mini challenges 2010

What with reaching this arbitrary yet culturally significant point in our planet's solar circuit I thought this might be a good time to share what mini challenges we've planned as we hack away at the larger monster that is the Dewey Challenge.

Although I just found this challenge/group last week (and spent most of it going through my 2008/2009 reads to see what fit into it), I still got jealous seeing the "milestones" so many people had already met. So my mini goal is to complete a "milestone". I think it's more likely I'll be able to complete a full set of "10s" from 1 "hundred" category over trying to get one book from each hundred. It's the same number of books, but my interest level just may not stretch to some of the more obscure "hundred" areas. Now I just have to figure out WHICH one I want to aim to complete.

I'm just one audiobook away from completing my current mini challenge: finishing at least five books in each class. It seems natural for my next challenge to be finishing ten books in each class, but I think that's just too many books for me to read in one year. So instead I'll go for the slightly more reasonable goal of raising my total number of dewey books read from 71 to 100. It should be close.

Ooh, interesting topic!

(Terminology: ten classes, 100 divisions, 1000 (actually 909) sections).

My sub-goals that I hope to reach in 2010 are, in no particular order:

1. Get all ten divisions in another class. (I already have all ten in the 500s and 800s).

2. Get all ten sections in a division. (I do have all six 00x that are actually in use, but it seems like cheating to count that.) My most likely candidates are 91x and 97x; I have eight + one TBR for both of those right now.

3. Get to 50% of the in-use sections for the 500 class. I'm at 43/96 now, and have two TBR, so this only requires three books other than what I already have on the queue.

Realistically I'll probably only get two of these three, but I can always hope.

fundevogel, for your "five books in each class" mini-challenge, are you counting more than one book per section if you read them?

I'm having trouble deciding which milestone/mini-challenge to work towards next. I've already done one in each class. (Thanks, Lorax, for the reminder on the "real" names of each of the levels - so much easier than referring to top-, mid-, or low-level categories like I used to do.) Possibilities for 2010:

I've got enough books on the wishlist to complete at least one per division of 500's, although I've actually read in more of the 300's divisions so maybe that one would be easier to complete. (Actually, I've read even more divisions of the 800's, but for some reason that group doesn't have much appeal.)

I'm also pretty close to reading all 10 sections of the 61x division.

I think my main focus will be to reach 50% of all divisions (currently only at 27/100).

Another general push will be to read more in the classes where I currently only have one or two books.

lorax In general I'm not counting more than one book per section, though I do sometimes swap old ones out for books that I thought were more notable or are less embarrassing than the ones that were there. Honestly for the "five in each class" mini challenge it wouldn't have helped. All the sections I've read multiple books for I already had five in their class and in the classes I hadn't there was enough to choose from that I wanted to diversify my reading.

Honestly that challenge had me cycling through 000, 100 and 400 over and over. I've grown to love the 100's, but 000 and 400 are just plain hard to find books for. But that's that much more difficult reading that won't accumulate toward the end of my challenge.

lorax I don't think it's cheating to count a completed division with less than ten active sections.

>5 sjmccreary: I have the same problem of being unable to decide what to focus on. Since I'm happy enough with the progress I made last year, though, I think I'll just continue to muddle along. I love completing mini-challenges, but aiming for specific ones doesn't really seem to work for me.

>6 fundevogel: Do we have a thread for 400 suggestions somewhere? That always seemed like an interesting category to me.

Zoe There is now. I can't actually remember anyone favorably reviewing a specific 400, just grimly accepting that there were 423's that were better than reading a dictionary. The closest I recall to a 400 recommendation was someone saying they enjoyed army phrase books.

Oh, there are several 400s I've enjoyed; it's just that either I read them before the challenge started, or I didn't write a full review when I did read them. I've put them on your new thread.

This is a good way to think about it, IMHO - it allows some celebration along the way for a lot of different types of achievements.

Also, lorax, thanks again for reposting the terminology, I knew someone had at some point, but had forgotten it and where it was posted.

I'd like to read 20 books, half focused on the divisions and half focused on the sections, towards helping me complete my challenge this year... which for me is a lot, considering I read 42 books total last year. But if I play my numbers right, it could do a lot for me:

10 divison books would help me complete the 300s, 500s, 800s, and 900s
1. 310s
2. 370s
3. 380s
4. 560s
5. 580s
6. 870s
7. 880s
8. 930s
9. 980s
10. 990s

9 sections would complete 3 divisions: the 300s, the 570s, and the 970s
1. 300
2. 301
3. 309
4. 573
5. 575
6. 579
7. 971
8. 975
9. 977

Plus one anywhere else for good luck and fun.

lorax, thanks for all the recommendations, I think it will help a lot.

