Page counts and such

Two things have happened since I last posted about my Dune readings.

1) I have purchased the latest addition to the Dune saga, Paul of Dune.
2) I have found out that there are at least three more books to be released.

The first was a planned thing. The second surprised me considerably, as I was led to believe that Paul of Dune would be the last book to be released. But we will get to that in a minute. I haven’t done the math on my pages per day, or scheduled end date in a while, and am excited to do that.

Oh, before I do, I think that I messed up last time and assumed a start date of June 14, when it should have been July 14th. So I no longer trust the details from at least one of those entries...

But, let’s do some math, shall we?

Okay, books that I have completed since July 14th, 2008:
Butlerian Jihad
Machine Crusade
Battle of Corrin
House Atreides
House Harkonnen
House Corrino
Dune

And I’m on page 59 of Paul of Dune. That brings our total to 4,852 pages. This happens to be a nice round date today, with the total number of days since my July 14th start is 120 days. So, 4,852 divided by 120 = 40.433 pages per day. Not bad, in my opinion.

Now, with the total pages being 8,163, that means there are 3,311 pages left. If I maintain my pace, I should be completed in 82 days. And that brings us to a nice round February 1st, 2009.

My very first estimate was for March 12, 2009, so we are definitely picking up speed.

I would like to point out that I was VERY happy to make it back into the original Dune book. After thousands of pages of Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, it was very very good to be back to the original. I honestly believe that my reading of that book gives me the same sense of awe and peace and comfort that christians get when reading the bible. Except I understand that what I am reading is fiction...

Now that I am back on Brian’s and Kevin’s books, I can tell you that they have improved after years of writing for the Dune universe. The second chapter of Paul of Dune was something I had thought about for years, and was fantastic to finally read in a book. The basic premise is that Fremen are desert people. They have never seen open water, nor have they experienced rainfall. However, their difficult living situation has turned them into fantastic fighters. Once they establish themselves as the rulers of the spice (which is what allows the known universe to travel, etc) they go on a jihad to gain control of all of the planets. Of course, what all Dune freaks have always thought of is the fact that many planets will have water forces to deal with, however, Fremen have never seen water en mass! So the second chapter is a quick story about the first Fremen that were taught to swim...

With regard to the upcoming releases, at first I was a little ticked off because I started this whole thing because Paul was supposed to be the last book. Now there are three more. But, all three are books that expand on an individual character in the novels as opposed to trying to extend the story in either direction. I actually find it to be an interesting idea. And if I said I wasn’t going to read them, you all know I would be lying.

Anyway, I hope to scorch the February 1st timeline. I have a couple flights coming up for Thanksgiving that should help out. I would like to be well under the 3000 remaining pages mark before then, and would love to be nearing the 2000 remaining pages mark by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.

If I can do that, I have a decent shot at beating February 1st.