Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Why I've started reading again

About 6 months ago, I wrote a post about Why I've stopped reading. So here's why I've restarted.

But first, let me point out that this is my second post for today. Auspicious, because up until now more than one post has happened only on manic, cant-shut-myself-up days. But seeing as I've ditched the Daily(ish) constraint, you can expect to see all sorts of erraticisms in post frequency (something all the blog gurus say is sure to drive away readers, but I say screw the blog gurus).

Back to reading. There was a time when I read too much. It got so bad that if I developed a new interest or something I'd read 3 books about it, before even participating in it. And I started to realise that the world was made up of TALKERS READERS, and DOERS, and that I, BeePeeGee, was certainly not a doer.

So I pretty much stopped reading. Since that point, my time spent online has risen considerably. And I'm starting to get caught up in this flit-here, flit-there mindset. Skim, skim, skim. Micro chunks of attention.

After a while, it becomes difficult to Stay On The Page. Where's the links, where's the links?

Remedy: Read a book. A slow steady linear plod from page one to "happily-ever-after". Plots evolving. Remember plots? Nowadays its just soundbites bouncing around like a hypomanic pinball machine. Advertising jingles rather than symphonies.

OK.
That's it.

2 comments:

  1. I just finished "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford. I even read a few chapters while taking rests on my 66km bike ride last Saturday. The latest post on my blog is a video of the shady spot where I finished the penultimate chapter.

    I've always enjoyed reading on buses and in parks, and paperbacks are still significantly more portable than even the state-of-the-art laptops.

    What kind of tome have you been poring over?

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  2. I cant imagine life without books- I dont think I would survive

    ReplyDelete

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