Multitask reading and context separation
November 12th, 2006When I was young, I used to read in only one place: my bed — occasionally the public library.
And I used to read only one book at a time. Single-task reading seemed the only reasonable practice.
Are you a multi-task reader?
But nowadays, I am sometimes reading as many as six books at the same time. How come the stories do not get inextricably shuffled into a useless mess?
It seems that as long as each book has a separate reading context, I can handle the multitasking aspects quite easily.
The context can be divided into places, times, themes, and media:
- I am reading Watership Down in my near-workplace apartment bed.
- I have just finished reading ‘Les Cheveux de Bérénice’ (a historical scientific fiction by Mathematician Denis Guedj about Eratosthenes’ measurement of the Earth under Ptolemy IV, in 240 BC) in that same apartment bathroom (toilet bowl or bath tub indiscriminately)
- I am reading Proust’s ‘Du côté de chez Swann’ as an ebook from my laptop, generally at night, when all lights are out.
- I am reading the Hobgoblin’s novel online from my desktop computer at home.
- I am ‘reading’ H.G. Wells’ ‘The war of the Worlds’ by Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater on the Air as an audio book from my ipod when I ride my bike to/from work.
- I am reading Elisabeth Badinter’s ‘Fausse Route’, for a future post at What we said, in my bed at home.
- I am reading ‘Kidnapped’ by R.L. Stevenson in my bathroom at home.
- I am reading ‘Richard le canard’ to my son before he goes to sleep. OK, it hardly qualifies as a book, but some day I might start to read him a real novel (my father used to read us Robinson Crusoe, page after page: it took more than a year).
Just a suggestion for publishing companies
I believe that smell could be another very powerful tool for context division. If each book had a specific odour, we could be quite certain that we would be able to keep it separate from others in our memory. The memory of smell is probably the one that fades slowest, therefore if the memories are inseparably attached to a smell, I would not only be able to read Dostoïevski and Tolstoï at the same time in the same place from the same paperback collection without mixing Russian character names, but I would also be able to remember the stories in the long run, as the former would be associated to dry powdered celery while the memories of the latter would surface whenever I smell fresh damp soil.
P.S. It goes without saying that every edition of ‘Swann’s Way’ should smell the smell of fresh-baked madeleines dipped in tea.
Read on
Pbooks: an unbiased review
Reading Proust one page at a time
What is it with me and litbloggers? (coming soon)
Read away
Involuntary memory
Dorothy’s multiple book policy (with fine comments)
Thanks for the link. That’s an interesting idea to have different books for different places. I really only read in two places, my chair in my study at home and my bed, so, since I’m reading 4 books at the moment, I have to read some books in the same place. It works fine for me though
This is really interesting. I used to be a multi-tasking reader. But now, I find I have to really get into the right mode to focus. (The aging thing, I guess.) I tend to read in my bed, before I go to sleep. Which is pretty much against what all the doctors say you should do if you want to get a good night’s sleep. But, for me, it’s when I’m calm, done with the day and can really savor “my time.” And I have “editor’s neck,” so reading from a prone position is much more comfortable for me.