El Goonish ShiVe: Look! Squirrel!

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I'd like to point out that the spell-books gain and loose pages(as in, literally change the number of physical pages in the book) as ones spells improve and change and that the spell books glow when you level up or get a new spell.

Checking on the book to see if ti changed size every couple of day or after a particularly magic heavy day should be more than enough to know if something changed. Then you check the last pages to see if some stuff has been added. If no new spells, skim through the old ones to see the upgrades.

And after ten of those times when you were confronted with unintelligible minutia that didn't change anything except minor, minor improvements (oh, wow, twenty pages on how to select the exact pattern of polka dots I can now select for my hair colour change! Oh, and an further 35 pages on how to change individual hairs of my back! Wow, that was productive!), most people would give up.

And Grey_Wolf?

Superpowers are not a computer.

They are not a microwave.

they are not a TV.

If I have gained the power of unaided flight. And this power comes with a manual... It would be stupid of me not to read the manual in order to get the greatest possible understanding of how my powers of flight work before practice: If I don't know how to turn or accelerate, then I could get injured.

If I discover that I can emit streams of fire from my fingertips, I should read the manual to make sure I know what causes it less I accidentally burn down a building.

If Mutant Super Powers came with a manual, you'd better believe that ol' Charley X would be demanding that his students read and memorize said manuals.

Good for you. But you are not the universal measure of mankind. Most people that after getting the spell can fly without reading all that, and have been fine, will continue to fly the way they did the first time. If they have an issue they want improved, they might -MIGHT- check, then be confronted with unintelligible minutia, and give up.

Yes, they aren't computers. Computers are significantly more useful, powerful and dangerous. And yet 99% of people with computers don't know how to fully use them. They just use them to read their mail and check websites.

And for what feels like the hundredth time: Everyone in-universe states that Elliot was being stupid for not making the effort to keep up with his spellbook.

And for what feels like a hundredth time: Elliot had a specific problem of unwanted transformations that would have been helped by him reading the manual. Susan didn't have a problem, wasn't intending to gain spells, and made reasonable if incorrect assumptions about the damn thing. There is nothing universally stupid about not keeping up with the manual if you already have the powers that you want.

Grey Wolf