MrFood wrote:

daniel robert chapman wrote:But reading for pleasure? It hardly beats an easy chair and a glass of whiskey, does it?

Drinking while reading? Even harder.

I end up concentrating on one of the activities way more than the other.

This is a good point and I admit that, in spite of my thumping endorsement of concentration on the written word, there have been several occasions when I've gotten drunk with a book in hand that next morning I can't remember the last couple of chapters. Yep, the winter nights just fly by chez Chapman.

One glass don't do no 'arm though, *hic*?

I used to do this regular - especially when walking down familiar streets that aren't busy. The peripheral vision has prevented me from ever getting into bother from it.

I haven't done it for ages until the other day - I read the paper as I was walking down the street though this was partly cause I am quitting the smokes (again) and wanted something to occupy my mind instead of the gnawing urge to detour into another shop for tabs.


I actually like seeing other people do it. especially when I lived in Middlesbrough. You'd get harangued by some cap wearing mongs for reading on a bus there so seeing someone else openly reading in public made me feel a little better about being a resident.

Oddly I find headphones with music more distracting when I'm out in public.

I'm only guilty of doing this on campus. I've never run in to anyone.

Sometimes I just want to read and sometimes it's nice to have a reason not to make eye contact with the people at my school.

daniel robert chapman wrote:

Rimbaud III wrote:

daniel robert chapman wrote:Reading should not involve moving one's legs. Crap.

What about reading at the gym (on a treadmill)?

No! Well, maybe. But can you still read if your head is bobbing around while you run?

Treadmill's a bad example. It's got to be possible, but yeah, the bobbing of your head's likely to impede any meaningful involvement with a book. An exercise bike would be a better idea.

Of course, having an audiobook would solve all of these problems, but who the fuck buys those? I'll tell you who: pikeys.

daniel robert chapman wrote:But that peripheral vision business - that's maybe where I can't get this. When I'm truely absorbed in a book, I don't have peripheral vision...

With practise you can develop two tactics for walking/reading depending on environment. If the pavements are fairly empty, you can scan maybe 100 metres ahead for obstacles and pretty much set peripheral vision to minimum.

If there are lots of obstacles then admittedly one must use peripheral vision more and thus reading is less immersive.

Sparsely populated pavements allow for a surprisingly immersive reading experience.

i've done this with weeklies, but it's hard to enjoy what i'm reading when i'm worried about my surroundings and walking funny.

Weird: I thought of posting this subject just yesterday. I read and walk sometimes. The main consideration is whether I'm in a hurry (then of course I speed read and speed walk simultaneously).

Crap.

I'm a danger walking with only walking to concentrate on. If I tried to read while walking, Emergency Rooms would swell.

But reading while drinking? Wonnnnnderful. One of the few places I can really get uber-focussed, where, as DRC says, "the periphery falls away" is at bars. It's difficult to find a good bar to read in, but it's a pleasure. Especially right after work. A couple of glasses of wine and a few chapters imbibed, and you're back to human.

How can you do this? I can't even co-ordinate my body to do anything else while reading. Certainly nothing as advanced as reading. Sounds like asking for trouble!

I have the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy radio shows on my iPod. When I was doing lots of flying late last year, it proved to be a great distraction. Now I have lots of random locations permanently assigned to specific parts of the narrative. Airports, train stations, hotels, taxis. So weird how my mind works.

Dangerous business that.

I'll pass and survive not being mowed down by some cretin.