Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Walking, Reading & Thinking (maybe not simultaneously)

It was a good day to walk. Maybe a bit chilly, but not bad. And you know what happens when I am walking. I usually do some thinking. And today I was even thinking about Reading (while walking).

The sun had just risen making for an extra long shadow.

Remember Pirsig?  Sure you do

Well I ran across a news article about him recently. Here's the link.

http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/2012/11/29/robert-pirsig-and-montana-state-university/


Seems that Pirsig (now 84 years old) is due to receive an honorary doctorate from Montana State University. I think that's pretty nice. Not sure what you might think of his famous book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", but it sure is an interesting read. To me, parts of the book are sort of strange, other parts absolutely fantastic.

It has been a couple of years since I have read the book. I know many people that say they read it every couple of years or so, just to remind themselves of .....  well, whatever important ideas they see in the book, which seems to vary from person to person. (Thinking I might need to pull it off the shelf and re-read it)

I've been reading a lot this year. Lots of longer books also. I re-read "The Hobbitt" and Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I had looked at a BBC top 100 list and picked out a few books from that list including Pullman's "His Dark Materials" (also a trilogy) and some others. I also looked at a Sci-Fi top 100 list and am currently reading "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card.

But a new reading task has presented itself to me, that being Jack Riepe's new Book "Conversations With a Motorcycle"

Picture borrowed (stolen)  from the "Twisted Roads" website. Think Jack will mind?

I feel a book report coming on soon. I received my copy over the last weekend and have read just a few pages so far. But, so far,  I like what I see very much and am anxious to read more. So look for a review to come up in this blog soon.

Ahhh, Technology. I used to have  a "Nook", that Barnes and Noble E-Reader. But it died a painful death a while back, so I have resorted to downloading the Barnes and Noble App to my iPhone and been reading some of my books on the iPhone. It's a little small, but very doable. I also recently received a Kindle book as a gift, so I downloaded the Kindle App to the iPhone and been reading from that App also.

Remember when books were books? Well, I haven't totally abandoned the print version. My copy of Tolkien is on paper. And Jack's new book is in paper form. I don't mind an actual book as opposed to an E-Reader. There's another book I have been wanting to read, but haven't yet simply because it doesn't come in an E-book format. I guess I will have to just buy the paper copy, or get it from the local library, but I doubt they will have it. Sometimes getting the book in E-book format is just really very easy. I probably haven't physically stepped into the local Barnes and Noble store in almost a year.

So anyway, that is some of what I was thinking about this morning as I walked. Last week I rode Max to work on 3 of the 5 days. This week, I'll get some riding in as well, but today I felt the urge to walk.
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Ride On and Carpe Diem, my friends.
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7 comments:

  1. Jimbo:

    It seemed that I spoke to Jack eons ago about buying a few copies of his book but he never got around to sending me his address to mail the funds. Being in Canada presents some problems with check payments so I have to buy a US$ money order and mail it away.

    I feel so left out . . .

    now it seems I cannot get one, so I will be bookless. I will have to wait for your book review.

    I know I should read more too. I have Steve Jobs Bio on my iPhone and I read it when I can. It's a neat way to have a few books without having to physically carry them

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe we can talk Jack into a Canadian Pay Pal Account setup or something like that. Better yet, just send him a check and see if he even figures out it is in Canadian Dollars. Even Better Yet, send it all in Twonies!

      I love Twonies! Did I spell that right?

      Jim

      Delete
  2. Lately, if I can't get a audio version of a book, I don't read it. I can listen to the audio version while walking or while traveling. I think I go through about 24-30 books per year on audio while paper or ebook versions take a lot more time. I picked up ebook versions of David Hough's books but haven't finished either one. I think reading is hard on my eyes.

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  3. Richard,
    I have limited experience with audio books, but my wife and I have done a few when on a long auto trip and they were fun.

    Jimbo

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  4. Jimbo:

    I am not sure whether you could stand hearing Jack's voice for as long as it takes to recite his book.

    you are close, it's Toonies . . .

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonie

    bob

    ps: I would have mailed his $$ if I had his address

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bobskoot,
      If Jack's book were to be an audio book, it cannot have Jack as the reader. I would suggest a female dominatrix so that a proper tone would be the result. Think Jack would mind?

      Delete
  5. I was a voracious reader in my previous life. Now, not very much. I can only read in small spurts. I suspect this is one of the reasons I enjoy blogs so much.

    I'm still riding every day. Strange weather.
    ~k

    ReplyDelete