# How Commonplace Is Bathroom Reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 5, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493 "2012-01-05T11:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/81 "2012-01-13T04:39:35Z")
Books, in the bathroom? That’s crazy. I’m quite positive that the smart phone and Kindle were originally invented as a device to occupy your time while on the can. Enright3’s two rules of going number two: 1. always bring inconspicuous reading material. If I don’t have a phone from which I can read/play games; I’ve been known to print out a Sudoku or crossword. 2. Always go #2 on company time. I still find it very satisfying to know I’m getting paid to poop.\* 🙂 You guys are welcome for the free advice. - plus my work has better toilet paper. For some reason they hooked up with a quality paper towel and toilet paper vendor. The bathrooms are actually very nice; with marble counter tops, wide stalls; and motion sensitive soap, water, and paper towel dispensers. ---
**Author:** ![Zago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecccb3/32.png) [@Zago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zago)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/82 "2012-01-14T01:50:08Z")
I have never read in the bathroom - didn’t even know what it was about until I was I was a young adult. If some people have to read in the bathroom, I understand your bowel movements aren’t as easy as mine. What grosses me out is when I see someone (several times I saw my boss) heading to the head with the newspaper - I guess I’d rather that reading material was provided inside so I’m not left with the idea of my boss straining. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/83 "2012-01-14T06:13:28Z")
Taking a magnesium tablet can help move the bowels. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/84 "2012-01-14T06:54:50Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > The most simpatico people I have ever met are those with either a basket with reading material, or in the case of one aunt, an actual bookshelf in the bathroom. > > I love bathroom reading. I think I’m gonna put a bookshelf in my bathroom. Right now I use the windowsill, which is wide enough for regular paperbacks, but not anything else. > [@GreenElf](#): > > Taking a magnesium tablet can help move the bowels. It doesn’t work immediately. And I’d prefer to eat prunes, which also don’t work immediately. Taking artificial laxatives on a regular basis is not a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/85 "2012-01-14T07:38:00Z")
> [@Bibliothecarius](#): > > 😃 That movie inspired me to read _The Brothers Karamazov_ on the can (no, not the whole thing at once! :eek:). > > Always been a bathroom reader, usually try to get in a few pages of whatever book I’m reading, or if my brain is too taxed to manage it or I’m in a hurry (I mostly read non-fiction of the sort that contains footnotes and was written by college professors), I’ll grab a magazine, the mail, or something else at hand. I, also, don’t understand people who don’t read on the can - what else do you _do_? Sit and stare at the wall silently for several minutes? 😕 Okay, since you’ve read that, read _The Brothers K._ Thumbs up! ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/86 "2012-01-14T07:46:19Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Word. > > Ayup! > > I’m another Mom-who-hides-in-the-bathroom-with-a-book. > > Unfortunately, there is a serious side effect to this lifetime habit. Now I can’t move my bowels without reading. I can feel like I have to go, even to the point of cramping and pain, but I’ve cross wired the “lateral movement of the eyes” and “poop” nerves. Hence the shampoo bottles. Or, in an emergency, I have to scan the bathroom tiles, left to right, as if I were reading words. I bought my neices (scandously close in age) a toity chair shaped like a car repleat with a steering wheel and horn. I asked my brother if it’d worked. He said Yeah. Except everytime we have to go somewhere, they have to shit. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/87 "2012-01-14T07:50:34Z")
Another bathroom reader here. Everyone in the family does it. It’s kinda boring sitting there you know? We all share the same magazine too. Like others too, I’ve read the shampoo bottle in desperation. Though, I do have a strange habit of having to make sure any faces on the magazine are covered in some way before I stand up once I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/88 "2012-01-14T14:02:03Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Taking a magnesium tablet can help move the bowels. Taking laxatives (or purgatives) when one is not constipated is NOT a good idea. It can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance (the real kind, not the Gatorade ad kind), uncontrollable muscle spasms, heart arrhythmias and even death. A person who’s bowels need a minute or two to get going is not constipated. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493/89 "2012-01-14T14:48:13Z")
I have been thinking about why I read in the bathroom. I think it is because for many years I wasn’t granted the luxury of reading because of family concerns. My wife, particularly, consider it rude for me to be in the room with her and read. This lead to me reading out loud to her and helped us bond. But, I also wanted to read other things and that is probably why I read in the bathroom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-commonplace-is-bathroom-reading/608493.md?page=4)