reading

Reading every day has many benefits. It's most commonly associated with learning and sure that is one of those benefits. Even if you are not reading any facts based text there are still opportunities to learn. For example about writing or even empathy.

Reading is also a good way to pass the time. No matter whether you read fact or fiction you can keep yourself entertained. Reading fiction can feel for some like a waste of time, but in addition to already mentioned learning it is also a good way to improve you imagination and creativity.

I consider myself as an avid reader. Throughout the years I have probably read thousands of books. My taste is somewhat limited to certain genres limiting the amount of books to read. This however hardly seems as a problem as it feels like there is endless amount of books to read both old and new.

Kindle (and other ereaders as well) is a great device for avid readers like myself. It's ergonomic, lightweight way to read. No need to worry about packing those heavy books with you wherever you go. There is also majority of books ever written at your fingertips. As long as you remember to keep it charged. Reading is effortless, you just pick it up and continue straight from where you left. 

Picking a book to read is one of those things I can spend way more time than necessary. It's not that I wouldn't have anything to read, quite the opposite. I think I currently have hundreds of books on my reading list. It's so much that often I find myself looking for something to read outside of it anyway.

It's quite common these days to have information available in audio or video form. There are countless podcasts and tutorial videos out there you could watch or listen to learn new things.

I'm sure they work for many, but they just aren't for me. Only exception maybe being tutorials to do something when actually seeing how it's done helps me to grasp it. And even then I'd usually prefer pictures.

Couple of days ago I wrote about my daily news consumption problem. I had identified it as mostly a waste of time due to a huge number of low quality sources where I usually ended up reading only a fraction of articles, if any.

Sure, it's good to identify such pain points, even write about them. But it all doesn't matter unless it leads to an actual action taken to fix those issues.

I follow quite a few different news sources that generate a long list of topics to go through every day. It's a challenge to keep up with everything I'm interested in all the time.

As such, on a normal day, it can feel tedious to go through the whole list for the day. There are so many posts created daily on all those news sites, blogs, subreddits and other sites I get my news from. And at the end of the day, I probably end up reading through only a few of those articles and discussions plus a dozen or so quickly skimmed through.

I hardly remember the titles of few last books I have read. Even less about their authors. I might even not remember the plot of those books.

When I'm reading fiction  I don't care about such things. Its not a huge loss for me to forget details. I read for the moment. Its an entertainment for me, a way to pass time.

I love reading and learning about obscure things. There are so many fascinating things I want to know more of. And so little time. 

In a way, studying those things is a complete waste of time. Where would I ever use such knowledge anyway? I would be much better off learning about some useful topics.

I do that as well already. Sure, could focus on only those useful things. But what's fun about that. There is enough room for both.

Genesis by Bernard Beckett is classified as young adults book, but don't be fooled by its lightness. It's only light by the count of pages. It's easy enough to read in one afternoon, but it will leave you pondering for days. In a way, it's Sofie's world meets 1984. A dystopian world with surprisingly deep thoughts.