What Are You Reading

Finishing the 2nd Patrick O'Brian seafaring
book, it's far better than the first one.

Discovered Dashiel Hammett again. Am
reading his short stories, written in the
20's. They could have been written last
week. He invented the dark, hard boiled
private eye. The stories are wonderful,
full of action, straightforward with no
side stories. You feel like you're on
a runaway train. Hammett only wrote
for 10 years and stopped after The
Thin Man. He lived 40 more years and
published nothing. I just ordered his
biography.

Still read Bill Bryson every day. Finishing
Notes From a Small Island, about his
travels around England. Very funny.

Am finishing Hemingway's Boat, the
best book on Hemingway I've read.
And I have over 80 books about
Hemingway on the shelf.

Ordered one of Bertrand Russell's
autobiographies, he wrote 3 of them
from different periods of his almost
100 year life. He was born in 1872,
and died in 1970. He says there is no
way we can comprehend what life
was like pre 1914. It would be a
totally alien life to us. WWI changed
everything. He says before that, people
were pious and austere. Religious and
stern, in other words. He came from
a wealthy family and his mother was
so austere, she refused to sit in any
chair with arms till after dinner. She
was uncomfortable all day on purpose
because she felt it builds character.

Never read any of the Winnie the Pooh
books, but saw all the Disney cartoons
of it. I didn't know the Hundred Acre
Wood is a real place. Ashdown Forest,
where AA Milne lived, is in southern
England. They've found evidence
that humans have lived there for
over 50,000 years. It's a huge tourist
attraction now.

There's no escapism that tops reading,
It has to have your full attention. If
you think about anything other than
what you're reading, you miss it
entirely. This isn't true watching a TV
show or movie. Your mind wanders
all the time and you still get most
of what you're watching.

I learned a lot about viewing by
watching Downton Abbey so many
times. It took about 5 times of seeing
the entire series before I stopped
learning something new in each
episode. This doesn't happen in reading.
You see and understand every sentence,
if you don't you read it again. That's
not possible watching a screen.

Quote: Evenbob

There's no escapism that tops reading,...

Fans of Sid Meier will strongly disagree.

Quote: Face

Fans of Sid Meier will strongly disagree.

Will you build a civilization that can stand the test of time?

Quote: Gandler

Will you build a civilization that can stand the test of time?

I'll answer soon as I finish this archer...

Quote: Face

I'll answer soon as I finish this archer...

Just one more turn.

Quote: Face

Fans of Sid Meier will strongly disagree.

Video games? Meh.. They bore me to
tears, never found one I can play for
more than 5 min before my mind
starts to wander. Even watching the
ads for new games is boring. It
all looks so fake.

Quote: Evenbob

Video games? Meh.. They bore me to
tears, never found one I can play for
more than 5 min before my mind
starts to wander. Even watching the
ads for new games is boring. It
all looks so fake.

Try Civilization 5. Very detailed and comprehensive game.

Turned based strategy game, nothing like most action games that you see advertised.

Quote: Gandler

Try Civilization 5. Very detailed and comprehensive game.
.

If you're doing something that
requires seeing, and physical
effort, your ability to concentrate
doesn't last very long. Your mind
will wander. With reading you're
totally passive, only your mind is
active. You can concentrate for
long periods of time, hours even.