Why some books are Tomes!
Have you ever come across one of those books, usually non-fiction, that is stuffed with periphery information called front matter that seems to serve no other purpose than to make the book bigger and more important than it really is? Well, if you have, read along and see if this doesn’t sound familiar. First there is the usual stuff about copyright, publisher, previous editions, etc. Then we come to the table of contents that not only lists the chapter titles but every subsection within each chapter, every one with an explanation of the subject matter covered. That can take pages in itself. Next comes the introduction, which more often than not is written by some so-called expert on the author and his times, which itself can go on for pages and pages -- one big info dump. And gosh these experts really want you to know how expert they are, because they cover every nook and cranny in the author's life attributing to each one a significance it cannot possibly bear under s