In a work team-building activity at a previous job, all of us employees were standing in the middle of a room. The leader of the activity said, if you read only one book at a time, stand in this corner of the room. If you read multiple books at a time, stand in that corner of the room.
The employees pretty rapidly headed for one corner or another.
Except for me. I hesitated. Sometimes I read one book at once. Other times, I have multiple books going. Which corner should I head to?
I decided to go to the corner that represented my current situation. At the time, I was reading only one book, so I went to that corner.
The results were evenly split; about half of the employees went to one corner, about half to the other.
Someone from the one book corner shouted out snarkily to the other group, “How can you read multiple books at once and keep track of everything?!”
The people in the multiple corner shrugged. They just could.
My modus operandi is generally to read one book at a time if the book is keeping my attention. If it’s slow or hard going, I add another book to keep myself interested.
For example, right now I am tackling The Aeneid. I am finding it a difficult read. So I decided that I would endeavor to read at least 10 pages a day. I can always do more than that, if I’m on a roll. But that’s my minimum. Once I have read those 10 pages, I’m free to read another book.
Which corner are you in?
