# Is the SDMB interfering with your reading habits? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189 "2000-09-30T22:15:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/21 "2000-10-01T23:06:38Z")
No. Grad school affected my reading habits a long time ago. There are far too many things I _should_ be reading, most of them in Latin, Middle English, or freshman-ese, and I find myself reading almost ANYTHING else in preference. The amount of time I spend on the SDMB is one of the symptoms, but certainly not the cause of the problem. If anything, this site probably causes me to spend more time reading for pleasure, because I keep finding out about cool books here. (Most recently, _High Fidelity_ – thanks JosephFinn, London\_Calling et al!) ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/22 "2000-10-01T23:13:56Z")
I still read a lot but I think the boards have had a negative effect on the amount of housework I do. This is possibly not a Good Thing ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/23 "2000-10-01T23:59:50Z")
Ditto with the housework thing, but I am catching up with that. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/24 "2000-10-02T01:13:41Z")
Yes, my introduction to the board _has_ had a negative impact on my reading habits. Before I hooked up here I usually had 2 or 3 books going and finished about that many in a week. I finish about 1 book every six weeks now. I _do_ read a lot of stuff on the 'net, but almost all of it is barely as long as a magazine article and rarely as trustworthy (although I merrily cite a lot of it in GQ). I hope that answered your question. I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. Often enough I see a question in GQ that stirs some remembrance of something read, but since my supply of books long ago outstripped my supply of bookshelves and the books largely exist in piles, I find it easier to search the 'net for what I think I remember than to dig for the published reference (although, I guess if it’s on the 'net, it’s “published”(?)). I’m not even going to touch the housework subject (suffice to say I need a new bed…_badly_. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2000, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/25 "2000-10-02T01:30:19Z")
hmmm. My reading habits haven’t changed at all since being here. I got into bad habits years before Al Gore invented the Internet. I’ve lately tried to break out of my habit of reading just work-related and science fiction (hard to tell the difference sometimes, but the sf usually doesn’t put me to sleep). I’ve recently read _Moby Dick_ for the first time in thirty years (it is much better then I remember). I’m now almost finished with a Patrick O’Brien novel, a book about the ecology of the blue crabs of the Chesapeake, a John Barth novel _The Tidewater Tales_, a travelogue about New Zealand, and I have just started _Anna Karenina_. And I am still reading _Ulysses_, which I started while I was in school and am almost to page 350… ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2000, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/26 "2000-10-02T01:53:07Z")
My favorite SDMB threads have always been the book threads. But it was a bit ironic, spending more time reading **about** books than reading the books. There were nights that I read every thread in every forum! That’s just . . . _wrong_. So, after **using** all of you, picking your literary brains, it’s time to read the books I’ve been hearing about. I’m back to two or three a week, and it feels really good. Time on the Dope is down to a couple of peeks, every day or so. To check for book threads, mostly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2000, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/27 "2000-10-02T02:04:38Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Anti Pro \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Maybe this is about semantics, Scotti. Books open your mind and there is an act of self discipline involved. The SDMB, while filled with witty, intellectual people, this is just plain FUN, and somehow, I think we’re \* supposed to feel \* guilty about that, if we aren’t filling our minds with the written word, then we are \*\* wasting time!! \*\*\*\* Have to agree. This here is a complete waste of my time compared with my normal, intellectual, reading matter. This is “fun” while the history of drag racing I’m reading is “edifying.” 😉 Well, it’s by some guy at _Smithsonian!_\* Author’s note: When I got my degree I declared that I would never read a book without pictures again. I had to read _Madame Bovary_ for three–THREE!–different classes. It sucked the first time and got worse. It ruined novels where nothing blows up for me.\* BTW, I successfully avoided _Moby Dick_ for my entire life. I’ve started reading it and, like **DrFidelius** have the frame of reference to enjoy it now. Ditto for _Ulysses_, but I had my Barth period in college and don’t plan to go back. **Spidey** , there is research that shows that improved self-image can give much the same results as Prozac for depression. If there is anything I can say about the Dopers it is that they are GREAT for one’s self-image! ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2000, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/28 "2000-10-02T02:18:23Z")
