Ergodic & Odd Formatting Strictly- 🔠📖
I’ve seen lists, but not one strictly about Ergodic/odd formatting where it’s vital to read the e/physical because of the formatting and/or text —non inclusive of illustrated versions, and just adding non-vital images, etc.
These are the books where if you don’t read the physical (maybe the ebook) you’re MISSING something VITAL to the experience.
I often read audiobooks and don’t know I’m missing out 🫠
PLS recommend W/ explanation & feel free to argue cases!!
Ex and notes in comments
created by Myth.Ink
last updated August, 2026
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Hello & Welcome!
Ergodic defined: tk
Examples of accepted in this list (but I welcome EVERYTHING being suggested, I think it’s still beneficial off the list but on the radar):
Accepted: Text formatting changes beyond average (text censored, striked out, sideways or overlapping, in colors other than black, etc. Pages changing color as you read. Scribbled notes in the margins Photos, documents, etc., provided visually throughout the book that add to the experience and context not provided or repeated in the text itself Etc.
Not accepted: (but again, feel free to mention because they’re cool!!) Added pictures that are not adding something besides being visuals/illustrations for the reading experience (as nice as they may be!) Etc.
Middle Ground Lack of punctuation. (Please argue for on individual basis, and note whether or not you can get the full story experience from an audiobook still! I will note this with the title). Letters used and not used in writing (will include!) Physcial is better, ebook is possible but challenging (please argue for).
(Will add more later)
Included books in list, ergodic factors listed in my comments below!⬇️
NOTES ON INCLUDED BOOKS (Pt.1)
House of Leaves Text varying color, images, all sorts of angled overlapping, striked out, etc. text and way more…
Nuclear Family Overlapping text used to create visuals, and…
Wicker King Pages change color over time, scribbles in margins, photos and documents…
Illuminae (series) Documents, images, various fonts for various transcriptions and digital conversations and a lot more…even a fake Wikipedia page (or link?)
Walking Practice (please note: the audiobook is unlike any audiobook too!!) Formatting of words moved around or spaced to mimic similar weird formatting of breaking up the characters in the original text which was also ergodic in nature.
In The Dream House Includes choose-your-own-adventure-style page flipping, and potentially footnotes adding to the experience.
Fox 8 Constant incorrect spellings to imitate animal pov experience, additionally includes non-vital imagery.
Plastic, Prism, Void Lots of typesetting changes, including text size and various colors, fonts. Images sorta, music scores, and more…
S It’s got parts and pieces to go with, added pages/documents, notes in margins, etc.
Five Stages of Andrew Brawley Comic pages interspersed and relevant to story.
Dead But Dreaming Of Electric Sheep Lots of odd page formatting. Almost blank pages, large text, grey text, small text, boxed text, unaligned text, blackouts, shapes made out of text and boxes, etc.
Codex Unfertho A book you’re supposed to destroy to solve. Crossed out text, black outs. Ciphers. Images of text and shapes. Footnotes, scraps, signs…and more.
Cain’s Jawbone A book whos pages are out of order, and you’re supposed to solve it.
Love this category of books so much and thank you for breaking down what each book features! Instant bookmark for me
Of course! Same. I’m always frustrated I can’t make decisions on whether the format is worth it with lists that blend with images and don’t have the list info so I thought I’d try and do something about it to help out!
I’ll suggest Fox 8 by George Saunders. It’s short yet all the text is from the Fox and their limited knowledge and creative adaptations to English. here is a link for your perusal. It’s in the Through the Eyes of Animals Quest.
Myth.InkOP
Thank you for the link & bringing this to my attention. This does not come up clearly as Ergodic but is definitely doing something with spelling which I want to feature. I’m not certain I would have noticed otherwise! 🙇🏻
I’d recommend Plastic, Prism, Void by Violet Allen. The book uses different colored text, typesetting to indicate tense, images sorta, musical scores, and some other wild stuff.
since fox 8 is on this list, I would also add open throat by henry hoke, the incorrect spelling of words applies there too and as far as I remember there is no punctuation at all also, I’m not sure if this counts, but there are no quotation mark around speech in a minor chorus by billy-ray bellcourt. I still kind of got that vibe from the audiobook, but it is a different experience
Myth.InkOP
Thanks I’ll look into these. Have been meaning to get my hands on a copy of open throat to look at it, yes, I’ve heard lack of punctuation but I didn’t know about the spelling.
it doesn’t happen everywhere all the time but there are words that always get misspelled (e.g. L.A. is ellay)
For my own and the general record I am not including this one as my skim of the book does not include any of these moments which means I feel they are rare enough not to matter heavily on the experience. Nor the lack of other punctuation.
as for the spelling: in my opinion it does stand out quite a bit when reading, but since there are sometimes pages between it happening, I get that this doesn’t qualify the book for the list.
as for the punctuation: maybe I’m understanding your comment wrong but there literally isn’t any punctuation (except for apostrophes as part of words like ‘I’m’ or ‘there’s’) or did you just mean that it doesn’t influence the experience enough? I just listened to the first couple of minutes of the audiobook and you cannot tell that this is the case. but I also get that the punctuation alone also doesn’t qualify.
I’m sorry if this comment comes off as rude, I don’t mean it to be. It’s amazing how much work you put into this list!
I listened to the audiobook for In the Dream House. I had no idea I was missing out 😭
Ooh!! Here’s a thought. Maybe we can get Pagebound to add a tag to Ergodic books! That would be terribly useful.
Myth.InkOP
Did it work out? The audiobook, the choose your own adventure style? Or did you just read from front to back as a result?
I had no idea there was a choose your own adventure aspect. I just read the book front to back.
Huh. So did it not say, like, “turn to page 45” or whatever?
No 😓
Myth.InkOP
Interesting! At least they considered the audiobook struggle for the experience —in a way. I find it frustratingly funny if I learn FROM the audiobook at the END that I’m missing out on an ergodic text. I’m just surprised it doesn’t come up more, and isn’t a part of publishing advertising more. 🤔
Myth.InkOP
Too many a book the same for me and yet I still can’t get it in my head I can try to look up before reading each book and maybe find out.
Myth.InkOP
The temptation to buy everything I put on this list.
NOTES ON BOOKS NOT CURRENTLY INCLUDED (Pt.1) - May include minorly ergodic books.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow - includes minor blackouts.
Open Throat by Henry Hoke - includes some use of misspelled words, lack of punctuation, and spaced out sentences (although consistent).
YR DEAD by Sam Sax - includes one image of a written letter, some very short chapters (could be considering the space on the page for dramatic effect).
I just read An Arcane Study of Stars by Sydney J Shields, which has several diary entries and poems included that are formatted with varied spacing across a page and with some words at angles and such, definitely in a way that requires seeing the visual to be able to interpret, and they are critical to the story! (Recommend not googling it because further details could spoil it)
