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Is there a correct way to read House of Leaves?

Follow the pages sequentially. When you come to a footnote, read the footnote then return to where you left off in the text. If you are directed to an appendix, read the appendix then return to where you left off in the text. You are finished when you reach the end.

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House of Leaves by Mark E. Danielewski is the progenitor of what I hope will be an entire movement: the metaphysical horror novel, where horrible ideas are explored with nauseous dread. In House of Leaves' case, the idea explored is that of infinite, impossible space. House of Leaves is very typographically unique. It can be a complicated read: footnotes wind non-linearally throughout, with no set way to follow it. So I wasn't surprised to see on BookBlog someone asking how to read it. What incensed me, though, was the answer: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski may seem like a daunting read but can be easily conquered by following these steps. Begin at the beginning. Follow the pages sequentially. When you come to a footnote, read the footnote then return to where you left off in the text. If you are directed to an appendix, read the appendix then return to where you left off in the text. You are finished when you reach the end.

Yeah, um, no. You're missing the point.

If you haven't read House of Leaves, the plot is complicated to describe, as it is tiered through multiple narrators of varying degrees of sanity in the form of an endless, nearly stream-of-conscious series of clippings, manuscripts and footnotes. Still, the novel is largely concerned with a mock film criticism on a documentary about a door that suddenly appears in a Virginian house. This door leads to an endless labyrinth that defies the dimensions of the containing architecture of the house surrounding it. The labyrinth is completely uniform in all ways except the extensions of its space: it is empty, cold and always black. The Navsion Record relates the various psychological effects this impossible space has upon its explorers, who find the labyrinth constantly twisting and changing around them as they plunge deeper and deeper into its depths. Which is why it's wrong to read the novel in a set, linear fashion. The book in your hands and the Navison House it describes are meant to be indistinguishable architectures. House of Leaves' wholly unique typographical structure is designed so it is impossible to read the novel the same way twice, just as it is impossible for the explorers of the Navison house to map it. House of Leaves is meant to be an impossible space: if you don't explore it like one, the book loses a great deal of its power.

How To Read House of Leaves [Bookblog]

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How long can a PS5 live?

The life-cycle of the PlayStation 5 should last for “six to seven years,” according to Sony's Masayasu Ito, who was interviewed by Game Informer as part of a big feature about the first 25 years of the PlayStation brand. As Ito noted in the interview, the gaps between consoles are getting shorter.

2020 will see the launch of not only the next Xbox but also its competition over at Sony, which is slowly revealing more and more about its new console. We now know, for example, just how long this next console generation is likely to last for the company. The life-cycle of the PlayStation 5 should last for “six to seven years,” according to Sony’s Masayasu Ito, who was interviewed by Game Informer as part of a big feature about the first 25 years of the PlayStation brand. As Ito noted in the interview, the gaps between consoles are getting shorter. He explained that, “in the past, the cycle for a new platform was 7 to 10 years, but in view of the very rapid development and evolution of technology, it’s really a six to seven year platform cycle.” With any longer of a lifespan, Itso notes, “we cannot fully catch up with the rapid development of the technology, therefore our thinking is that as far as a platform is concerned for the PS5, it’s a cycle of maybe six to seven years.” Having a life-cycle of this length will mean that Sony can react better to the changing world. As Itso puts it, “we should be able to change the hardware itself and try to incorporate advancements in technology. That was the thinking behind it, and the test case of that thinking was the PS4 Pro that launched in the midway of the PS4 launch cycle.”

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