# ebooks & not knowing when the end will come
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebooks-not-knowing-when-the-end-will-come/294459
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 14, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebooks-not-knowing-when-the-end-will-come/294459 "2005-03-14T14:10:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebooks-not-knowing-when-the-end-will-come/294459/1 "2005-03-14T14:10:20Z")
While reading a novel the other day, I was taken by the thought of how much better it would have been if I didn’t know when the end was going to come. In the standard paper book, one always knows when the end is near. In an ebook, I’d presume that that would come as a surpise.
…So my question, does not know when the end is near make for a better reading experience??/
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebooks-not-knowing-when-the-end-will-come/294459/2 "2005-03-14T18:22:30Z")
I read a lot of ebooks, and at least on the reader I use, there’s a slider on the side that you can use to navigate your way around the book. So I always know roughly how much of the book I still have to go.
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### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebooks-not-knowing-when-the-end-will-come/294459/3 "2005-03-14T18:25:54Z")
Reading ebooks on my PDA, I usually have the reader set to autoscroll which doesn’t give me any indication of the position in the book. I haven’t really noticed much difference either way.
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### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebooks-not-knowing-when-the-end-will-come/294459/4 "2005-03-15T04:22:36Z")
I don’t think it would help as much as you think. Given the typical pacing (and length) of most novels, I think you’d figure it out pretty quickly.
The only benefit I can see is that you wouldn’t constantly be checking the page numbers to see how much is left to read. At least that’s a problem for me.