I finish the vast majority of books that I start. However, every once in a while I find myself reading 100 pages (or thereabouts) into a book that isn’t interesting. For me, it almost always happens to be a novel. I used to feel the weight of the sunk cost fallacy and felt like I should finish every book I started. However, as I get older I realize that logic doesn’t work for me. Life is too damn short to read just for the sake of reading. I’ve got to be getting something out of the book.

Yesterday, I gave up on Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. For those who are interested in science and climate change, I recommend the book. It is well written and is creatively organized, but I wasn’t digging it. Indeed, I only made it through page 88 on this one. I’ll keep it around because perhaps in a different season of life, the book might resonate more. However, since I always try to have one novel going, I immediately started the second book in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.