Epilogue: The Rules

Before we cracked open the spine of our first book, we decided to establish some ground rules. This is a good idea when tackling any project. It keeps you focused. It creates an obtainable goal. And most importantly, it prevents cheating.
(Author's note: It is important to note that some of our goals have changed over the past few weeks due to the limited number of some books in some categories. I will cover these rule revisions... They were not revised to cheat... Honest, it wasn't... stop looking at me like that...)

Rule 1: We read 1 book out of every 5 categorical numbers in the Dewey Decimal system. The numbers start at 001, not zero, so our range to find a book was 001-005, 006-010, 011-015... and so on.

Rule 2: All books are to be read in order. No skipping around the Dewey Decimal system.

Rule 3: We did not have to read just Dewey Decimal books. Thus if I was not in the mood to read my DD book for a couple of days, I didn't have to force myself to read it. Nor are we bound to reading just on books for this project. So right now, as I write this, I am reading a book called Just Curious, Jeeves numbered DD 030 Min, at the same time as my DD book. So while it's okay to read, it can't get credit for my 026-030 book.

Rule 4: Books are not reserved just to the stacks. We can read new books as well. This is a rule we changed due to lack of books in certain categories.

Rule 5: We can change books once per category. We also changed this rule after my wife almost died of boredom reading her DD 001-005 book. I wanted this rule in the first place since libraries are kinda like video dating services. The Cover is the video you watch about the person you want to date. It may look pretty and the dust jacket may build it up, but once you get to the meat of the subject, you discover if your "date" is a bestseller or a bargain book. (It is encouraged to tough it out with a book as much as possible).

Rule 6: All books must come from a library in Orange County, North Carolina. Though our focus is to keep our books coming from our Hillsborough library as much as possible.

Rule 7: Dewey Project Books must be read cover to cover.

Note from Jan: These rules were initially developed without me-I just wanted to read some books. Mostly, I am okay with the rules, especially # 3 and #5. However, given the size of the libraries here in Orange County (reasonably well stocked, but pretty small, as we are a small county), we'd have more variety in some of the more obscure categories if we checked out the Guilford County library, in the county where my mom lives. And rule # 7 may make me head for a smaller book than I might have chosen otherwise simply due to time constraints, if it has a whole bunch of little sections in it or is a humunguous book.