Rethinking the rules
ecently, I read about librarian Nancy Pearl’s “Rule of 50,” designed to help busy book lovers recognize when it’s time to give up on a book. Pearl’s rule is simple: If a reader reaches page 50 and they enjoy. If a reader only wants to keep reading in order to determine who marries who or who the murderer is, they can merely flip to the end of the book to satisfy that itch. Furthermore, the page window shrinks with age. Pearl recommends readers subtract one page for each birthday they celebrate after age 50, so a 75-year-old reader need only read 25 pages before casting a book aside. (“Age has its privileges,” Pearl reminds us.)
