Observations On a Wife Project

I may have found a solution to the Wi-Fi Problem.

As with any great discovery the solution was apparent and not unfamiliar to anyone that has time-shared an airplane journey with leisure reading. An underlying complexity to the solution would be the selecting of quality reading materials.

Wasting time on an unsuitable choice would be frustrating, as would a selection that did not last for the exact duration of the flight.

But that amount of agony is below that of having paid for Wi-Fi service that could not be delivered in a dependable manner on behalf of a major airline. Rather than continue to pay a service provider that could not provide the service they had promised I decided to sever all ties with them without delay.

The Book Project

I therefore found myself in the position of requiring reading materials and the Book Project was born. I decided that as part of the Book Project I would make a list of the desired attributes found in a good book:

1. Characters – A good story must have complex characters that draw you in and change over time. If the characters are forgotten when the book is finished, then the book will be forgotten as well.
2. Drama – There must be some element of drama or conflict in the story. Even better if the drama also makes a statement about society in some way.
3. Mystery – A good story allows one to spend time guessing as to what might happen next. Suspense is critical to keeping one wanting to turn the next page, even suspension of belief.
4. Quest – There must be a common goal for all of the characters coming together and there should be an emotional attachment between the characters.
5. Romance – Because everyone not named “Shakespeare” enjoys a happy ending.
6. Length – The story must be consumed in its entirety during the length of the flight. Anything too short would be an inefficient use of time. Anything too long and I would need to rearrange my schedule to finish the book at a later time, leading to future inefficiencies on other areas. I would use a ratio of one page per minute as a standard and adjust for books with unconventional page sizes.

The entire Book Project selection process was initiated by Karen (blog | @datachick), who had suggested a book (The Rosie Project) written by her friend Graeme (blog | @GraemeSimsion) as one that I would find suitable. I did not want to risk offending Karen so I promised to include the book in my list of potentials. I later found Rosie to be listed on the New York Times Best seller list which helped mitigate the anxiety surrounding the uncertainty of selecting this book.

The Wife Project

I purchased the Kindle version (at 300 pages, perfect for my upcoming five hour flight) and waited until the day of my excursion to begin reading. I’ve decided to share my thoughts about The Rosie Project with the following book review bullet points:

• At the center of Rosie is Professor Don Tillman (@ProfDonTillman), someone we all know. Not in a literal sense, since Don is a character in a book. Everyone knows someone who exhibits the same characteristics as Don. Perhaps it is a colleague, a teacher, yourself…or even your own son.
• Don is an unexpected hero exhibiting signs of autism, specifically Asperger’s Syndrome. As such it is fascinating to be inside the mind of the character as he processes data throughout his day. What one takes to be routine, such as meal preparation, Don calls his “Standardized Meal System”.
• Don is on a quest to find a wife (called the Wife Project). He does so by putting together a questionnaire to collect more data. He quickly calculates the BMI of each candidate, records their eating habits, and their punctuality as well.
• Throughout the story we follow Don as he applies logic and reasoning to everything only to arrive at the conclusion that logic and reasoning can only go so far.

The Reading Project

Having enjoyed this book throughly I have decided to encourage others to read it also. It is currently for sale at $1.99 USD, marked down from $24.00 USD. At 8.2% of the Kindle retail price that means you are paying only $0.00652 USD per page. A remarkable bargain.

Since Americans spend less than 3 hours a week reading for leisure I prepared a list of suggestions where leisure reading may be time-shared with other activities:

1. Coffee shop – Many coffee shops encourage patrons to spend time in leisure activities such as reading this book.
2. Breakfast table – You may find it suitable to time-share your breakfast consumption with reading this book.
3. Chair – Many of us have a favorite comfy chair in our domiciles that would be suitable for reading this book.
4. Hammock – Reading this book outdoors on a warm day would be a wonderful experience for many.
5. Bed – Reading this book before bedtime is a great way to relax.

I am fascinated at all of the events that led me to reading this book. If I had to sum up the experience in one word it would be this:

Incredible.