Here comes the summer sun...
Well as the end of the academic year approaches and people start to drift away from university I find my time is spent less and less in contact with people. No more three CU meetings a week. No more meetings with students. But lots more time for reading.
I find I start trying to read a book but nearly always I fid that I have as least half a dozen on the go. Disregarding the Bible; Systematic Theology (W Grudem); and the BAFA Rulebook, I am currently somewhere through: The Parables of Jesus (T Johnson); Faust, Part 1 (J W v Goethe); Just Sex (G Brandon); The Marlinspike Sailor (H G Smith); Aesop's Fables; The Complete Fairy Tales (Grimm); When People are Big and God is Small (E T Welch); God's Big Picture (V Roberts); Teach Yourself French Grammar; and The Life and Death of King John (Shakespeare).
I have decided that this is a bit of a problem. I used to be able to get through books very quickly and I think what has changed is a fragmentation of my attention. When I was younger and there was less reading I had to do, and I think if I only have one book on the go it is much easier to make progress. Partly because you don't have try to remember where you were or what was happening.
Obviously some books are easier to drop in to, mainly the ones with short stories or discrete chapters. But on the whole I need to reduce the number. So now I have to prioritize which I want (or need) to read first. A hard choice. I still find it easy to read if I find a book that particularly grips me, and if I spend enough time on one I can get into the swing of it, but sometimes the book you want to read isn't the book you need to read.
I will continue with the french as I am going there this summer and it is polite to at least try. And speaking of summer, the number of distractions has increased now that the cricket has started. It is wonderful to sit in the garden and listen to Test Match Special and have tea ad cakes.
Sport will take up a fair amount of free time this summer, as we can enjoy the Ashes, Wimbledon and the World Cup. I will also start going on the field to officiate American Football matches. Oh well, as my PS3 is currently out of action I will be reading more anyway.
Laters :)
I find I start trying to read a book but nearly always I fid that I have as least half a dozen on the go. Disregarding the Bible; Systematic Theology (W Grudem); and the BAFA Rulebook, I am currently somewhere through: The Parables of Jesus (T Johnson); Faust, Part 1 (J W v Goethe); Just Sex (G Brandon); The Marlinspike Sailor (H G Smith); Aesop's Fables; The Complete Fairy Tales (Grimm); When People are Big and God is Small (E T Welch); God's Big Picture (V Roberts); Teach Yourself French Grammar; and The Life and Death of King John (Shakespeare).
I have decided that this is a bit of a problem. I used to be able to get through books very quickly and I think what has changed is a fragmentation of my attention. When I was younger and there was less reading I had to do, and I think if I only have one book on the go it is much easier to make progress. Partly because you don't have try to remember where you were or what was happening.
Obviously some books are easier to drop in to, mainly the ones with short stories or discrete chapters. But on the whole I need to reduce the number. So now I have to prioritize which I want (or need) to read first. A hard choice. I still find it easy to read if I find a book that particularly grips me, and if I spend enough time on one I can get into the swing of it, but sometimes the book you want to read isn't the book you need to read.
I will continue with the french as I am going there this summer and it is polite to at least try. And speaking of summer, the number of distractions has increased now that the cricket has started. It is wonderful to sit in the garden and listen to Test Match Special and have tea ad cakes.
Sport will take up a fair amount of free time this summer, as we can enjoy the Ashes, Wimbledon and the World Cup. I will also start going on the field to officiate American Football matches. Oh well, as my PS3 is currently out of action I will be reading more anyway.
Laters :)
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