Yes, this place has done terrible things to my reading. For that matter, I’m way down on my television viewing, my sleep (I’m an insomniac anyway, but it’s gotten worse), work I should be getting done, and any semblance of a real life (not that I had much of one before, but I’m never gonna have one if I sit at the computer all night). I keep telling myself I should cut way back on this place, or even bid it a fond farewell entirely…but here I am anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/29 "2000-10-03T03:09:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MysterEcks \* > \*\*I keep telling myself I should cut way back on this place, or even bid it a fond farewell entirely…but here I am anyway. \*\* :eek: Oh no you don’t!! Just keep in mind Mr. Terminator, YOU are made of metal and CAN be found with my handy dandy magnets…scary, huh??? Betcha THAT keeps you from waving bye bye! \*\* dropzone, \*\* terribly embarrassing admission about to be told…I was assigned \* Moby Dick \* when I was in the eleventh grade [about the time the dinosaurs were actually dying…FINALLY, what a stink they all made about THAT plan!] The rest of the class got \* The Good Earth \* which was more to my personal taste, so THAT is what I read instead, but what to do for the test?? I read the back and fly leaf of Moby to snow blow through the test. Mrs. Gilbert, too smart for an English teacher, caught me red handed, and gave me a ‘C’ with the remark on the test, ‘You never even read this did you, Judy??’ I \* slunk out of the room! \* STILL embarrassed by that, but apparently NOT enough to read anymore than, ‘call me Ishamael’, all I CAN call him is, ‘adios’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/30 "2000-10-03T03:51:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anti Pro \* > **Mrs. Gilbert, too smart for an English teacher, caught me red handed, and gave me a ‘C’ with the remark on the test, 'You never even read this did you, Judy??'** You got a C on a paper that your teacher KNEW you snow blew? Now, THAT’S a WRITER! I really don’t know how I avoided _Moby Dick_ and _A Catcher in the Rye_, since I was an English major for some time. Haven’t read _The Good Earth_ yet, but Wfe had another Buck that I started reading and it wasn’t bad! Rather surprising both for my preconceptions of the author and Wife’s taste in literature. John Astin tells of writing a paper on _Moby Dick_ in which he described it as an extended advertisement for the whaling industry. His high school teacher was shocked but a professor in college agreed. ---
**Author:** ![BigGiantHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b4bc9f/32.png) [@BigGiantHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigGiantHead)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/31 "2000-10-03T04:34:58Z")
What? You mean there are still books on paper? … Damn, I guess I have been lurking here a lot. The only reading I do anymore is the copy of Jane Austen’s _Mansfield Park_ in my Palm V! {Geek alert! aah-ooOOHH-gahhh! aah-ooOOHH-gahhh!} ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/32 "2000-10-03T04:52:53Z")
Reading habit?!?!? Hell, it’s interfering with my working and sleeping habits! ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/33 "2000-10-03T05:56:47Z")
**Anti Pro** : Hey, you keep those magnets away from me! They could cause my brain to reset rese res re r Go Yankees! Eeeeek…nooooooo… ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/34 "2000-10-04T18:37:45Z")
\*\* > [@](#): > > You got a C on a paper that your teacher KNEW you snow blew? Now, THAT’S a WRITER! > > I really don’t know how I avoided _Moby Dick_ and _A Catcher in the Rye_, since I was an English major for some time. \*\* Hey!! \*\* dropzone, \*\* THANKS for putting a more positive spin on my being caught!! I feel \* so much better! \* Interesting you brought up, ‘Catcher in the Rye’, I didn’t like it. I thought Holden annoying and so self involved I wanted to slap him most of the time! And I was still a teenager myself then, so, I doubt my opinion of him would have changed just because I’m older than dirt now! 😉 \*\* Dear Mr. TerminatorEcks, \*\* the Braves have done SO poorly that while I, being a staunch Southerner, CANNOT ‘yeh a Yankee’ I would like to have thrown something at Chipper Jones the other day!! As for the magnets, while their gauss is strong, it’s ONLY strong enough to hold you in your chair, NOT enough to reset you!! So you can relax, the problems with repeating yourself WILL go away once the moons and the tides turn!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/35 "2000-10-04T19:27:19Z")
Actually since I’ve joined the SDMB my reading habits have increased. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/36 "2000-10-05T02:07:48Z")
**Anti Pro** said: > [@](#): > > So you can relax, the problems with repeating yourself WILL go away once the moon **s** and the tides turn!! [Bolding and underscoring added.] Hey! Wait a minute!! This isn’t Earth!!! For the record, I’m a Pirates fan, and my second-favorite team is the Tigers. Since I don’t have any teams to care about in the playoffs, I’m rooting by distance from last World Series championship. So my preferences, in order, are: White Sox (1917) Giants (1954 as NY Giants) Mariners (1977–franchise date) Cardinals (1982) Mets (1986) As (1989) Braves (1995) Yankees(1999) The Yanks are the _last_team I want to see win the Series. ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/37 "2000-10-05T03:52:07Z")
SO!! You’re NOT a full blooded Yankee, huh?? I just KNEW there was some fried chicken/barbeque/hush puppy blood in you! Want some iced tea??? ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/38 "2000-10-06T01:24:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MysterEcks \* > \*\* So my preferences, in order, are: > > White Sox (1917) > Giants (1954 as NY Giants) > Mariners (1977–franchise date) > Cardinals (1982) > Mets (1986) > As (1989) > Braves (1995) > Yankees(1999) > > The Yanks are the _last_team I want to see win the Series. > \*\* You know, dear, if you really DO have a low-level, message board kind of crush on Scotticher, which I am SURE you said somewhere, you should be courting her by placing her Mariner’s at the top of your list. Do I have to tell you EVERYTHING? ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/39 "2000-10-06T01:26:32Z")
OOPS, forgot the 🙂 again. I must have some kind of mental block against smileys? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189/40 "2000-10-06T01:53:01Z")
white sox 1919. remember the black sox year? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-interfering-with-your-reading-habits/35189.md?page=3)