Ergodic & Odd Formatting Strictly- š š
Iāve seen lists, but not one strictly about Ergodic/odd formatting where itās vital to read the e/physical because of the formatting and/or text ānon inclusive of illustrated versions, and just adding non-vital images, etc.
These are the books where if you donāt read the physical (maybe the ebook) youāre MISSING something VITAL to the experience.
I often read audiobooks and donāt know Iām missing out š«
PLS recommend W/ explanation & feel free to argue cases!!
Ex and notes in comments
created by Myth.Ink
last updated July, 2026
Comments
NOTES ON INCLUDED BOOKS (Pt.1)
House of Leaves Text varying color, images, all sorts of angled overlapping, striked out, etc. text and way moreā¦
Nuclear Family Overlapping text used to create visuals, andā¦
Wicker King Pages change color over time, scribbles in margins, photos and documentsā¦
Illuminae (series) Documents, images, various fonts for various transcriptions and digital conversations and moreā¦
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 moreā¦
S Itās 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 youāre supposed to destroy to solve. Crossed out text, black outs. Ciphers. Images of text and shapes. Footnotes, scraps, signsā¦and more.
Cainās Jawbone A book whos pages are out of order, and youāre 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. Iām always frustrated I canāt make decisions on whether the format is worth it with lists that blend with images and donāt have the list info so I thought Iād try and do something about it to help out!
Hello & Welcome!
Ergodic defined: tk
Examples of accepted in this list (but I welcome EVERYTHING being suggested, I think itās 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 theyāre 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!ā¬ļø
Iāll suggest Fox 8 by George Saunders. Itās 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. Itās 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. Iām not certain I would have noticed otherwise! šš»
Iād 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.
Awesome. Thank you for the notes. šš»
Youāre very welcome š
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, Iām 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 Iāll look into these. Have been meaning to get my hands on a copy of open throat to look at it, yes, Iāve heard lack of punctuation but I didnāt know about the spelling.
it doesnāt 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.
I listened to the audiobook for In the Dream House. I had no idea I was missing out š
Ooh!! Hereās 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, āturn to page 45ā or whatever?
No š
Myth.InkOP
Interesting! At least they considered the audiobook struggle for the experience āin a way. I find it frustratingly funny if I learn FROM the audiobook at the END that Iām missing out on an ergodic text. Iām just surprised it doesnāt come up more, and isnāt a part of publishing advertising more. š¤
Myth.InkOP
Too many a book the same for me and yet I still canāt 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.
