Thursday, September 19, 2013

Reading While Walking

When I read the blog post title "Reading While Walking" over at Book Riot, I thought they were going to talk about reading while taking a walk or something like that. What it was really about was reading while in line at a coffee shop, grocery shopping, reading in snippets, whenever you can steal a few lines in our busy lives.  It was an interesting post.....

It still wasn't about what I thought it would be about, what I have been thinking about for a while now. Reading while walking.  I read on most of my lunch breaks. Why?  Because I love reading and it's one of the few (2) times a day I can read. Though I'm often interrupted, it's as uninterrupted as I'm going to get. Lately, I've been feeling the need to get out of the office and take in some fresh air.  I like going for walks, but do I want to give up my reading time?  So, can I read and walk at the same time?  If I can't, am I willing to trade? They're putting in a sidewalk on the street where my office is located, which makes it so much more tempting.  I could at least try to read while walking.  Would I look like a weirdo?  Probably.  Do I care?  I don't think so.

I decided to search "reading while walking" and got this really interesting "how to" from wikiHow.  In case you didn't know, here is how to read while walking.  

Maybe I should have started doing this while the weather was warmer, but I didn't have sidewalks then.

Does anyone out there read while walking?


8 comments:

  1. I know there are people who do read when walking, but I can't do that. I think it's to do with being overly aware of what's going on around you, so I can't really focus (that also applies to audiobooks, sadly). But I'm curious what your opinions will be in case you decide to practice reading while walking!

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    1. I'd think audio books while walking (or jogging) would be perfect. I'm hoping that the sidewalk installation finishes soon and I'll get to try. The wikiHow suggests practicing at home first to make sure your peripheral vision is doing its job. Maybe I'll try that soon... when no one's watching.

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  2. Anonymous20/9/13 12:19

    I love how the wiki emphasizes practicing your "reading while walking". I guess so you get more comfortable? It reminds me of how people say if you do it enough times, you don't mind eating at a restaurant by yourself. Although that seems like a good time to read!

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    1. I've always read if eating by myself. It is a great time to read.

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  3. Reading while walking seems like a good opportunity to walk into things (people, trees, on-coming traffic). I think about how many accidents there are from people on their phones while walking. and how often I want to smack those people because they walk super slowly, or stop randomly, because they aren't paying attention. so I dunno, if you can do it and not hurt yourself or annoy others I say go for it, but it seems like a good way to not really enjoy either activity

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    1. I would never do it on a crowded street. It would have to be quiet, with no one really around. I'm kind of worried about hurting myself, but I'm guessing that's why wikiHow says to practice. It doesn't look like I'll have an opportunity to try it out anyway.....

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    2. Yeah I suppose if you're in like a park doing it or somewhere where there aren't a lot of people, then you just have to make sure you don't walk into things. (Most of the people I see not paying attention are in NYC and Boston city streets where the utmost focus is required to just not get trampled.)

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    3. I would never do it there. Where I work, there's less than a fraction of that amount of people. If I worked in Toronto (my closest major city) I would definitely not do it.

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