Science & Tech

The thrilling game of the final countdown

Devesh Kumar

January 24, 2015

Photo by Madelyn Stewart

Talented in the art of writing thrillers, author James Patterson is releasing a new novel, Private Vegas, but unlike his other 95 other novels since 1976, this book is set to explode. Before Private Vegas officially hits bookshelves on Jan. 26, 1,000 readers will get the opportunity to take a sneak peak of Patterson’s newest novel.
By downloading an alternative, free app version, readers receive only 24 hours to finish the novel. For those who weren’t the first 1,000 to download the thriller, they have the ability to “steal” time from the first 1,000 through a new website devoted to the thrilling game reading Patterson’s new thriller. Selfdestructingbook.com shows who the 1,000 readers are, where they are and their progress so that other users can find ways to sabatoge their reading experience, adding a whole new element to pleasure reading.
[heading size=”16″ margin=”10″]Bearing News asked students: What do you think about introducing self-destructing books into the entertainment world?[/heading]

I have never heard of this before, but it sounds like something that elite readers would read. It would be like, ‘Oh, did you read that new book?’ ‘Yeah, I am so cool that I can read a book in 24 hours,’ or like those really big book fanatics [who] only like to read a book before they see the movie. I overall don’t think that it is good business. Ilinca Popescu, freshman — “I have never heard of this before, but it sounds like something that elite readers would read. It would be like, ‘Oh, did you read that new book?’ ‘Yeah, I am so cool that I can read a book in 24 hours,’ or like those really big book fanatics [who] only like to read a book before they see the movie. I overall don’t think that it is good business.” —*Ilinca Popescu, freshman*

I think it is cool. I think it is also special, interesting and high-tech just thinking about how it can automatically self-destruct after 24 hours of reading the book. Erica Garrison, sophomore — “I think it is cool. I think it is also special, interesting and high-tech just thinking about how it can automatically self-destruct after 24 hours of reading the book.” —*Erica Garrison, sophomore*

Self-destructing books seem to be a bit of an ill-conceived idea, in my opinion. It requires you to spend a certain amount of time just straight reading it and some people just don’t have enough time in 24 hours to read a book. It could isolate some of the audience who don’t have that amount of time in teams. Nathan Kempf, sophomore — “Self-destructing books seem to be a bit of an ill-conceived idea, in my opinion. It requires you to spend a certain amount of time just straight reading it and some people just don’t have enough time in 24 hours to read a book. It could isolate some of the audience who don’t have that amount of time in teams.” —*Nathan Kempf, sophomore*

I think it is a really interesting concept that could be fun to like compete with your friends to see who could read in the fastest time or just to see if you can challenge yourself to read something more quickly. Kelsey Lyman, junior — “I think it is a really interesting concept that could be fun to like compete with your friends to see who could read in the fastest time or just to see if you can challenge yourself to read something more quickly.”— *Kelsey Lyman, junior*

I guess that it would be more of an incentive to read it entirely. Fred Luetkemeier, senior — “I guess that it would be more of an incentive to read it entirely.”— *Fred Luetkemeier, senior*

Written by Alice Yu
Photos by Devesh Kumar
Feature photo by Madelyn Stewart