Survey: attention span?

[ilai]

I feel like when I get bored, I should be reading a novel. But I've never gotten into the habit of reading fiction--I suspect my attention span is too short or something. Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?

(For reference, the last book I read [aside from The Tao of Pooh] is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It took a while because I would read maybe 30-50 pages at a time, plus I was trying to get up to speed reading in Chinese again.)

Comments

[exponentialdk.livejournal.com]

Have you considered that your boredom and your disinterest in reading have the same root? That perhaps you'd be fine reading a novel when you're not bored (but you are busy then), and when you find yourself disinterested in all the usual things you're also disinterested in the unusual things?

I've read little fiction, but I used to read lots of non-fiction. It's hard to blame boredom for my reading of textbooks (even when I wasn't taking the class) at the expense of novels.

[ilai]

That's interesting, I haven't thought of it that way. I guess that could be it, but I'd have to get a novel first to find out--my collection is non-existent, and the branch library on Pearl Street is never open when I'm actually bored :)

[darlene-ford.livejournal.com]

Dunno. I've mostly been reading neurology, and some other medicine related to a medical instrumentation job I interviewed for. Most of the fiction has been stuff I read because "All work and no play makes Darlene a dull girl.", rather than because I was particularly interested in it.

Side note - if I recall 18th century English correctly, "dull" in the quote above means "stupid", rather than "boring". It's interesting to realize that people have known about the connection between play and intelligence for so long. Neurology has just recently gotten around to demonstrating the principle scientifically.

[ilai]

As opposed to "sharp" I guess :) And all this time I thought that quote was from "The Shining". Not that I've seen the movie...

[darlene-ford.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I have the period exactly right, but it's definitely older than that. Surprisingly, I couldn't find it in my copy of Bartlett's...

[jadia.livejournal.com]

Do you read nonfiction?

What do you generally do for entertainment?

[ilai]

I don't know if the newspaper counts; when I lived at ET I used to go through the Globe pretty regularly, but now I settle for the Metro each morning on my way to work. That and whatever other magazines were lying around--Time, Scientific American, Cosmo (for dramatic readings of course), etc. That reminds me, I haven't gotten my dose of Weekly World News lately.

DinnerFOOD is entertainment! :) I think I'm still figuring out what solitary activities to do, since there aren't 20-something other people around all the time any more. Maybe I should practice brush calligraphy.

Re:

[lokiect.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to read books when I know I should be doing something else. I don't think I get bored often enough to be a useful datapoint, though.

If you're looking for hobbies, I'd happily suggest some sick number of hobbies, but you're probably too clever/lazy for most. ;9