Thank you for writing and sharing this. Oddly enough, I woke up this morning and finally "started" on my goal to read at least 10 pages of something substantial - from an actual book - every day, instead of looking at my phone. An hour later, I read your essay (on my tablet, and not phone, I feel the need to add). I missed it when you first posted it, but seeing it today reminded me that good things can't find you until you're ready to see them.
Intellectual snob? No, that didn’t come through at all. Sincerely l mean that. Thank you for this piece. It resonates with me. I enjoyed the reminders, the Rob Henderson excerpts and your honesty. More please.
Any recommendations for a good non-fiction reading list? I’m skeptical of things like the NYT best sellers lists and some of the modern non-fiction pseudo science stuff. I never stopped reading but shifted to mindless fiction for the past several years as a non stressful non tv relaxation alternative and need a kick start to get back on non fiction.
I've been so happy to see so many of my friends and acquaintances, especially women, starting to get really excited about reading lately. Many of them are like you described yourself: they used to read voraciously but, for whatever reason (phones), stopped for a long time before rediscovering it and falling back in love with it.
I did this, too. I read constantly as a child and teenager (fiction, mostly, of course), then once I got older, I consumed every nonfiction book I could get my hands on about every topic I was interested in, and from every perspective of said topic. I learned a great deal, and my writing from that era shows it. Then I got a smart phone, lol.
I started reading more again a few years ago when I was working at a tiny post office with very little business, about a 45 minute drive away. I had a lot of downtime. I started with an audiobook of an old book I'd read years prior for my commute, then I was so engrossed that I re-bought the Kindle version to keep reading after I got to work and couldn't listen anymore. That pretty much broke my brain and reset me. I read 70 books last year. I feel... so much better, honestly! I haven't fully done away with the phone (I read this post from it) but I finally have my long-form reading brain back and that makes me happy. As a result, I naturally just don't gravitate toward the same apps with the short, dumb ideas and memes, preferring this space to the rest of them when I do.
Because this comment isn't long enough already, I'll add that during the years I want reading, I also wasn't writing. Since I started reading again a few years ago, I immediately wanted to write again. And here I am, doing it all the time!
Thank you for writing and sharing this. Oddly enough, I woke up this morning and finally "started" on my goal to read at least 10 pages of something substantial - from an actual book - every day, instead of looking at my phone. An hour later, I read your essay (on my tablet, and not phone, I feel the need to add). I missed it when you first posted it, but seeing it today reminded me that good things can't find you until you're ready to see them.
Intellectual snob? No, that didn’t come through at all. Sincerely l mean that. Thank you for this piece. It resonates with me. I enjoyed the reminders, the Rob Henderson excerpts and your honesty. More please.
“micro-canceled me.” Funny.
Any recommendations for a good non-fiction reading list? I’m skeptical of things like the NYT best sellers lists and some of the modern non-fiction pseudo science stuff. I never stopped reading but shifted to mindless fiction for the past several years as a non stressful non tv relaxation alternative and need a kick start to get back on non fiction.
I've been so happy to see so many of my friends and acquaintances, especially women, starting to get really excited about reading lately. Many of them are like you described yourself: they used to read voraciously but, for whatever reason (phones), stopped for a long time before rediscovering it and falling back in love with it.
I did this, too. I read constantly as a child and teenager (fiction, mostly, of course), then once I got older, I consumed every nonfiction book I could get my hands on about every topic I was interested in, and from every perspective of said topic. I learned a great deal, and my writing from that era shows it. Then I got a smart phone, lol.
I started reading more again a few years ago when I was working at a tiny post office with very little business, about a 45 minute drive away. I had a lot of downtime. I started with an audiobook of an old book I'd read years prior for my commute, then I was so engrossed that I re-bought the Kindle version to keep reading after I got to work and couldn't listen anymore. That pretty much broke my brain and reset me. I read 70 books last year. I feel... so much better, honestly! I haven't fully done away with the phone (I read this post from it) but I finally have my long-form reading brain back and that makes me happy. As a result, I naturally just don't gravitate toward the same apps with the short, dumb ideas and memes, preferring this space to the rest of them when I do.
Because this comment isn't long enough already, I'll add that during the years I want reading, I also wasn't writing. Since I started reading again a few years ago, I immediately wanted to write again. And here I am, doing it all the time!