Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - Until you got me into this reviewing thing, I had grown grossly deficient in my reading (2 or 3 books in a year). Now of course I am reading more, which has actually helped a wee bit in structuring my time.

2 - I've read 170 books this year - which is the first year I've kept count.

3 - One or two complete books a year, at most. That's all. But that's hardly all I read. I read portions of books -- a chapter, a section, sometimes just a few paragraphs here and there. I've probably bought hundreds of books in the past ten years, and... I've gotten what I want out of them. No need to read them cover-to-cover as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not an especially fast reader, but neither am I a slow reader. The thing is, I recognized long ago that I am a very absorbed reader. My attention focuses and everything else gets blocked out. I simply don't have the time, patience, or desire to let that happen with full books very often.

I read magazines like crazy. Whereas some people might bring a nice sized book along with them on a cross-country fight, I'll bring four or five current magazines. Even in that setting, I don't want to devote my full attention to one book for the duration. I suppose there's a touch of ADD in this, but it's not just that.

I have a stack of books on my nightstand, mostly large non-fiction books broken nicely into chapters and sections, some anthologies of essays, etc., and I might read a few pages of any of them at any time. I read almost no fiction. I'll bet I've read fewer than thirty novels since high school -- and that's including everything Douglas Adams wrote, and all the Harry Potter books . Not exactly deep and challenging, but fun.

-rich

4 - Before I had a daughter, I used to read 4-5 books a week. Often more, 'cause if the weekend was free I would read a few then as well. Now? Not so much. I'm lucky to get 2 a week...

I like re-reading, though, once I've forgotten some of the details. Then there are books (Lord of the Rings being the obvious example) that I'll re-read even though I couldn't forget the details in a million years.

It's not the number of books you read that makes you unusual, Tom, it's that database. Yikes! I must have read that wrong; I could have sworn you said it was an Access database...

5 - I cannot be without a book to read. If I'm going to work and I think I'll finish the current book on the way or way home, I'll pack another to start when I finish.

But I certainly don't read more than one per week. I just don't have that many reading hours in my life!

6 - complete books? maybe 10 a year, lately. but having been at school at night while working during the day has had a bad effect on that--instead of reading an entire tech book from start to finish, i just scan the index, go to what i need, and pull it from there.

hopefully being out school will break me of that bad habit...and yay, its FICTION time, baby!

7 - I bookmarked this, & read it again. It's only fair to say that I have a lot of friends and colleagues who also read a few books a week. OK, several. We take it as read that we'll exchange books, the names of good authors, not only among ourselves, but with anyone we fall into conversation with. What strikes me on my second reading is that you, Tom, defined yourself as an oddity partly because you seem to hang around with people who don't make the time to do that. It's entirely your choice to restrict yourself and dumb yourself down - but the world is full of avid readers : )

Get out there! I got some great tips from a bunch of visiting German women. We didn't apologise to each other for being literate; we leapt in there and asked "What's out now in paperback? What books did you enjoy this week, this month?" "He/she wrote on different themes , did you read XYZ?"

It's totally normal. Quit being an elite twit! I had some great book recommendations recently from three unemployed guys and two unemployed women. We enjoyed talking about how the authors have developed, and how they expanded our experiences. We knew that I'd buy them and they'd borrow them from the library. But so what? You should ask! You either insult people by assuming they don't read copiously, or limit yourself by restricting yourself to those who don't. It's not about you! How can you read and appreciate and yet decide that you are their only reader? At least be logical and email the author to congratulate them because you've bought their book, unlike everyone you've ever met! At least do that much for them!

8 - Hi, again... There's no restricting and "dumbing down" here. If you fast forward to current blog entries, you'll see I now review nearly all the books I read online here, plus I post them on Amazon. I'm ranked #84 as a reviewer there, and the book reviews and my reading rate are something I've come to be known for.

Since I last made this post, I've embraced my inner speedreader. :)

9 - Well, your grand total per year puts my two or three a week (on a good unstressed time) to shame. And when the excrement hits the fan, well, it plummets..

Shame really, as there's nothing quite as good as lounging around the house all day reading.. Pity this work business keeps getting in the way..

---* Bill

10 - I liked Access; truly relational; but I've moved on to http://www.collectorz.com/book/

Great to hear that others read as much also. I won't even buy a handbag unless it has an outside, zipless pocket that will take a paperback If I drove to work I'd lose reading time! Enjoyed this thread & will read your blog again. Hope you're still posting?

11 - Senility saves on cost... I like that! Reminds me of the story told about Ronald Reagan (real or not) as he was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He said it was really nice that he got to meet so many new people each day.

I have occasionally reread a book by accident. I end up remembering *just* enough of the book to keep thinking "have I read this before?" I usually don't have the database close at hand when that happens, so I keep reading anyway...

12 - Hi,
I happened across this page during a google search. O.o wow, you read way more than me. I've read about 32 books this year.

I find it cool that you've made a database to track your reading. ^-^ I've made myself a database out of PHP and MySQL (I keep it on a local and virtual host). From it I can tell you the following info:

Total Books
2005 : 32
2004 : 13

Total Pages
2005 : 9,899
2004 : 3,462

Total Hours
2005 : 238.02
2004 : 87.10

I've been working on a version of the database that could be used by members of my website (once I get it up and running). I'm proud to say that in another month or so I should have it all worked out. That way everyone can obsessively track their book info. ^.o

Seeing your page gives me hope that I am not alone in my obsessive tracking.

13 - Not that many by far. I usually average about fifty, but the past two years have been way down at around twenty five. Business is very good, which is good, but I do miss the reading time.

My wife has kept a notebook with every book she reads for at least the past twenty years. Amazing! I'd rather just forget and read the same books over again without having to know I've read them before. Senility certainly saves on book costs.

14 - Around 35-45 I think. Sometimes more sometimes less.

15 - I read quite a bit myself... I take the commuter train to work every day so that alone gives me about 1.5 hours of reading time a day.

I read very few technical books... to the displeasure of the boss I'm sure And have been meaning to get on that a bit...

Now it's mainly school books, study aids, and stuff that I read in dealing with helping guys with guy issues... And I'm starting to get into biographies as well.

So if I had to make a guestimate (since Access is way too advanced for me!) I would say last year I read about 60-75 books.

16 - Ed... I know the feeling... I'm to the point where I'll remember I read it *somewhere*, but I'll have problems remembering the source... was it a blog? An online newsletter? A website? One of the magazines I get?

Andrew... I understand... The thought of being without reading material scares me. You know it's bad when you pack for a week vacation, and packing less than four books makes you uneasy.

Rob... yes, I am ashamed... I said Access. It was back in 1995, and I hadn't been introduced to Notes yet. I guess I should convert that puppy to a Notes db... Replicate it up to Connectria's server, web-enable it, and make it available to the world.

Bill... Imagine how nice it would be to be a paid book reviewer and to read all day. Although that Daffy Duck robe you refer to often still disturbs me.

17 - A few of your readers know that when I was in college, I thought my life's ambition was to open my own bookstore. I think it would have been a disaster -- Barnes&Noble and Borders were just coming on strong a year or two after I graduated -- but it was obviously something born out of a love of books.
I don't read nearly as much as I'd like to. In part, it's because I'm cursed with the idea that every single word must be read... even densely written books (i.e. Clancy). As such, it can take me a long time to read. Maybe 20-30 books in a year... but I read the newspaper every day, subscribe to four or five monthly magazines, and of course read everything and anything remotely interesting on the web.