http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Doorstopper

This entry from the TV Tropes wiki describes doorstoppers, books so heavy and thick that they could be used as, well, doorstoppers. The page points out that this is often used as a derogatory term for a novel with lots of padding and/or poor pacing.

I found this entry interesting because it discusses one of the concepts we've talked about a lot in lecture: time. How do you describe the time of something? When creating something, how can you use time to your advantage, and, along those same lines, how can time work against you? In this particular instance, "time" describes the amount of time it takes to read a book. "Doorstoppers" are described as such because they obviously take longer to read than shorter books.

Ultimately, I say that when it comes to utilizing time when creating something, it's never about how long someone is going to read/watch/look at something. Rather, it's about how long that creation is going to remain in the audience's memory. To me, that's the real "time" of a design.