# Reading on the can. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747 "2004-02-18T05:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jujitsuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@jujitsuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jujitsuka)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/21 "2004-02-18T18:06:06Z")
I am totally dependent upon having printed material while on the toilet. It sort of ruins the experience of a good poop for me if I don’t have _something_ to read. In desperate times, I will grab a bottle of shampoo or rip the tag out of my pants, and read the fine print while I do my business. I know it’s sort of silly, especially because it doesn’t take me very long at all do go - sometimes I’m dancing around the apartment holding it in while I try to find something adequate to read. My husband doesn’t understand this, and routinely snitches available reading material from the surrounding area of the toilet. Bastard. ---
**Author:** ![jujitsuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@jujitsuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jujitsuka)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/22 "2004-02-18T18:08:03Z")
Sorry – just had to add that reading this thread gave me the urgent need to go. However, before I jaunt off to the bathroom I’m going to print a couple of SDMB threads and take them with me. That’s my favorite reading material when I go at work. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/23 "2004-02-18T18:10:19Z")
I’m female, and I don’t read in the bathroom, unless I happen to have to go when I’m in the middle of a good part of a book. Like **plnnr** I don’t understand why anyone\* would \*read in the bathroom. I sort of figured it was a guy thing, but I see I’m worng. StG ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/24 "2004-02-18T19:36:01Z")
I pet the dog. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/25 "2004-02-18T19:49:53Z")
I read the ingredients on the wrapper of the sandwich I’m eating. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/26 "2004-02-18T19:54:36Z")
Female person here & am usually only on the pot long enough for a magazine article or something quick from a Straight Dope book or summat like that. Collections of cartoon strips are also popular at our house. Calvin & Hobbes, Dilbert, Pogo … ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/27 "2004-02-18T20:02:04Z")
> [@Politzania](#): > > Female person here & am usually only on the pot long enough for a magazine article or something quick from a Straight Dope book or summat like that. > > Collections of cartoon strips are also popular at our house. Calvin & Hobbes, Dilbert, Pogo … Ditto. We’ve got a couple books that can all be read in short blurbs sitting on the top of the tank: [this](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0898159733/104-5416599-9847925?v=glance), a Straight Dope book, and a book of Imponderables. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/28 "2004-02-18T20:09:11Z")
> [@MixieArmadillo](#): > > [this](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0898159733/104-5416599-9847925?v=glance). Note: while I _do_ hate Wal-Mart, it specifically makes a good bathroom read because it’s written pretty poorly–in a very disjointed manner, and is good for a few short blurbs at a time. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/29 "2004-02-18T20:26:05Z")
I have a 1994 Guiness Book of World Records in my bathroom cabinet. Perfect reading material for the occasion. You can read as much or as little as you need. You will all be amazed to learn that in 1994, Intel claims that they have a prototype PC chip that runs at… **125 MHZ**! ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/30 "2004-02-18T20:32:41Z")
Yup. I’m a BIG reader. I take a book everywhere. It’s a boredom thing mostly. But the BEST bathroom read without a doubt is the **Readers Digest** The Little features like “That’s Outrageous!” or “Campus Comedy” are perfect for the 3 minute bathroom user. And if you’re going to be in there longer, there’s always the “Condenced Novel”. But being as I have no copies of this one in my home at present, I’m settling for my Nephew’s copy of the Silmarillion. _ageless6_ looks like we’ll both be at it awile 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d26b3c/32.png) [@Kell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/31 "2004-02-18T20:33:43Z")
Magazines are typically best, it’s easy to read an article or quick story in the amount of time to do your business. If you need a novel in the bathroom, you need to see a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/32 "2004-02-18T20:57:54Z")
