reading
Entry #1686, Tue, May 04, 2010, 20:08 CEST (Books, Writing, n such)(posted when I was 31 years old.)
Tyler Cowen has some interesting observations on reading.
I've long been the sort to feel a commitment to books, feeling compelled to finish them. The downside of this is that when I come across one that doesn't hold my interest, I end up not reading any books at all for a while, since I don't want to start a new one before finishing the current one. Based on what Tyler has to say, I will be more ruthless in discarding unappealing books.
I considered taking this approach recently with The Illuminatus! Trilogy, which I had picked up as a single volume edition. A few dozen pages into the book I was already finding it hard to keep up with all the characters and plots and such. But instead of giving up on the book, I simply decided instead that I was not going to try to understand it. So I just powered through. Without the constraint of needing to understand what I was reading, I actually enjoyed the book. I'm not entirely sure if that's a positive review or not.
Before Illuminatus, I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I finished in under a day. Definitely recommended, though not exactly a happy book.
Before that I read the first two books of the Millennium Trilogy, which I found entertaining enough, if a bit implausible.
Currently I'm rereading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress as well as reading a book on the Oracle cost-based optimizer that is actually somewhat entertaining.
Anyway, from the completely useless statistics department, here's an overview of how much I've bought from amazon:
My first amazon order was I Will Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein on May 28, 1997.
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Sci Fi
by Nairubi
(Wed, May 05, 2010, 21:05)
Yeah for Heinlein. I keep hoping people won't feel like they need to remember everything about my book - it's more fun if they absorb it without thinking about it, I think. I tried the Book Thief and put it down - no longer feel the need to finish what I start. Life's too short.
Attention Deficit... ooh, shiny!
by montypy16
(Mon, May 10, 2010, 18:04)
Good for Tyler Cowen. And you. I adamantly refuse to waste my time reading something I don't find interesting. Including school work.
I also skim or skip around while I'm reading, depending on how interesting the book is. If I get bored, I start skimming until I find something that looks better. Then, I decide if it is worth going back and catching up on what I missed, but often I don't bother. I never read every word of a book--I probably read 60-90 percent, depending on how interesting it is.
I also am reasonably sure I have ADD (Which, apparently, is called ADHD-PI... who knew?) so books have to really grab me to have a chance.
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