Re: [libreoffice-users] Currently Using Spreadsheet for Personal Project - Thinking About Database

Hi :)
I am not sure if it has been covered in this thread but unlike spreadsheets
with databases you hardly ever read directly from the main tables.

Normally you have "Queries" that filter and do calculations.  They look a
LOT like tables such as spreadsheets but they seldom contain ALL the data
from any of the real "Tables".

So, one of your "Queries" might show only all those books that are marked
as "having been read".  Another might show books that have not yet been
read.

If you want to add even more complexity you might have another Query to
show books that you started but got bored of (or side-tracked or lost)
before finishing, perhaps with an estimate of what page you had gotten to.
You might also have a Query showing books to avoid.


Wrt connected series such as the various Star Trek ones it might be good
just change the name of each series to put an identifier at the start of
each series name.  In this case adding "StarTrek" at the beginning of the
series name means that when you sort the list of series's into alphabetical
order all the Star Trek ones would be bunched up together.  In the future
you could add a new column to the SeriesTable to take into account series
that are based in the same universe as each other but don't seem to have
anything you could use as a cohesive identifying name.  CJ Cherryh's Chanur
series links with "Down-Below Station" (sorry for the spoiler for anyone
that hasn't read them already!).

So that is 2 types of changes you could add in later, if it's ever needed.
Such changes only need to be done once but have an effect everywhere.  You
wouldn't have to dig out each recurrence to make them all consistent with
each other.

Btw,  When i have lacked a computer i have sometimes managed a book a day.
Admittedly after some books i needed some recovery time to mull over issues
raised.  I didn't have a wife or a life though.  I've known academics and
extremely fast readers who seem to churn through tons of books very
quickly.  So, 17 books/year sounds quite low to me.  I guess it might be a
lot to a 'normal' person (if there is any such person).
Regards from
Tom :)






On 11 August 2014 06:19, Joel Madero <jmadero.dev@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey Jonathan,
>
> responded in line but the gist is - this is a hobby and I'm not going to
> spend hours and hours thinking about corner cases/etc... if a book has
> multiple authors, I'll pick one, if it belongs to multiple series, I'll
> pick one, if it's a spin off to a main series, I'll just track the spin off
> and ignore that it's part of a larger set. This will suit my needs fine.
>
>
> > On 8/10/2014 9:50 AM, Oogie McGuire wrote
> >
> > > If I were doing your system I'd do the following:
> > > Book table
> > >         Title
> > >         number of pages
> > >         Foreign key links to an authors table and a series table
> > >         boolean read or not or else a link to a table read status see
> > > below
> > > Authors
> > >         Name
> > > Series
> > >         Name of series like Dragons of Pern or Harry Potter
> > > Read status
> > >         started
> > >         finished
> > >         wanted
> > >
> > > Linking should be by query.
> > When you design that table for Series, remember:
> >
> > The same work can be in two or more series. For example: James Legge's 2
> > volume series _The Sacred Texts of Daoism_ was also part of Max Muller's
> > 50 volume series _The Sacred Texts of the East_.
> Yes I'll just pick one series and stick with it - again this is a hobby
> project that I'm not going to spend ages thinking about corner cases.
>
>  A series can have two or more authors. For example, _Star Trek: Deep
> > Space Nine_ contains books written by half a dozen different authors.
> >
> > Books set in the same world need not be part of a series, even though
> > marketing mistakenly claims that they are a series. For example: Anne
> > McCaffrey's _P.E.R.N._ novels.
> >
> > Consider how you'll handle spin-of series. For example: _Star Trek: The
> > Next Generation_ alongside _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_, alongside _Star
> > Trek: Corp of Engineers_, etc.
> I won't treat them any differently - even if it's not 100% correct to the
> author. See above.
>
>
> > Consider how you'll handle trilogies such as Douglas Adams _The
> > Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, (Officially, it is a trilogy in five
> > parts, or six parts, if _And Another Thing..._ is included in that
> > trilogy.)
> >
> > For the Read Status table, you might also want to have tags for
> > "reread", and "acquired".
> >
> > ###
> >
> > FWIW, the typical "heavy reader" will take 210 years to read a million
> > pages:
> > *  "Heavy Reader" being defined as reading 17 books per year.
> > (http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/part-2-the-
> > general-reading-habits-of-americans/)
> > *  A book is defined as 280 pages (64,000 words) long.
> > (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/book-length_n_1334636.html)
> Yes I know the above - FWIW again this is a hobby so I'm not sticking to
> "280 pages or more" - that's absurd for a hobby to be so strict. My rule is
> just that I don't count a book unless I read the entire thing - this is
> unfortunate as I'm in law school reading thousands and thousands of pages,
> none of which I'll count ;) But, it's been a 10 year project and I'm not
> going to quit on it - even if the reality is it'll be very very hard to
> complete. I have a tracker stats sheet on the spreadsheet file and it shows
> my current pace and the year I can anticipate finishing . . . and no, it's
> not within one lifetime :)
>
>
> Best,
> Joel
>
>
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