Fact 1: I love to read.
Fact 2: Between work and non-reading hobbies I have very little time to read.
Fact 3: My office is a 10 minute walk from the parking lot.
Putting the facts together, I began the habit of using my 20 minutes of walking time to read. I’ve done the walk so many times, I could probably do it blindfolded. I’ve got peripheral vision to avoid bumping into people. It works.
But people just won’t leave me alone!
“Must be a good book!”
“Wow, you must love reading!”
“Don’t bump into anything, har har!”
“There he goes again, always with the book…”
Is it really so unusual to see someone walk and read at the same time? Am I the only one?
When I’m at work, I’ll often take my book with me on my smoke break. Sometimes there will be a meeting of the Smokers’ Club outside and I won’t get to read it, but most of the time, I’ll walk back into the building with my book in front of my face, and the security guard will comment on it. I can walk and chew gum at the same time, I can walk and look through my purse at the same time, why *shouldn’t *I be able to walk and read at the same time? It’s not as if the book is blocking out all peripheral vision–I can avoid cars, hedges, whatever gets in my way.
I have to walk to and from school everyday, but since it’s like a 15 minute walk, I normaly read to and from school. Cars look at me strangly, but if I can get an extra 30 minutes in a day, I don’t mind. So keep on reading. Just don’t walk into anything. Thats always kinda weird.
I have a 12 minute walk from my house to the Metro station, and I often read while I walk without any problems. I do make sure to look up when crossing the street, though. I might be even odder than the OP, as I’ve been known to read academic journal articles and take notes in the margins while walking as well. Hey, when you are a grad student, you need to make use of every moment!
I often trip over painted lines, so yeah this lands somewhere near ‘odd’ on my map.
However, I work on the assembly line in a large factory and am used to the constant ‘there she is with the book’ ‘what are you reading today’ comments I get all the time. It mystifies me how coworkers can stare blindly into space during break or breakdown time, apparently I’m just as mysterious to them how I can get any meaningful comprehension out of propping open a book and reading snatches of it, mere seconds at a time, all day long.
I’ve always got a book, or three, going and am never bored in waiting rooms, or while stuck at railroad crossings, etc.
I read a lot, but I don’t read when I walk because it annoys the crap out of me when other people do. You may well have peripheral vision, but you’re not paying attention to your surroundings. There are other people around and honestly, if you’re reading, you’re not paying due attention when you need to.
I consider it eccentric, but endearingly so. Given the need so many have to involve others in their business by keeping a cell phone plastered to their heads at all times, I don’t see why someone patently minding his or her own business requires comment.
With all due respect, if I’m walking where I’m not likely to run into anyone else (e.g., down a long stretch of empty sidewalk), why should it annoy you if I’m not paying “due attention” when I “need” to?
When I was in high school, one of my mom’s friends saw me walking and reading and called my mom up to tell her how “rude” this was. I still can’t figure that one out.
I walk and read pretty regularly and have never had anyone comment on it (that I can recall). I don’t find it difficult and have never tripped or fallen while doing so. So, no, it’s not weird.
I do it often and have for years. I’ve never fallen. I also read anytime I’m waiting in a line or waiting room. I read while I’m bathing, brushing or flossing my teeth, doing my hair, and putting on makeup or moisturizer. I read while cooking – sometimes to the detriment of the cuisine. I used to read while nursing my son, but I couldn’t while feeding my daughter (she was bottle fed and a hard feeder so I needed both hands). Of my two kids, my son is the one who likes to read more… coincidence? I think not.
IIRC, Elizabeth I was known to read while she walked in the garden in the mornings, and no one really thought it odd.
(Jane Grey read her prayerbook while being escorted to the scaffold, but that probably doesn’t count.)
I’d read as I walk if I could, but I’ve been known to walk into walls with my attention undivided, so it’s probably not a good idea. Hell, I’ve got to be careful not to get lost in my thoughts and smack into a closed door.
I used to read between classes at school…sometimes going up and down the stairs. It usually worked pretty well. Usually.
When I was in elementary and middle school, I read during breakfast and on the way to school. I read when I got to school until the teacher began class, and then immediately picked my book back up when class ended. And read on the way home. And so on. I never got into Sesame Street but I sure loved “Reading Rainbow.”
I don’t see it as rude unless you are deliberately doing it to piss someone off who is say, walking with you, and who you know hates it when you read and walk and ignore them. Or something.
Many many seasons ago when I was still in school and had a 15-20 minute walk there and back, I would read during that walk. And I got shit for it time and again, those sometimes people were just amazed that I didn’t walk into anything.
Another reading walker/walking reader here. I too read whenever I get the chance, even if it’s only tiny snatches at a time.
I don’t get comments on it, but that’s because I do my walking/reading mostly in the city, between the subway and the office. People in the city, I find, are less inclined to horn in on a stranger with comments, at least in the downtown business district.
I do this sometimes. But no-one else does afaik, so it does qualify as a bit strange. I sort of understand how it feels rude but not why. And it takes practice, or you end up skimming the book.
I saw someone once reading walking across a London underground station. I thought that was brave.
I do it all the time. When I’m taking classes, the buildings are anywhere from 5-10 minutes away from my office. So I read while I’m walking to class; I read while I’m waiting for the professor to arrive; I read during any breaks I get during class; and I read on the way back from class. I don’t read while I’m crossing the street, though. I’ve never run into anyone, so I don’t see what the problem is.
That being said, my sister thinks I’m weird for doing it. I figure I may as well improve the shining moments.
