Tag Archives: Infinite Jest

The Hawking index is not what you think

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg created an imaginative means of quantifying a metric that book publishers and writers had long suspected: most people don’t finish the books they buy. He called it the Hawking Index, named after Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History … Continue reading →

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How Many Have You Read ?

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I never finished Infinite Jest, nor have I read any of David Foster Wallace’s other overvalued twaddle, but I found Goodread’s infographic a hipster lit flowchart quite entertaining. The inclusion of Open City and Leaving the Atocha Station, two other … Continue reading →

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