug 27 '10 at 1:29

up vote 1 down vote

added by marinade Sep 8 '10 at 22:33

up vote 1 down vote

added by Mark C Sep 18 '10 at 4:41

up vote 1 down vote

added by Paweł Dyda Sep 18 '10 at 13:54

There's already a similar question – Jaime Pardos Sep 19 '10 at 15:21

up vote 1 down vote

added by wdypdx22 Oct 4 '10 at 5:11

up vote 1 down vote

added by Ryan Berger Oct 6 '10 at 3:01

up vote 0 down vote

added by Binoj Antony Jun 17 '10 at 5:34

closed as off topic by David McDavidson, Nikhil Garg, A J, Grant Palin, random Jul 7 '10 at 20:05

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote 0 down vote

added by Beska Jun 17 '10 at 13:56

closed as off topic by nik, Wilhelm, juanformoso, Willbill, A J Jul 1 '10 at 14:13

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	(I think) this is off topic. Mentions books, but is primarily concerned with another topic(s) (publishing/writing). – Beska Jun 17 '10 at 13:57
	area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1623/writing – juanformoso Jun 18 '10 at 17:28
	Yes, perfect example to redirect to writing proposal. – Binoj Antony Jun 19 '10 at 12:34

up vote 0 down vote

added by Beska, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Oct 4 '10 at 17:54

closed as off topic by adamcodes, A J, Emily J , Mehper C. Palavuzlar, Kyra Jul 13 '10 at 20:21

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	I really can't decide if this is on-topic or not. I lean towards not, but could be convinced otherwise. Community thoughts? – Beska Jun 17 '10 at 14:05
	Yes a tough one. – Binoj Antony Jun 18 '10 at 6:22
	I'm trying to start a Q&A site for libraries, where this would be a perfect question- check it out! – Emily J Jul 10 '10 at 2:12
	And Emily did start the site, which is now just lacking people to commit to it: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/12432/… – Joe Oct 13 '10 at 20:49