Wearying to the body

Qoheleth gives the warning that, "the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body" (12:12).

If this was true back in his day then in our information age the writing of many books seems to have exploded exponentially and the desire to "keep up" can be wearying never mind the actual reading of these books!

So;

(1) what strategies do you employ to keep up with your reading and (2) how do you do this so it's not wearying?

Answers to the comments section.

[update]

the pile just got bigger!

Comments

[Wulf Forrester-Barker]

Walk to work and read while I'm walking. I haven't bumped into a tree for years although I do take the precaution of putting the book down before crossing roads!

[brodie]

Wulf - I used to read my Bible while walking as I found I could take stuff in that was familiar but not new!

[emma]

Carry a book everywhere... thats my motto! You never now when you might find a spare 5 or 10 minutes, and every little bit adds up. I read "The little guide to your well read life" last summer, and it has lots of ideas on how to keep reading fun etc. One of the main things I took away from it was that its ok to set a book aside for a while (or permanently) if I'm not enjoying/appreciating/learning for it.

[f]

Keep a book, magazine or article to hand. On the desk, in my carrybag, on the coffee table - if it's at hand I can catch a few pages over a cup of tea, between tasks, on a bus, etc.

Keep 2-4 books on the go at any time. Keeps things fresh and interesting.

Make notes, blog, chat with others, email, review start a reading group. Reading with no output or interaction can be really draining.

Give up - if a book really sucks, or becomes to hard to follow, be prepared to put it to one side. I never got through Dogmatics or Truth and Method on the first try. Hitting them again when I was better equipped was a lot more rewarding than struggling through half-blind.

[Duncan McFadzean]

read on holidays. read whilst travelling. try and finish one before i start the next one. have a list of books to get through in a year. give books away so I don't spend too much time reading the same thing twice - also nicely frees up bookshelf space! also mix it up between Christian, non Christian fiction and non Christian non fiction, which means it's a bit fresher - or at least that's what I try. Also try and mix up my reading with work related material, blogs and then magazines galore.

[lynn]

I have been enjoying reading these tips - thanks everyone.

Am struggling to fit college reading alongside kids, work, reading rubbish for pure pleasure and trying to expand my brain at the same time........!

[brodie]

Fern - thanks for your insights. I'll have to think more about how I get some more output / interaction with what I'm reading.

[brodie]

Emma - I do carry a book everywhere but find it hard to give up people watching in favour of reading!

[brodie]

Duncan - holidays are good for catching up on reading, no TV etc. That said holidays are primarily about us doing stuff as a family so playing with my boys taks priority over books.

[brodie]

Lynn - I guess a good think to do for college reading is to be disciplined and stay focused, oh yes and take frequent short breaks rather than infrequent long breaks.

[stuart blythe]

Give some of ur books to a friend who will read them for you, that would do it - there are one or two in your picture that I am happy to help you with - why should you struggle alone - would even pay for the coffee to hand it over and will submit 500 word review (of high quality incisive comment).

[lynn]

oh, oh! I see one of the books in that pile is one I bought you for Christmas!!

(is this the time to admit that I had a sneaky read in a non-spine bending way of all of John Smulo's chapter?????)

:0)

[lynn]

PS plus I see the book I returned to you after a 8-month loan - and I still only managed that one chapter on the soul :0)

[brodie]

Stuart - I've actualy read most of the book's in the pic, so you could read them without having to do the 500 word review - name what you'd like to borrow!
The Arne Rasmusson, "The Church as Polis" I got for a snich several years back, but have never got round to reading yet!

[brodie]

Lynn - John's chapter is great.

[jim gordon]

Brodie - The Church as Polis - in Glasgow does that refer to the role of the Church as a law enforcement agency? Or its missional role in bringing conviction, preaching for a verdict,etc???

[brodie]

Jim - there are a few Greek words which sound like some Glasgow slang, but polis (a city) was my favourite and always made me smile.