I’m a compulsive reader. I read everywhere and I listen audiobooks in my car. I read whatever book I’m reading at the time in the bathroom. Even if I’m only in there for a minute I’ll read. I don’t bring books to my parent’s house when I visit, usually, and their bathroom has been cleared of my literary detritus so I find myself reading an ancient packet of Aveeno or the tube of toothpaste. I can’t help myself. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/33 "2004-02-19T00:08:09Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > I read whatever book I’m reading at the time in the bathroom. Ditto here, except that I pick one of the half a dozen books I read at one time. At home, right now, that’s most likely going to be either Petroski’s _Evolution of Useful Things_ or Winchester’s _River at the Center of the World._ At on my desk here at work, I’ve got Ferris’s _Coming of Age in the Milky Way_ and Morton’s _Mapping Mars._ As to the question raised by others of “what are you doing that gives you time to read something substantial,” um… TMI warning… [spoiler]I have a hairy ass. I’m giving the dingleberries time to fall off so I don’t smear everything around when I wipe. Aren’t you glad you know that?[/spoiler] And speaking of a good excremeditation, I’ll be back in ten minutes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/34 "2004-02-19T02:38:29Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I read the ingredients on the wrapper of the sandwich I’m eating. 😃 National Geographic or the local “What’s going on in town” weekly. I finished Driver #8 too. ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/35 "2004-02-19T03:10:57Z")
Yeah,I may have to give up Gravity’s Rainbow in the bathroom and go back to P K Dick.I love Dick books and a good Dick isn’t hard to find.So there’s a couple of straight (although they don’t look that way) lines for the needy. But I’m skeptical about whether or not taking G R to ANY other place will increase my understanding of it.It’s a very difficult read,for me at any rate. I find it odd that some posters think the bathroom readers are strange. I always thought that everyone who likes to read would automatically keep some form of printed matter within reach of the commode.It’s out of reach of the tv and internet and therefore easier to concentrate,and I sometimes find myself sitting there long after primary business is done,occasionally to the point where my lower extremities fall asleep and I have to stagger around for a while until the feeling comes back. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/36 "2004-02-19T03:59:42Z")
**Cervaise** , I’m with you, bro. Er… and I read pretty much whatever’s handy. I usually have a novel I’m reading. I try not to take math with me, because there’re just too many “working it out with a pencil” jokes. 😉 Tenebras ---
**Author:** ![AquaPura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AquaPura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AquaPura)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/37 "2004-02-19T04:53:15Z")
> [@jujitsuka](#): > > I am totally dependent upon having printed material while on the toilet. It sort of ruins the experience of a good poop for me if I don’t have _something_ to read. In desperate times, I will grab a bottle of shampoo or rip the tag out of my pants, and read the fine print while I do my business. I know it’s sort of silly, especially because it doesn’t take me very long at all do go - sometimes I’m dancing around the apartment holding it in while I try to find something adequate to read. I am a woman also. It’s almost like I cannot go unless I am reading something. Our family actually calls the bathroom, “the library”. I read in the bathtub too, leading to the infamous three hour bath. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/38 "2004-02-19T05:18:33Z")
The ideal bathroom reading is a book that you can open to any page and find something interesting and as short or as long as you need it to be. I’m a collector, in a small way, of old slang dictionaries and thesauruses…ii…more than one thesaurus. They’re PERFECT. They’re… the sockdollager, even. And vocabulary building! ---
**Author:** ![gooti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gooti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooti)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/39 "2004-02-19T05:37:35Z")
I read pretty much whatever’s in the can already, be it **Maxim** or **Stuff** or whatever comes his way. I enjoy reading his magzines. They are funny and interesting. Mutch more so than **Cosmospolitan** or **Glamour** , since I don’t wear make-up anyway. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747/40 "2004-02-19T12:52:56Z")
I only take the novel I’m currently reading (right now its _The DaVinci Code_ by Dan Brown) if I’m at a can’t-put-it-down part. Otherwise, we have books specifically for the bathroom; Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers are good. We have a book of Dilbert as well as a book of The Far Side in our upstairs bathroom; magazines and Straight Dope books are good as well. I am a female, but when I was little, my goal was to be like my father. My father would sit at the kitchen table before work, drinking coffee and reading a book. I would sit with him (I was, maybe, 4), drink what he told me was coffee (two tablespoons of coffee, two teaspoons of sugar and 4 ounces of milk) and “read” a book, which meant I would stare at a page for a few minutes then turn it, because that’s what my dad did. He also read in the bathroom. More than once, growing up, I read novels I didn’t even want to read because it’s all that was in the bathroom when I was in there, and eventually I got into it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-on-the-can/229747.md?page=3)