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October 27, 2005
Short Attention Span
I am way too busy lately, with all the learning and teaching and reading and writing that is going on in my life. In the meantime, I am noticing that I am developing a serious case of short attention span! I used to read books from cover to cover and enjoy them too, whether fiction or not, but now, the things have changed and I usually end up skimming through books and then forgeting about them.
I think the fault might be of the fact that I have to read many academic articles. They have a limited scope and usually a single point to discuss, and are thus easier to follow than a book. But this is expanding to the area of fiction, so that I am mostly reading short stories these days and it has been a long time since I finished a book, particularly in English (I think my last book was in Persian).
It's a bad situation for someone whose first love is not history or languages or anything like that, but just a good piece of literature. Any suggestions (good books or advice)?
Posted by Khodadad at October 27, 2005 11:56 PM
Comments
Well, I don't think that I have any really useful advice, except to say that in the future when you have a bit more free time, that your attention span will probably improve. However, I may know a book that you would like. The book is "Pompeii" by Robert Harris. It is a fascinating work of historical fiction set in Italy just before and during the eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii. The characters are really vivid and the technical details are very well researched. If you read it, let me know what you think.
Posted by: David at October 28, 2005 11:53 AM
Hi Khodadad,
Long time. I'm reading a book which I had been anticipating its arrival since the beginning of summer. It's called "The Force of Reason" by Oriana Fallaci who I'm sure you're familiar with. A no non-sense, top of the line journalist who many heads of state are still fearful of.
Highly recommended.
Posted by: jamak at November 1, 2005 06:54 AM