How many of us really pick up most books and read them all the way through? Not many!
Here is an entertaining article on the reading of books.
An all too predictable moralism surrounds the reading of books. There is a prescribed way of reading: one page at a time, starting from the front of the book to the back, paying close attention to every single page in order, no skipping around. But the reality is that most of us graze — read a bit, put the book down, start up again. We may pay more attention to one part than another, skim boring parts, and even (heaven forbid) leap over long, dull tracts. Some very strange people even admit to reading the end of a book before the beginning, which is sort of like eating dessert before dinner.
A funny line here:
Samuel Johnson, admitted that "Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and puts down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is."
2 comments:
I am obsessive compulsive about finishing books that I start. It is a real problem, because many of the books are start are not worth finishing.
I suspect you have alot of problems but ... you are probably alot smarter than the rest of us because you do finish books. I hate looking at all the books I have fished around in ... makes me feel guilty.
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