For me, the most recent book regret is Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Predictable from the get-go, bland, boilerplate sci-fi ideas, too many of these way-too-convenient plot devices just to push the story forward. I frankly don’t get the hype, and I am a pretty big science fiction guy.
Another one is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I read this in college and this whole book should have been a one-page essay. It was too repetitive, and the whole premise of “trust in your snap judgments and gut reactions” is way too simplistic and honestly stupid. Like all Gladwell books, it was anecdotal, superficial, and a waste of time.
None.
The investment in starting a book is negligible to me. I mainly borrow from the library or buy used. And I don’t hesitate to stop reading books that aren’t working for me.
I finished Blink because despite its repetitiveness, Gladwell is an engaging writer. A similarly repetitive writer is Nassim Taleb. I abandoned “The Black Swan” because it could have easily been an HBR article, and Taleb is insufferably arrogant.
I finished Dark Matter too. It was a quick read and entertaining enough. I can’t recall off the top of my head an abandoned novel, but I know it happens several times per year. I suspect it’s because they’re all so forgettable