I finally finished reading this book Superman gave to me. It’s called “The Know-It-All – One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World”. The author, A.J. Jacobs, spends a year reading all volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica so each chapter is a different letter of the alphabet. He then weaves his own life and sensibilities into the words he’s learning all about.
I like the way each word was a short read. Sometimes they’d be a few short words and some of them were a few pages long, but each was filled with his wry sense of humor. Part of the book dealt with he and his wife trying to get pregnant. Another part dealt with religious exploration and yet another was all about his quest to get on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (hint: he makes it on to the show).
I don’t know what it is about reading and me – we just don’t get along. It seems that every time I read something that’s longer than a paragraph my mind starts to wander. I start thinking about something else I could be doing at that time. Even when I attempt to read something longer, I’ll hit some word on the page and my mind starts thinking about something else. Next thing I know, I’ve turned several pages and I have no idea what’s happened in the story and I have to turn back and re-read the entire section.
If you ask me, I don’t feel like it’s a lack of focus. I sit in a cubicle at the office that’s in a busy section of the office and I’ve gotten pretty good about tuning the noise out and concentrating on what I’m doing. Other times I can hear someone quietly tapping on their desk… three desks down.
Wait… where was I going with this? Oh, yeah… lack of focus. I guess it’s true. Whenever I read the news of the world, I just want the headlines. If the story is really compelling then I’ll read the first part of the story to find out more. I used to be able to pour over the newspaper like it was the secret to life. I don’t know, I seem to be getting worse as I get older.
Eh, could be worse…
I like the way each word was a short read. Sometimes they’d be a few short words and some of them were a few pages long, but each was filled with his wry sense of humor. Part of the book dealt with he and his wife trying to get pregnant. Another part dealt with religious exploration and yet another was all about his quest to get on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (hint: he makes it on to the show).
I don’t know what it is about reading and me – we just don’t get along. It seems that every time I read something that’s longer than a paragraph my mind starts to wander. I start thinking about something else I could be doing at that time. Even when I attempt to read something longer, I’ll hit some word on the page and my mind starts thinking about something else. Next thing I know, I’ve turned several pages and I have no idea what’s happened in the story and I have to turn back and re-read the entire section.
If you ask me, I don’t feel like it’s a lack of focus. I sit in a cubicle at the office that’s in a busy section of the office and I’ve gotten pretty good about tuning the noise out and concentrating on what I’m doing. Other times I can hear someone quietly tapping on their desk… three desks down.
Wait… where was I going with this? Oh, yeah… lack of focus. I guess it’s true. Whenever I read the news of the world, I just want the headlines. If the story is really compelling then I’ll read the first part of the story to find out more. I used to be able to pour over the newspaper like it was the secret to life. I don’t know, I seem to be getting worse as I get older.
Eh, could be worse…