Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by shelled 20 days ago
For me, reading books depends a lot on the space - the place, the setting. I can't read anywhere and everywhere.

I can regularly work in noisy places. I can even routinely sleep in such places. At least after adjusting for a while, or when I am too tired, or travelling. But I cannot routinely read if the place isn't calm and doesn't feel cosy. I say "routinely" because when I am travelling, I can read just fine even at the bus and train stations (both are mad noisy where I live) - the brain somehow knows or adjusts. But I just can't in a house that is near a traffic hell, or above a noisy market. I just can't read there. That's one of the reasons I my house hunts become so daunting and stressful in this godforsaken city where "older bachelors" are double-whammied.

Train journeys are very productive for my reading and sleeping.

And as the author notes, abandoning books helped my reading. Though most often I don't truly dump them - I skip-read them, I speed-read them, if I am sure I may never pick them again. Then there are books that I may find they are not worth "my" time (might be great books to others), I don't even bother to speed/skip read them. I just let go of them.