How to Control Impulse Reading

The following post is really interesting. I also have difficulty reading everything I want to read on most days as there are simply too many things to read out there. Between Google reader, my Twitter feed, my blog roll (and the list is rather generous), the daily newspapers and a cornucopia of domestic and international magazines/journals, at times it feels a tad overwhelming to get to all of the things that seem interesting. Hence, reading the following was helpful:


Today I thought of a nifty hack to control my “impulse reading” — things that I read on a whim during a bout of web surfing. It adapts a popular trick from personal finance to control impulse spending, which is to wait 30 days before making a purchase.

When I encounter an article I’d like to read, I open it in a new tab in Firefox and leave it there. Right now I have about a dozen tabs open. Some of them have been there for days. Invariably, when I make my way back through them, I read maybe 1/3 of them. Most of them just don’t seem as interesting anymore.

You can read more of S. Golder's post here.

Hat tip to MR for the pointer.

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graph via google images

Who Are You Based on What/Whom You Read?

This is quite a funny exercise in literary stereotypes and personality types. I was surprised to see no Dante or Goethe in here. Still, worth a read. And chuckle.

A bit says:

Andrew Ross Sorkin

People who refer to themselves as “playing devil’s advocate”.

Virginia Woolf

Female high-school French teachers who have their master’s degree.

Michael Chabon

People who hate Ayelet Waldman.

More here.

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Men and Women Read Differently?

Definitely worth a read.

"A study of reading habits showed almost half of women are 'page turners' who finish a book soon after starting it compared to only 26 per cent of men.

The survey 2,000 adults also found those who take a long time to read books and only managed one or two a year were twice as likely to be male than female.

Men are also more likely to have shelves full of books that have never been opened.

The only similarities between the sexes came among those who have two books on the bedside table at once and who start one book on the middle of reading another, switching easily. Twelve per cent of women were in this category – exactly the same number as men.
...
About four in 10 of the 1,500 said they had lied about what they had read to impress friends or potential partners – 46 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women.

Read more here.

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Readers Around the World Lie About What They Read?

This, I found gripping.
Why would someone lie about reading, anyway?

The new study on this premise says:

"Nearly 40 percent of readers surveyed in England admitted that they lied about reading something to "impress friends or potential partners."

The breakdown was even worse along gender lines, according to the BBC: 46 percent of men and 33 percent of women said they lied about reading experiences. Teenagers were the worst offenders, with 74 percent lying about reading books, websites, or song lyrics.

The 1,500-reader survey was part of England's National Year of Reading campaign. The BBC report on the study revealed some dating tips for readers as well:

"The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics. Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare."

Read more here.

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Kindle, anyone?

Are you a neophiliac and a reading-obsessed individual at the same time? Then you might enjoy the Kindle.
I find it as relevant as the iPod. Learn more about it here.
graph per wiki

How to Decide Whether to Read a Book?

How long does it take you to decide whether you want to read a book or not? It takes Tyler Cowen over at MR about five minutes to do. It takes some other people a little longer. I tend to try to read new releases based on their premise and thematic relevance to that on which I am currently work and interested in. I'm also noticing that I'm spending more time on the concluding pages. The 43 folders site lists a few things some being:
"# At the highest level, is this book’s topic based on the typical “zeitgeist” product that gets greenlit by someone who watches lots of golf on TV and who seldom finishes reading the 1,000-word “features” found in in-flight magazines?
# Does the book have one of those irksome, “Everything You Know About Everything is Completely WRONG!” titles?
# Is the author’s large, whitish face the primary feature of the cover?
# Mistral!Does the cover art contain high heels, Mistral, or any reference to either Oprah Winfrey, Joel Osteen, or “Dr. Phil?”
# Can you find the word “secret” anywhere on the cover of the book?
# Is the book published by a company that you’ve never heard of — or, far worse, does that company appear to share the last name of the author or his yacht?
# In the event that this is a book by a “famous” person: if the book were written by someone you’d never heard of, would your interest in the book or its topic wane significantly?"
Read more here.
graph per 43 folder

Wait, Did you Just Say, Dante..., who?!"

Gripping piece per NY Times.
"Some years ago, I was awakened early one morning by a phone call from a friend. She had just broken up with a boyfriend she still loved and was desperate to justify her decision. “Can you believe it!” she shouted into the phone. “He hadn’t even heard of Pushkin!”

We’ve all been there. Or some of us have. Anyone who cares about books has at some point confronted the Pushkin problem: when a missed — or misguided — literary reference makes it chillingly clear that a romance is going nowhere fast. At least since Dante’s Paolo and Francesca fell in love over tales of Lancelot, literary taste has been a good shorthand for gauging compatibility. These days, thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, listing your favorite books and authors is a crucial, if risky, part of self-branding.'

On some level, I do agree with the premise of the article. However, I don't find reality, my reality at least, to be that black and white. Back in college, a boyfriend of mine didn't know who Goethe was. But then again, he was aesthetically superior and there went my literary judgment. 'There's always time for Goethe later on,' I reasoned. Dumping someone because of their lack of literary understanding doesn't sound too mature or human, for that matter. But, like the author of the piece, I have heard people in my circle say things like, "well, can you blame me, she hasn't read a book since Madonna's Ray of Light. Hello!!!'

Here's another interesting/funny snippet from the article,
"Let’s face it — this may be a gender issue. Brainy women are probably more sensitive to literary deal breakers than are brainy men. (Rare is the guy who’d throw a pretty girl out of bed for revealing her imperfect taste in books.) After all, women read more, especially when it comes to fiction. “It’s really great if you find a guy that reads, period,” said Beverly West, an author of “Bibliotherapy: The Girl’s Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives.” Jessa Crispin, a blogger at the literary site Bookslut.com, agrees. “Most of my friends and men in my life are nonreaders,” she said, but “now that you mention it, if I went over to a man’s house and there were those books about life’s lessons learned from dogs, I would probably keep my clothes on.”
Read full text here.

Do you have any examples?