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As a travelogue, how accurate do you think a book like this should be? How much research should go into it? Deep, basic, or whatever you want to do. If you find an inaccuracy, does it turn you off the book?

Personally, I think they should be reasonably accurate, and I do get turned off if I find an inaccuracy, especially ones that would be easy to prevent.

I actually found a few inaccuracies, just within the first few pages of this book, and they were ones that would have been fairly easily fixed. This made the whole thing a bit questionable to me, and the author seem like one of those travelers, if you know what I mean.

What about you?

In non-fiction books, I find inaccuracies a big red flag. It makes me doubt the validity of the entire book because if this is one thing that I do know is wrong then how many more wrong things are there that I'm just not aware of?

It turns me off if it is a huge mistake. If it's barely noticeable or I'm too entranced by the plot of the book, then it doesn't bother me much.

I agree that inaccuracies are a big turn off for me. If I spot something that doesn't add up, or that I know is flat out wrong, it makes me questions the rest of the book. Unfortunately, it can really take you out of that immersive story telling and make you question everything else in the book - significantly distracting from the enjoyability of the rest of the story.

I guess there is a difference between inaccuracies and mistakes. I agree inaccuracies are big turn offs. However, everyone makes mistakes. So, you can't discount the whole book just because a mistake has been made.

Amagine wrote:It turns me off if it is a huge mistake. If it's barely noticeable or I'm too entranced by the plot of the book, then it doesn't bother me much.

I agree, Amagine. If I am engrossed in the plot then I will probably read on without focusing on the mistake, but if it is largely noticeable I will have trouble focusing throughout the rest of the book!

kandscreeley wrote:I guess there is a difference between inaccuracies and mistakes. I agree inaccuracies are big turn offs. However, everyone makes mistakes. So, you can't discount the whole book just because a mistake has been made.

I agree. Mistakes are mistakes, and we all make them.
What I mean here are literal inaccuracies, like getting the name of a place wrong, or mistranslating something. Things that would be easy to research, but have been left inaccurate. Makes me feel like there's a lack of respect for the subject (or in this case, place) at hand.

It should be highly accurate hence deep research. I wouldn't enjoy reading a book that mentions an aspect of a town i'd lived in and It wasn't true.

Non-fiction should be highly accurate. In a book like "Bluewater Walkabout", I recognize that there is much that is subjective because it's based on personal experiences but factual information still needs to be accurate.

I tend to believe whatever I read and take things at face value, especially if it's about a topic I've never learned about before. If the name of a town changed once or twice in the entire book, I might be confused but it wouldn't slow me down much. If it were something I personally had knowledge of, however, I'd be completely thrown out of the zone and wouldn't enjoy the book very much.

I won't be able to enjoy the book as much if I spot inaccuracies. Things like that bother me though I try not to care so much about little flops.

In non-fiction it needs to be completely accurate. In fiction there can be made up locations but if recognizable locations are used I think that they should be relatively accurate - not confusing places in the US with Africa with Asia.

I think inaccuracies in books can turn off sometimes. But they are some inaccuracies that I just try to understand and just get on with my book.

I think it depends. If there are glaring geographical or historical inaccuracies, that is an immediate turn off because I wonder then how much I can trust what I am reading. However, if what I deem to potentially be an inaccuracy is really the way something was seen or experienced through the lens of their life experiences, I am much more open to moving forward with the book.

MarisaRose wrote:I agree that inaccuracies are a big turn off for me. If I spot something that doesn't add up, or that I know is flat out wrong, it makes me questions the rest of the book. Unfortunately, it can really take you out of that immersive story telling and make you question everything else in the book - significantly distracting from the enjoyability of the rest of the story.

Same here. When I know something is inaccurate, I keep wondering about what else is, and it takes away from my enjoyment of the book.