Althouse: "Can you concentrate on Flaubert when your cute cat is only a few feet away, or give your true devotion to Mr. Darcy when people are swimming in a pool nearby?"

March 7, 2012

"Can you concentrate on Flaubert when your cute cat is only a few feet away, or give your true devotion to Mr. Darcy when people are swimming in a pool nearby?"

"People who read books on paper are realizing that while they really want to be reading Dostoyevsky, the real world around them is pretty distracting with all of its opportunities for interacting with people, buying things in stores, and drinking coffee."

Alex Madrigal lampoons that NYT article about ebooks that we were talking about a couple days ago.

14 comments:

bagoh20 said...: There was a golden age after the industrial revolution when living became less and less time consuming and opened up reading as a pastime. That dynamic grew and grew until the internet came along and made reading much more powerful and interactive. There is no going back.

I read many, many times more than I used to, but still rarely read an entire book. There is just too much filler. I should do more books, because it's a very different experience, but there is so much to learn, that reading for pure pleasure seems almost sinfully wasteful.

I think I've learned more in the last 5 years on the internet than I did in the previous decades of my life, including college, and I still feel stupid.; 3/7/12, 10:02 AM
Bob_R said...: A lazy article about a lazy article. The NYT piece took something mildly interesting (the differences between our interaction with paper and ebooks) and breathlessly reported it as a huge difference. Madrigal does a cookie cutter critique. Human-computer interaction is interesting and important. Neither article adds much to our knowledge. But then again, you did get two posts out of it.; 3/7/12, 10:04 AM
bagoh20 said...: The NYT point is valid because those analog distractions involve stopping the reading and doing something completely different, usually involving physical activity and effort. A digital distraction is just a finger click away and you are still in the same activity - in your zone. I'm not sure it even qualifies as a distraction.; 3/7/12, 10:08 AM
bagoh20 said...: Lazy article or not, it's worth thinking about, since it's one of the things you likely do more often per day than almost anything else. And how you do it is actually building your mind, personality and opinions at this very moment and all through the day.

My name is bagoh20, and I approve this distraction.; 3/7/12, 10:13 AM
Scott M said...: I'm not sure it even qualifies as a distraction.

Oh, it's a distraction, all right. Just try writing when you don't have access to the internet. My productivity goes through the roof when I can't just bounce over to my browser to "research" something. I will agree that we're never going back though.; 3/7/12, 10:14 AM
Aridog said...: I'm anti-social I guess, and apparently always have been. When I am reading a book, or a newspaper for that matter, I am distracted by nothing what-so-ever. Get out of my life if you dare to interrupt ... and I'm inclined to say so if you persist. Other distractions, noise, etc., don't exist in my world when I am reading. Period.

No go away :-); 3/7/12, 10:18 AM
edutcher said...: I had an hour and a half commute on public transit way back when and I decided I would read all the books I hadn't been assigned in school.

The Market-Frankford El isn't the best place to concetrate, but the Collected Works of Lord Byron or"War and Peace" can be pretty absorbing.

It's all in the material.; 3/7/12, 10:19 AM
Chip S. said...: Ambient sound, or having a pet next to you, does not require your visual attention.

A stupid critique of what Bob_R correctly described as a lazy article.; 3/7/12, 10:26 AM
traditionalguy said...: Interruptions, thy name is internet.

I started reading an interesting paper back book a few months ago for 80 pgs or so, got interrupted and put it down, forgot it, and then saw it again at the bookstore, so I bought it again only to find that I remembered the first 80 pages.

Help. Somebody stop me.; 3/7/12, 10:34 AM
Kurt said...: This topic reminds me of the classic Roz Chast cartoon entitled "Distractions of the Great." Click on the "zoom" button to read it.; 3/7/12, 10:58 AM
bagoh20 said...: So which is the distraction: the thing you want to do, or the thing you want to do enough to give up the first?

I think for many the distraction is the thing that doesn't pay, but I don't see it that way. My distractions are my bliss, I love to work, but "distractions" are ... I'll get back to you in a minute.; 3/7/12, 11:04 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I am distracted by Dostoyevsky these days.; 3/7/12, 11:18 AM
Rusty said...: Aridog
I'm the same way. I find it very annoying when somebody interrupts me while I'm reading.

Alibris had a bunch of technical books for .99 cents so I bought a dozen.; 3/7/12, 12:01 PM
Skyler said...: Just because he has limited ability to concentrate doesn't mean the rest of us do.; 3/7/12, 12:07 PM