JUJugurtha·May 6, 2017
I think it also comes down to attitude. I remember when we didn't have internet at home and I was in middle school through high-school, I'd always have about 20 floppy disks with me so that I could go to an internet café, download pages so I could read them home.
During sophomore year (college, Engineering), I spent a lot of time commuting (could stack up to 6 hours in a day) so I was reading philosophy, economics, neuro linguistic programming, psychology, etc. during this time. I live in a country where I can't just buy any book (low availability) and electronic payment wasn't introduced until recently and I didn't have a laptop 10 years ago, so I'd print 4 book pages per A4 sheet, then they'd get folded an make a small book I'd pierce in the center and sort of bind. 500 sheets were about $5 that time.
I also read everywhere, especially
Read the rest
in the toilet, which I think is a habit I picked up from home (I grew up with a book shelf in the toilet and we used to call the bathroom the "National Library"). As a matter of fact, I'm writing these very lines sitting on the throne.
I've never read as much as during my unemployment (I could read like 20 hours per day, but it's not for everyone).
On my way to work and after work, I reach for my laptop and get stuff done if I'm fortunate to have a seat. I work on features, do refactoring, etc. If I'm standing, I get my phone and read an ebook.
By the way, I recently found Aaron Swartz' blog posts in epub format. https://github.com/joshleitzel/rawthought
The takeaway from this is the following:
- Making the most out of time that would otherwise be wasted: amortizing commute time, waiting time, etc.
- Exposing myself to a variety of topics opened up a graph of interest that sent me to different directions and topics. I've learned a lot of things.