http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-twenty-first-century-and-im-working.html
It's about reading fiction and my point of view about reading fiction.
Remember, you can download the free Kindle Reader app for just about any table or OS out there....
It's about reading fiction and my point of view about reading fiction.
in other news: Belinda and I finished working on, The Lisbon Portfolio. The photo/action novel I started back in 2002. I humbly think it is the perfect Summer vacation read. And the perfect, "oh crap, I have to fly across the country" read. It's in a Kindle version right now at Amazon. The Lisbon Portfolio. Action. Adventure. Photography. See how our hero, Henry White, blows up a Range Rover with a Leica rangefinder.....
7 comments:
I read two or three books a week. Some fiction and some not. But never JDSalinger. I'm working on David Baldacci's latest now. Before that a Spenser continuation novel by Ace Atkins, a Larry McMurtry western, a couple of JAGance's mysteries.
Jonathan Kellerman, Dick Francis, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Robert Crais, John Connolly, JDRobb's SciFi mysteries. The list goes on and on.
Recently I've read biography/histories about Theodore Roosevelt & William Howard Taft, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel & General George S Patton and gangster Mickey Cohen & L.A.Police Chief William H Parker. Pairing these people give you insights that you wouldn't get from normal biographies. I also read a history of the Battle of the Little Bighorn last year.
Sometimes I read technical books on subjects that interest me, but never anything about still photography.
Chuck
Probably my biggest reason for reading more non-fiction than fiction is that I can open up a book on history or photography or art and read a chapter before going to bed. I tend to get sucked into fiction and can't put a decent book down, so I end up staying up until I'm too exhausted to read any more ! I've been reading to my daughter every night for 11+ years now. She loves reading. A few years ago, my wife was in a grocery store with my daughter who saw another young girl sitting in a shopping cart, reading a book. According to my wife, my daughter said "She's lucky." "Why ?" my wife asked. "She's lost in a book."
When my son was a toddler, I recall a pediatrician's remark that a child will eat a balanced diet - over time. Weeks and weeks of only green beans, then weeks and weeks of potatoes, then weeks and weeks ... well, I think you can get my point.
I find my reading proclivities to be similarly balanced. I am out of the fiction phase at present, mostly food and cooking currently, an eclectic mix on my Amazon wish list, and a diverse pile accumulated over the last two years, mostly art and photography-related, of which I have instructed myself to read first, before ordering ANYTHING more from Amazon.
And then there are blogs like yours, TOP, LuLa, etc.
So many words, so little time!
I can't imagine going through life without fiction either. I'm an engineer and I'm constantly shocked by how many people I meet in my field who are actually proud of the fact that they "haven't HAD to read a book since university". Sigh. I think our culture and higher education has slipped way too far towards vocational training, and away from the idea of becoming well-rounded, reflective citizens.
I read more than ever, though fewer books. In part because the only nearby book stores have both shut down, in part because there is just so much to read these days. I have somewhat gotten back to books since discovering ebooks, though, so there is hope.
These days movies have become my fiction of choice. I watch them the way I used to read fiction. (thank you Netflix) I watch more critically and attentively than ever before. I go back to savor a great scene, or pick up some bit I missed. I may take several days to watch a film, then come back to it when I have time to watch straight through - or the other way round.
Not that they are the same thing, it's a very different experience. It is just where I am in life this year.
I am trying to get back into the reading habit. One of my college teachers made it a point to read for 15 minutes every night in bed. If he got involved with the book he'd read as long as he wanted. If he was too tired, distracted, or the book just didn't get his attention he could put it down - after 15 minutes.
I used to do that, and I'm trying to get back to it.
Interesting post, interesting comments. I'm one of those people who doesn't read fiction (although I used to). I'm not an artist, and not creative artistically. I been into photography for 40 years, but I don't call myself a photographer. I'm just a guy who likes to play with cameras. I realized a looooog time ago that I am not a creative person, and I'm OK with that. I'm having fun with my cameras and that is all that matters to me. I really enjoy reading this blog because it gives me some insight into you artists and creative people.
Wow I couldn't even imagine living without reading, I'd go mad. I read almost every single day. It's like breathing for me. My body needs oxygen but my soul needs words. I gave up watching television, save for checking the weather and skimming the local news for 5 minutes, a few years ago. I feel much better for it. I was also an avid sports fan in my younger years, a participant as well as a watcher, but I gave that up too. Don't miss that either.
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