July 10, 2005
Bag stuffed with books; clothes optional...
Now here's a quandry I have often found myself in...
Headed out, after confronting my usual packing problem. I have an obsessive fear of being caught short on reading material on trips. I don't know what this phobia is called--am I a bibliodeficencyphobic or something like that?--but it's a major crimp in my travel. Sure, I tell myself, this thick novel should be enough to last me a week. But what if it doesn't engage my interest? What if I have more time on my hands than I thought and get through it relatively quickly? Better take something else. But what if that other book proves very skimmable and it lasts less than a day? Better take something else. But what? What if I take the wrong thing, and feel the urge to read something else instead? And on it goes until I've stuffed my bag with so many books--the vast majority of which will go untouched--that I've got to worry about how to fit all my clothes.
I rarely go out, beyond my neighborhood, without a book. What if the car breaks down, and I have to sit and wait for a tow truck?
Posted by John Weidner at July 10, 2005 08:35 AM | TrackBackIf you don't want to scan in something current, there are plenty of free books on the Intenet that you can download into a PDA, where I do a lot of my reading, particularly on trips.
Alternatively, I print them out, about 2k words/sheet, into booklets with 4 pages per sheet.
In either case print is tiny but (for me)doable.
Hah... there really should be a name for that 'phobia' - I've got it too.
Posted by: Kathy K at July 10, 2005 09:59 AMThe PDA idea is worth remembering, if ever I get one. Of course the good thing about a book book is that it doesn't need electricity. And can still be read after dunking in water, or being stepped on or run over. And you can bend page corners down to mark your place. And scribble notes in it. And swat flies and mosquitos.
And use it as an improvised square, to mark right angles. And throw it at misbehaving pets and children. And press flowers in it, and save mementos. And donate it to the library if it's boring. And press it on people, to make them feel obligated to read something. And get the author to autograph it...
But a PDA includes its own "reading light."
Posted by: John Weidner at July 10, 2005 01:49 PMYup. I know the feeling all too well-- what to do when you really should, for instance, stay out of the relatives' ways when they're off doing something they have to do? Read a book, of course. Ah, but which one? I have so many.... Including waaaaay too many about radio and electronics from the '20s through the '50s.... "Precious, my preciousssss....."
:) :)
Radio in the 20's is an interesting subject (I have no expert knowlege at all, mind) because it was the exciting mind-bending new technology of the time. People wrote science fiction stories about radio wizards and space aliens with radios.
We are now in the real radio age, with cell phones, wi-fi, satellite phones etc...but nobody in the general public gets excited about it.
Posted by: John Weidner at July 10, 2005 05:59 PMAnd the fact that nobody gets excited about radio anymore is kinda sad, when you think how much poorer we'd be without something as simple as radio.
Simple, you say? Yes, if you understand how the "old timers" did it with (and sometimes without) vacuum tubes in the '10s and '20s..... Frequencies in the "short-wave" bands are easy to work with. By comparison, cell phones, which operate at UHF and microwave, are "black magic"..... [rummages around for a crucifix to ward off evil electro-magnetic spirits]..... :)
Posted by: Hale Adams at July 11, 2005 07:10 PMIt helps to be visiting people with their own books.
Posted by: B. Durbin at July 13, 2005 01:13 PM
