"You call that reading?"

I went through a serious drought, a reading drought over the last 5 or so years. I used to read a couple of newspapers each day and always had some book going. Sometimes, when I had finished something good, it might take a while to decide on something new but I always seemed to find something. I went through a Stephen King phase, a Grisham phase, Irving phase, Baldacci phase, Cornwell phase, even a Clancy phase. There was always something to read.

But then it happened. Old age began to creep up on me. I started to really need the reading glasses I had and never could seem to find them. My arms were way too short to hold the book out there plus there was that conspiracy where book publishers started to use smaller fonts so they could use fewer pages and save money on the publishing costs. Anyway, I found myself not reading much.

So, I really went about 2 years without reading a book. Sure, I was still looking at the newspapers each day on the intertubes but no mind expanding book reading. A few weeks ago we did a podcast on “Does the Intertubes Make Us Stoopid” (Episode 46 here) which proposed the theory that internet skimming was leading to attention span issues and that this was affecting how we learned and what we retained. I’m not sure if this is what was at work here but it seems plausible.

Plus there were several great new television shows to watch.

Soon my reading for pleasure ground to a halt and I did not like that at all.

Last April Ms. Fabulous and I went on a cruise and I was determined to use the time to re-stimulate reading in my soul. It worked. I read 5-6 books on the trip and rediscovered the joy of reading.

At this same time my daughter MillieJupiter, who is a librarian, began to encourage me to try books on tape and I did. Now I find myself hooked. I use my ipod, CDs, tapes, it doesn’t matter. Every day on my commute, 30 minutes each way.

And here is where my questions lie. What do we call what I am doing here. Is this reading? Am I just listening? Somehow calling it "listening" seems a downgrade from reading. After I finish a book this way, I can talk about it just like any other traditional reader.

I had this discussion with Booth Boy and he was insisting that I can’t call it reading. That was until I asked him if he called his national pastime, texting, talking to someone. Does he say I texted my friend last week or I talked to them yesterday? If we text don’t we say we talked with individual? Finally a battle won with him!

I think we need to develop a new term to give this style of reading some credence and I think I have one. I call it BOTTING – get it, “Books on Tape”, BOT. I have submitted it to the urban dictionary for their consideration and it has been accepted for review. Hey, I think I’m a scholar!