This is a new document I have created to try out Thing # 8. I have no idea what I will use it for.

Thing # 6 completed: Changing the top ten books ever list

Thing #7 completed

Thing #7: Read an article in wikipedia on any pet subject and assess it in your blog.

Overall I was impressed by the accuracy on the information I got from Wikipedia on the life of Charles Dickens. But one piece of info was misleading: the part where it was stated that Dickens wrote serialised novels which was the usual format for fiction at the time. It wasn't the usual format for the new works of the important authors of the day. Here's what Peter Ackroyd's "Dickens" has to say:

"The form and manner of the Pickwick Papers heralded a revolution in the circulation and appeal of narrative fiction. The form itself was not a particularly new one. There had been similar excursions in the same field of light humour. Serialisation of fiction in magazines was equally common and there were even examples of fiction being published in monthly parts. The difference being that such serialisation was really only employed for old and familiar tales. What was unfamiliar about Dicken's venture was the idea of a new story being marketed in this way.Within a matter of months it became clear exactly what it was that Dickens had initiated."

This is an important distinction because what Dickens accomplished was to put important literature of the day into the hands of the working-class poor.