Which are the most unread books of 2014?
We鈥檝e all been there: full of good intentions, we choose an ambitious read 鈥� to broaden our minds, impress our friends, join the bandwagon鈥β�
鈥nly to abandon it 50 pages in.
That phenomenon 鈥� let鈥檚 call it literary desertion 鈥� has led one math professor to create an index to calculate the most abandoned books, and the findings are a bit surprising.
Jordan Ellenberg, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, designed the Hawking Index (HI), named after Stephen Hawking鈥檚 鈥�A Brief History of Time,鈥� dubbed 鈥渢he most unread book of all time,鈥� to rate the most unfinished books. He discusses his index and findings in the .
So who won the dubious distinction for the most abandoned book?聽
Thomas Piketty鈥檚 鈥淐apital in the Twenty-First Century.鈥澛�
鈥淭he contest isn鈥檛 even close,鈥� says Ellenberg in the WSJ. 鈥淢r. Piketty鈥檚 book is almost 700 pages long, and the last of the top five popular highlights appears on page 26. Stephen Hawking is off the hook; from now on, this measure should be known as the Piketty Index.鈥澛�
Here鈥檚 how calculated the most abandoned books. Amazon鈥檚 鈥淧opular Highlights鈥� feature on its Kindle books lists the five most highlighted passages by readers. Ellenberg figured that if readers were reading through the entire book, highlights would be scattered throughout the entire book. But if they weren鈥檛 getting very far, highlights would be clustered at the beginning of a book.聽
That鈥檚 how he came up with the Hawking Index (HI), a completely unscientific number that determines how likely readers are to have finished, or abandoned, a book. As Ellenberg explained in the Journal, he took the page numbers of a book鈥檚 five top highlights, averaged them, and divided that number by the total pages in the entire book. 鈥淭he higher the number, the more of the book we鈥檙e guessing most people are likely to have read,鈥� he writes.聽
The list contains several surprises, starting with one of the most finished bestsellers, a hot read of the year that weighs in at 771 pages: Donna Tartt鈥檚 鈥�The Goldfinch,鈥� with an impressive HI of 98.5 percent.
鈥淭his seems like exactly the kind of long, impressive literary novel that people would carry around ostentatiously for a while and never finish. But it's just the opposite,鈥� says Ellenberg.
Other books likely to be completed are Suzanne Collins鈥� 鈥淐atching Fire鈥� (HI: 43.4%), F. Scott Fitzgerald鈥檚 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� (HI: 28.3%), E.L. James鈥� Fifty Shades of Grey鈥� (25.9%), and Michael Lewis鈥� 鈥淔lash Boys鈥� (21.7%).
The most unread books?
With an HI of only 6.8 percent, Daniel Kahneman鈥檚 鈥淭hinking Fast and Slow鈥� took third prize.
鈥淎pparently the reading was more slow than fast,鈥� writes Ellenberg.
Ringing in with an HI of 6.6 percent, Stephen Hawking鈥檚 鈥淎 Brief History of Time鈥� validates the index鈥檚 name.
And at only 2.4 percent on the HI, 鈥淐apital in the Twenty-First Century,鈥� Piketty鈥檚 book has been crowned 鈥渢he most unread book of the year.鈥�
That should make literary deserters 鈥� those of us who give even bestsellers a boot halfway through 鈥� feel a whole lot better.聽
As Ellenberg put it, 鈥淪o take it easy on yourself, readers, if you don't finish whatever edifying tome you picked out for vacation. You're far from alone.鈥澛�
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
