Now that you all know about my "visibility" project from the last post, some of you might think that I don't actually work at all. This is mostly incorrect. I do in fact work every day, but I find that filling in those bits of spare time between meetings can be challenging. Some stop by the vending machine, some step out to smoke, I read e-books.
On the whole, I'm pretty cheap. Very rarely do I buy the latest and greatest anything; so when I mention e-books, keep in mind that I mean the stuff written in the 1800's and the turn of a century that have become public domain and therefore can be downloaded for free.
Not only can a free e-book save you a trip to the library or a used bookstore (remember I am cheap), they also provide a wonderful way to multi-slack. When I need a little break, I've found that nothing keeps up the appearance of dedication like a good long email. For this reason, I copy/paste large sections of e-books right into an empty message and read away. A click here, a scroll there, an occasional reply to an incoming bit of real work ... and I'm off to distant lands.
My 2 latest escapes have been from the works of George MacDonald: 'The Princess and the Goblin' ... and ... 'The Princess and Curdie'. Both are truly wonderful fairy tales that are thoughtful, intriguing, and best of all - written in rather small chapters making them easy to read in just longer than the average smoke-break. Not that I'm attempting to justify my actions or anything.
MacDonald had a measurable influence on Lewis, Tolkien and other more recent writers that still remain sadly unavailable in e-print; and I find myself hearing Lewis's voice telling the tales ... or at least what I think he should sound like. This is a delightful way to spend a few minutes of an otherwise ordinary day and I find my imagination "baptized". Good Ol' professor Kierke would be proud.
There have been those time however, when work was slow that my few minutes have grown somewhat longer in span. During the week of last Christmas - while alone in the office, I managed to put away 2 whole novels by Jules Verne. At a previous employer, I finally got around to reading 'Treasure Island' and another great Stevenson work 'The Tonkin'.
These flights into "the classics" make me read much of the new literature by harsher light and I would argue that I'm the better for it. As for weaning myself back off my hidden office-time habit, I'll try to take a walk outside now that I'm done with Macdonald for now. I wonder if the local drugstore sells a story-patch that I could stick to my arm to help stave off my cravings.
12 comments:
I love this! I never thought about ebooks as the answer to I-have-to-be-here-now-what-do-I-do time. I too love classics, not necessarily as what I read constantly but sprinkled in among other reads. I can't remember the name of a fairy story (the Bristish kind) it was by GK Chesterton who was a big influence on Lewis. Here's a website to download his e-stuff. http://www.dur.ac.uk/martin.ward/gkc/books/index.html
By the way, I do recognize the headline as bad song lyrics...and the post was so intellectual.
I see your habit of reading E-books as an asset. Your intellect obviously needs to be fed on a regular basis or you will perhaps start itching. Reading the classics that have maintained their relevance over the decades is the fuel that feeds your job performance. As you pointed out, a smoke break is an unhealthy remedy for coping. You my friend are expanding your little gray cells, not strangling them. For this - you deserve a promotion that will allow you more to time to become educated! Bravo!
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/suetonius-caligula.html
so, do you think that Mrs. dust will recognize the bad song title? I think he got the idea from me. I was going to use it too one time, but thought better of it!
I go to the library and download audiobooks onto my ipod. If I have a time frame that I need to bear down on the computer and work like a madman, I'll listen to those books. I have been on a futuristic terror of worlds with Brave New World, 1984, and F451.
futuristic terror! COOL
Mrs or Mr?
I read Dante's Inferno (translated, of course) as a text file from the Gutenberg Project. The biggest problem I had was that I was psychologically used to only reading short sections of text at a time on the computer, so reading an entire book seemed longer than usual.
Okay, for those of you that know me...know I have to comment about the creative song title...LOL! I relate too much of my life to music! =D
The sad thing is that my kids picked up on that first line from the movie Shark Tale. But they don't know the rest of the song which is good, but how do I keep them from singing that line...especially in the grocery store? LOL!
Oh well...here's to music! Oh yeah, and kudos to the e-books! =D
Of course I know the song title! You are talking to the queen of bathroom and bodily functions humor. I like big butts and I cannot lie.... I married Dust didn't I? j/k sweetie. You don't have a big butt.
yay golden is back!
awwwwww .... she called him sweetie and said he had a big but in the same post.
Isn't that special :-)
Oh yeah, what was Dust's deal with jeans fitting his butt just right? He posted something along those lines...lol!
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