Books read explanation

This activity involves keeping a record of books that we have read. If you have any queries or suggestions or you want to join in, please contact me.

Rules

Reading a book

You can include a book as one you have read if you have read the whole of the main part of the book. You can read the book in any format. You can listen to somebody else read the book to you, so long as you heard the whole book.

Certainty

To include a book as one you have read, you must be sure that you have read that book. You cannot include a book if you think that you might not have read that book. You do not need any other evidence.

When you read a book

You can include any books you read between your birth and your death.

Reporting a book that you have read

When you have read a book that you want to add to your list, please tell me before you forget about it. Please use the correct spelling of the title and author of the book whenever you can do so or tell me that you are unsure of the spelling so that I can try to find the correct spelling. Please use sentence case for the title. If the book is part of a series, and you want to include this information on the list, please tell me the name of the series. When relevant, please also tell me the number of the book in the series. I usually ask for clarifying information when necessary, but you can make things easier by giving enough information when you first tell me.

Soon after you tell me about a book you have read, I should tell you when I have updated the website. If you do not hear from me, please assume that I have not received your report and try telling me again.

When you are preparing your first report and that report includes many books that are already on the list, you might like to download the list of books as a comma-separated values file to save yourself some typing. You can open this file in a spreadsheet application and add an additional column with entries that show the books you have read. Alternatively, you can open the file in a text editor and add a comma followed by a number 1 (or some other indicator) to show the books that you have read. You can add the books that are not already on the list to the end of the list. You can then send me the file that you have edited.

Results

There are several different forms of output.

Data tables

Each data table has two columns. The first column contains the title and author of the book and the second column contains the list of the names of the participants who have read that book, listed alphabetically by name. After the row that contains the column headings, there are rows for the books on the list. These rows appear in the alphabetical order of the titles of the books.

When there are books that only one participant has read, there is a separate data table including just these books.

There are additional data tables that list the books by author and series.

For each data table (or collection of data tables listed by category), there is a comma-separated values file that contains the same information.

The main page lists the data tables and gives the number of books in each data table (or collection of data tables) after its name.

Rankings

The rankings give the names of the participants and a numeric value for each participant listed in descending numerical order. We do not include participants with a numeric value of zero.

we use a few different numeric measures:

  • The "read" measure gives the total number of books read.
  • The "read by only one participant" measure gives the total number of books read by only one participant.
  • The "proportions" measure gives each participant who has read a book a value equal to one divided by the total number of participants who have read that book and then sums this for all books read by that participant. We display the measure with up to two decimal places. The measure gives a value between that of the "read" measure and the "read by only one participant" measure.

We give each ranking both with and without dates:

  • The ranking without dates is a numbered list.
  • The ranking with dates is a table with a row for each participant. The table includes a column for the most recent date when the rank changed for each participant. The table includes a column for the most recent date when the corresponding numeric value changed for each participant. When the ranking contains at least one participant, the last row in the table gives the number of participants in the ranking, the date the ranking last changed, the total numeric value for all participants, and the date the numeric values last changed.

Lists

There are lists of the books read by each participant and the books read only by that participant. There are similar lists for all participants collectively.

Each book in a list gives a link to the corresponding data table.

The lists are available whenever the list contains at least one book.

There are additional lists that list the books by author and series.

For each list (or collection of lists), there is a comma-separated values file that contains the same information.

The main page for each type of book lists the lists and gives the number of books in each list (or collection of lists) after its name.

History

The history consists of a table giving a monthly record of the "read" measure for each participant. There is a column for each participant included in the table and a row for each month where the measure changed.

History tables exist for each participant separately and for all participants collectively.

For each history table, there is a comma-separated values file that contains the same information.