I'm going to try to read 8 new divisions this year. That will give me 50 and would put me past the half-way point.

I'd also like to read one more from each of the 100, 200, and 400 classes because I currently have only one in each.

We're almost halfway through the year; how is everyone doing on their mini-challenges?

Mine were:

1. Get all ten divisions in another class. (I already have all ten in the 500s and 800s)

My best candidate here is currently the 9xx: after finishing a 960, I only need one in the 99x, and have two TBR. (I would also need only a 31x or a 67x, but have no TBR in either division there. Maybe next year for one of those.)

2. Get all ten sections in a division.

As expected, my best candidate here is 97x; all I need is a 971, and I have one TBR to complete the set.

3. Get to 50% of the in-use sections (48/96) for the 500 class.

I only have two left (down from five in January). I'm reading one now, and have three possibilities TBR, so this shouldn't be a problem.

My mini challenge was to complete 100 sections total. I had 71 read at the beginning of 2010 and now I'm up to 88 so I'm slightly over halfway there. It's still debatable whether I'll be able to finish another 12 before the end of the year. We'll see.

I think next year I'll pick something easier.

I'm doing rather poorly:

I'm going to try to read 8 new divisions this year. That will give me 50 and would put me past the half-way point.
I've only read 2 of these and am working on a third. I'm still optimistic about this one.

I'd also like to read one more from each of the 100, 200, and 400 classes because I currently have only one in each.
None so far - I think I can get to 2 of the three.

I'm also not doing well. My only objective goal was to reach 50% of the 100 divisions. I started at 27 and am currently only at 34. Less than 1/3 progress towards goal.

I haven't really set mini-challenges, but I'd like to read a 580 and an 850 so that I will have completed all the divisions in the 500s and 800s, and a 948 so that I will have completed all the sections in the 940 division.

Hahahahahahahahaha! I am laughing at myself for thinking I could get to 20 Dewey books this year. Hahahahahahaha! Who's got two thumbs and has over-reached? This guy!

I somehow thought I could fill these challenges (haha!!!)

10 divison books: (310s, 370s, 380s, 560s, 580s, 870s, 880s, 930s, 980s, 990s)

9 sections: (300, 301, 309, 573, 575, 579, 971, 975, 977)
I did read and post a 977 The middle ground, which was more interesting than I gave credit in the review - particularly in the beginning. I think by the end I was just tired of it and just wanted to finish to say I had.

Plus one anywhere else for good luck and fun.
I have two for this mini challenge - both A short history of nearly everything (500) and Zorro (863) counted for me.

But that's about it! And I even have many of the one's I've picked out on my TBR shelves. Maybe (hahahahah!) I'll be more directed the second half of this year.

Three months left; how are we doing?

My goals in January were:

1. Get all ten divisions in another class. (I already have all ten in the 500s and 800s).

I met this one with the 900s. Books read for this one:

982 On a Hoof and a Prayer (1/20/2010)
960 Into Africa (6/12/2010)
998 The Ends of the Earth (9/08/2010)

2. Get all ten sections in a division.

Not met yet. I did read A Crack in the Edge of the World giving me 9/10 for the 97x, but I haven't read a 971 yet. (I do have a TBR. So it's still possible.)

3. Get to 50% of the in-use sections for the 500 class.

At the time I had 43 out of the 96 that are in use, so I needed five more to get to 48. I did meet that last week:

594 The Search for the Giant Squid (3/25/2010)
521 Feynman's Lost Lecture (4/25/2010)
567 How to Build a Dinosaur (5/3/2010)
507 The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (6/23/2010)
592 Waiting for Aphrodite (9/18/2010)

I think this means my goals were too modest. But I'm not sure what to do about next year; I have fewer categories left, after all, and the ones that are left are harder.

I'm doing terribly. No change from June when I was only at 1/3 of my goal for the year.

I'm doubting I'll finish mine too. I've read 20 out of the 29 I needed to hit 100 sections but I don't see myself completing another nine. The last bunch I've read were almost all in sections I'd already read and the ones I'm working on from new sections are dense, long term reads.