In 2008 I made a “What I’ve Read” page and by the end of the year it turned out that I’d read about a book a week. So I started a new page for 2009 and was shocked to notice that by February I’d only managed to finish two books. I’d started several, but somehow kept putting them aside, which isn’t like me at all. In part I blame getting an iPhone for Christmas because my main reading time is in bed before I go to sleep, and I found myself checking email, twitter and reading blogs in bed half the time. But I think it was more to do with the not-being-able-to-focus thing (plus a few duds for book choices). It’s as if my attention span can only deal with snippets of information these days, or that I’m extra easily distracted. Even as I sit here writing this I’m “watching” a movie on TV and spacing out a lot. And so, a few days ago I decided to make a conscious effort to learn how to read again.
I’ve been putting aside a specific hour each day in which I do nothing but read. I’ve gone back to a novel that was sent to me awhile ago by our very own Sledpress (and written by her too!), and definitely not one of the aforementioned duds. And it’s really making a difference. I also think it will help with focusing in general, because even after hours in front of the computer I find I’ve spaced out so many times that I never get as much done as I’d planned to.
So I think that just as I put aside a couple of hours every day to go to the gym, I also need to start dividing up my days into “bite-sized” chunks that I can assimilate better.
When do you get most of your reading done?
casa azahar 
I used to read loads when I commuted by train to work, probably two books a week. Now I drive and only tend to read at bedtime, and my eyes go so quickly I don’t often read more than a chapter before I’m dropping the book! So this year I’ve managed to read about 7 books. I still buy when I see ones I fancy, though, so I have quite a pile beside the bed.
Hope this exercise helps get your focus back.
Deb x
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I have big piles of books to read too and sometimes they sit for years because I just keep adding and adding, but I really try to make the time. Like you, when I used to commute to work by train I read a huge number of books. Today, I read a couple when I take lunch or coffee at the cafe everyday and I work on another one at night.
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It’s curious how many of us read as a “time filler” and when something else suddenly takes up that time (in my case, the iPhone in bed) reading time is quite drastically affected. I guess most of us don’t have an hour or two a day to set aside just for reading. I remember some weekends taking a day to read an entire book – it’s years since I’ve done that. Think I should try it again soon.
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I miss the days when I had enough time that I could get away with reading a (short) book and liking it so much that I turned it back over and read it again. I did that with Ursula LeGuin’s “The Beginning Place” and was up till three in the morning. If I did that today there’d be merry hell to pay.
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Well, there are plenty of studies that indicate that doing a lot of electronic multi tasking interferes with your cognitive ability to process and retain info. Check out this link: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/august24/multitask-research-study-082409.html
So setting aside time to actually do only one thing — read — is a very good thing and your brain will probably start to re-learn how to focus.
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That evidence is pretty well supported too. Books are generally demanding of one’s complete attention (like television for that matter) and being trained to be distracted by a multi-taksing world makes books a discipline and a challenge. I think it a good discipline to develop or maintain in the face of a distraction filled world.
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Very interesting article, hmh – thanks! I have definitely been doing too much media multitasking of late, with the result being too much time spent with too little to show for it. So, no more watching tv while blogging & twittering, and I will continue with my hour a day of focused reading.
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Enjoy the Sledpress written book. I enjoyed it very much and knew more than a couple of the people who were the inspirations for characters in the book.
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It’s very good! I just have a few more pages to go. It was definitely a good choice for my getting back to reading project. Next up … Terry Pratchett.
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I haven’t done as much reading as I did when I was working in the bookstore. Needless to say that being surrounded by books and getting to unpack them and see what was new, as well as getting a quarterly “book bonus” of $100 which I generally spent on travel literature, I was inspired to read more.
I tend not to get out to bookstores and really find myself overwhelmed by all the books. I just don;t have the time to spend to sort through a lot of the new titles. Usually I go in looking for something specific and often can’t find it…. or the next three options so if I find something else to read, I will pick it up.
In the last couple of months I have read more than I have in quite some time but they are either re-reads of books I haven’t looked at in many years or antiquarian ones I bought and didn’t get around to reading or put down for one reason or another. They have “found their time” and they have started me on new endeavours. Recently, I read “My Story of the War….” by Mary A. Livermore who worked for the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War.
http://www.spiritdancerbooks.com/catalogs/bookdetail1.cfm?recordID=1303&CatNo=135
That started me thinking and then learning more about the Civil War and, in turn, that led me to finding out about my GG-grandfather’s Civil War service. I received his Civil War medal today in the mail. The book “found its time”.
I was in the drug store last week and while killing time waiting for a prescription, I perused the books and magazines and came across a children’s book that I thought looked interesting, “The Time Travelers” (“Gideon the Cutpurse” in the UK). I read it and then picked up the second and third volume in the series (The Gideon Trilogy). I read them over a couple of days and am re-reading the first volume because I found it really interesting.
I have always loved books about kids travelling in time and wrote something myself on the subject back in Grade 6 (the infamous novelette that someone “stole” from out teacher’s house (“Gee. That’s funny” said my friend Carol “Someone broke in and stole our from his house LAST year…”) and I have never forgotten the story (nor forgiven the teacher — Ron Joly — bastard). Mine was about this kid who travels back to the time of the Druids. It was pretty good for a grade school story, said my mother who was an English teacher. Unlike my classmates’ stories, it did not end with the line “And then I woke up….”
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ooh, I just looked up “Gideon the Cutpurse.” It looks like bags of fun.
I’m a hardcore lover of good kids’ books and have a couple of shelves of favorites.
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What a shame about your stolen story! Going to google Gideon the Cutpurse now…
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I do a lot of reading at traffic lights when I’m driving to and from work. I also read during my lunch break, when I’m in a queue at the bank or supermarket and for about an hour each night in bed…
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I seldom (apart from birthdays, Christmas and holidays) have books waiting to be read – unfortunately.
I too am a bedtime reader, though as the junior BBJP’s get older, there is more chance for reading in the day at the weekends etc.
Having pinched the “Books I have read” idea from you, my 2009 page has been updated now as well.
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