On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> And at the same time I started Netflix I made a personal commitment, > in the form of a New Year's resolution, not to buy any new books until > I finish reading the books I already own. While I haven't been perfect > on the buying side, although I have gotten a much better sense of > impulse control, my lack of speed in getting through books is > dismaying. The two main factors keeping me from reading are time spent > on the internet and time spent watching Netflix movies. I have cut > back my time spent on the net considerably and I hold on to Netflix > discs longer, not pushing myself to watch them immediately when I get > them and exchange them quickly. > > Which leads to my final answer: I am considering dropping Netflix > streaming before September 1 in order to free up more time for > reading. > I am always a big fan of people making more time to read (or listen to) books. I have a job that entails a lot of book and journal reading of various kinds, and I enjoy reading enough for pleasure that I don't find viewing to be a major competition to reading (in my case, if I were to make a similar resolution it would probably be to cut back on viewing to spend more time talking to people - except I don't really like talking to people so why would I do that?). I have had a minor problem with buying books that pile up before I get a chance to read them (I usually mow that down in the summer), though since I got a Kindle in December that problem has almost completely evaporated. I was a loud-mouth critic of Kindle and its cousins for a long time (for all the usual reasons). Not only have I found most of those reasons unfounded, but I am really digging being able to get the first chapter or so of books for free. It really is like carrying around my own bookstore in my pocket (the Kindle fits nicely in my inside jacket pocket), and I am able to promiscuously get as many books as I want without paying. If I get around to reading the first chapter, I buy the book (on demand, 24/7, wherever I happen to be) if and when I really want to finish it. I am sure I have already saved the price of the Kindle in unread books. I do miss the cover art, and seeing the books on my shelf, and (most substantively) I find not being able to correlate what I am reading with page numbers on a standard hard copy to be more than occasionally a problem (and this seems like it should be an easy problem to fix - why can't the Kindle just tell me that I am currently on what would be page 120 in the paper back version?). -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
