Yep, that’s what I was thinking. If the nom is really vague on that part, we can reach out and have the person clarify if they know.
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I guess I’ll nominate something from my TBR pile as well. Feel free to remove it if it’s too niche.
Subject: Mathematics, history
Available formats: physical / ebook
Content warnings
None that I know of
Reason(s) for nominating: I read another book by the same author recently, and I found his way of explaining things quite easy to understand.
9 Likes
Yeah, the type of nonfiction makes a huge difference. I didn’t nominate any but I have some nonfiction that is written so densely that even a few pages is draining for me, and then I have much more poppy nonfiction where I can do 30 pages in a night if I have time. I suspect it will be a book-by-book decision.
EDIT:
Oh, something I forgot to mention earlier. Nonfiction ebooks seem to more commonly have PDF/scan style ebooks. I avoided nominating one in my collection just knowing that (it makes lookups harder). Something to look out for I guess.
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As in out right pdf files?
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They’re epubs but it’s entirely images
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Ah
Those lol good point 
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That book looks so good… But Amazon is region locking me on it for some reason. Oh well, I guess I’ll save the $10
Huh, me as well; that feels a bit unusual.
very odd indeed since this is actually aimed at learners not Japanese. amazon out there trolling… 
6 Likes
Instantly added it to my wishlist (although it’s so above my level that if I ever become able to read it I’ll be so confused where it came from)
Sometimes I wonder if Fermat was just a huge troll
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Whoa; taking a second look at that book now, I just realized I’ve read that author before. He writes in English, so if you’d prefer to read your math not in Japanese, you don’t have to wait as long: Fermat's Last Theorem (book) - Wikipedia. I can highly, highly recommend Singh’s other book The Code Book - Wikipedia; it was probably what got me into reading nonfiction in the first place, in fact.
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Maybe they want to limit it to 外国人 who are already in the country? 
As usual, an exercise in “why won’t you let me give you my money?!?!” my wallet thanks you though
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iirc, people were complaining it was also one of the books that is a pdf epub, so you can’t even do lookups easily with the ebook.
With OCR it’s marginally easier to do lookups on a device compared a physical book since you already have the device in hand, but I’d probably try and source a physical copy, personally.
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It’s not. I can select text for the preview version in Kindle app just fine. The sample on the website did seem to be images tho, so maybe the old one was
Yeah, it’s doable with OCR, just 面倒臭い. I think lookups would be pretty minimal for me in this one thankfully, tho who knows. Tbh I wouldn’t wanna buy a copy of this, cuz it’s a really short-term, single use thing for me. Whereas most things in my library I will probably reread at some point (if I haven’t already)
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Seconding that recommendation! I would have nominated that one instead, if I hadn’t already finished the first volume. It was a very interesting read and surprisingly easy to follow given the subject matter.
For those interested, the Japanese version is here: 暗号解読(上) | L32
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Title: Crazy Secrets of the World
Subject: Mysterious aspects of human history
Format: all: physical / ebook / audiobook
Reasons for nominating: This is I believe the first book by this Youtuber who makes very engaging videos with the graphics and presentation, and it seems the physical book shares a similar style with images and a nice presentation to keep the audience engaged. When there is a sensitive topic or when he occasionally speculates he does so very smoothly and dances around it in a way that I think most people would have no issue and rather spark wonder. I find his presentations very engaging with the style and thought provoking with the content. It is something really different from all other content that most people are exposed to, i.e. cookie cutter high school romance anime, and so I’ve already ordered this book to check it out.
6 Likes
so votes are officially closed!!!
we have:
- no nomination limit
- 5 votes per person
- technically no taboo subjects
- since we had a boom of nominations right on the start I’m opening new polls regarding eliminations for after voting
Important Notes Regarding the Taboo Subjects:
- For political/debated subjects - there will be no political debates here. whatever the subject is you ask questions or discuss what you learn or know/don’t know/generally think without expressing your opinion on said subject because regardless if you think it is just or “obvious” it can still spark a debate. I myself read books with political input and am for discussing them and all, but I don’t want to deal with debates here, my reasons for this are my own and you can disagree with me in the DMs if you think it’s unfair.
- If you feel uncomfortable with a subject I recommend skipping said cycle. The issue with non-fiction is that regardless of what we wish we’re probably gonna have nominations with sensitive subjects, and to some subject X will be difficult and to others subject Y will be completely out of the question. It is inevitable and I ask that you will be understanding of others that do want to read either of X or Y subjects.
Should we remove a number of least voted nominations between cycles?
- No, leave the list as it is
- Yes, 3 least voted nominations should be eliminated
- Yes, 5 least voted nominations should be eliminated
- I don’t care much/whatever the others decide
0
voters
In case we do eliminate the least voted, should tied votes be eliminated together?
- No, go by another vote
- No, go by the list order regardless if it’s the same number of votes as a previous entry
- Yes, tied nominations should be eliminated together
- I don’t care much/whatever the others decide
0
voters
In case we do eliminate the least voted, should there be a cooldown?
- No
- Yes, 1 cycle cooldown
- Yes, 2 cycles cooldown
- I don’t care much/whatever the others decide
0
voters
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I’m personally inclined (biased, I know) to the Mystery club rules of no vote books get eliminated and if we’re above a certain number of nominations then the bottom X get kicked. The exact rules are over in the club top post if anyone wants precise numbers. I like this because it removes anything with no interest regardless of how many nominations there are, but doesn’t squeeze down the list too hard when we already have slack.
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I like those rules too!
I’ll just make a mishmesh out of those and what was voted
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Majority who voted last time already voted so I closed polls a bit fast (sorry if you wanted to vote and didn’t get to)
The new rules include:
- nominations with no votes are automatically eliminated
- if we have 10 or more nominations then the 3 least voted nominations are removed (I did 10 since it’s half of twenty and all that but if I see that the list doesn’t refresh much or gets too big too fast again then I’ll play with it)
- tied nominations are eliminated together
- eliminated nominations are on cooldown for 1 cycle
Added all this under “The Rules” over at the topic message!
Since it ended up similar to the GL club I’m handling I went ahead and did the same thing with the re-adding system as I do there, meaning if something is off cooldown and you already previously nominated it there’s no need to recreate a nomination, just reply to the previous one and add a message so that I know what your intentions are, hence I’m a bit sorry in advance for the 2 spam message for empty tables to this matter.
so that’s it!
remember that nomination are still open and that we have no limit!! 
and don’t hesitate to go over 20! trying it out to see how it goes and only then deciding if we want it to be the limit is part of the fun 
especially since we have quite a number of people showing interest so far!!
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