Alright, so here I've been even since arriving home from work, zoning out on Tori Amos, followed by a little Marilyn Manson. Actually, zoning isn't the right word. Immersing would be more like it. Gotta do that sometimes.

Serious issue: I've been well aware of it to an increasing degree, but lately it's just out of hand. As I look around myself, I'm going to count the number of books I have right here lying around me on the shelves (we're not including stuff stacked in the closet), purchased since December, which I have either barely started, or not even read a single page from.

I'm not sure I even want to count, really. It's just sad. The point is, there is a HUGE disparity between what I WANT to read/learn/parse/be entertained with, and what I actually DO. I believe it has reached an intolerable level, and SOMETHING must be done.

This increased sense of urgency has been brought on by both the words (commands) of my mentor (who is just... awesome), and by the things Kate Mulgrew said at Starfest.

• The Art of Computer Programming, Donald Knuth. Read to page 14. Got busy with other things. Stopped. Now it sits, nearly forgotten on the middle shelf to my right.
• lex & yacc, John R Levine, Tony Mason & Doug Brown. Bought it last week. Haven't read the first page yet.
• Battlefield Earth, L. Ron Hubbard. Bought it at starfest. Based on what I know, it could be really interesting. Again, the first page is yet to be read
• XML Pocket Reference, Robert Eckstein. While it could be argued that this isn't the type of book you just sit down and read, I have yet to make use of it. I actually would like to read it through, since it looks like making a pass at it could significantly broaden my knowledge and understanding of WHAT there is, even if I don't remember every detail.
• Macbeth, William Shakespeare. I read most of the first act last week. Was really starting to get into it. I see no reason not to continue, but I fear this one my take the pattern of so many others if I don't make a conscious effort to aid the situation.
• Grokking the Gimp, Carey Bunks. Got it at the cliq. I'm on page 20, midway through the first chapter.
• Eternal Echoes, John O'Donohue. Yeah, I bought this during what became a great adventure on the Pearl Street mall. I've read to page twelve, and found it to be soothing and enlightening.
• Perl Cookbook, Tom Christiansen & Nathan Torkington. I've kind of jumped around this one, checking out the various recipes. Learned quite a lot, and it's helped out several times during the construction of the elusive Version 2.0. I'd say I've maybe read 10% of it, and that's a generous figure.
• Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield. Saw a Slashdot review of it, decided this was one to get, and read to page 27. I haven't picked it up since January.
• Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind. I'm at page 102 (out of 800+). Good fantasy stuff. Seems like the last time I read from this was on a weekend in early March.
• The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare. Recommended by my mentor. Haven't started the book yet, although waaay back in the day, I did read part of the first act online.

I think that's it for here, unless I've missed any that might be buried under the mess that is my floor. Then there's the two I have at work:

• The O'Reilly Docbook book. [author name forgotten] Yeah, I bought this thinking I would be so smart and possibly help bring the clan out of the stone age. Turns out some people really LIKE the stone age. As it is, I read the first 3 chapters, and learned a fair bit from the huge reference section, which makes up the majority of the book. So my knowledge is better for it.
• Dynamic HTML from O'Reilly. [author name frogotten] I've looked several things up, which has been really good, and perused a few of the chapters. But sit down and read it? No.

And there's the one I borrowed:

• The O'Reilly Javascript book. I've ready like the first 6+ chapters. Gotten a good grasp of the basics (AFTER I had already been coding way more than I should have on such ignorance). The more advanced topics are yet to be reached though.

So, has there been a point to all this enumerating the unfinished reading? I guess it's just gotten to the point that I'm really very frustrated about it.

Now, to see how this might be remedied, I think it would be useful to look to past periods during which my reading consumption has reached much more adequate levels.

Wheel of Time: Since I did make it through seven of these huge-ass books, and part way through the eigth one, I think it's worthwhile to look at the circumstances during which this occurred.

May of '97 was when I purchased Eye of the World. As I recall, I think I finished it in around a week and a half. In that case, practally every spare moment was spent reading it. I was just so into that book. Totally immersed.

I continued reading the series steadily, though not as voraciously, throughout the summer. Since I was riding the bus to work and back every day, that made around an hour each day in which I could either read, listen to my [walk|disc]man, or sit and be bored. Reading was frequently the activity of choice, since bus noise made listening to music a less than sublime experience.

There was also naptime, working at the preschool. If I was lucky enough to get all the little ones to sleep, that was an hour+ in which I could just sit and read. (And I am STILL smiling at A's reaction yesterday at lunch when I mentioned that I worked in a preschool. For five years. That was almost as good as the sushi shrimp heads. Just say the word "preschool", and judging by the reaction, I might just as well have shoved a cockroach in somebody's face. lol.)

So... this is going on and on. And to think all this time I could have been READING!

Then there was the Xena fanfic binge. What can I say? When you're sitting at home bored for days or weeks on end, ya gotta find something to latch your mind onto. Besides, there's some good stuff out there, if you just look around a little on the right web pages. :)

Then there's the various programming books I've devoured over the years. I think that's just something you do when you get into a learning mode. It just happens. Usually, when it does, it happens all at once, and relatively quickly. Like my learning of C++ took place almost completely during a two week period way back in... 92. Of course, I've added bits and pieces since then (and a ton of experience), but that was the core.

Same deal with perl, except that came in a couple sets of increments. There was the Learning Perl in 98, and the Advanced Perl Programming in 99. I actually didn't completely finish either book, but got the majority of each.

So, blah. I think I just need to set aside a regular time for myself, and say, "During this hour, I will read. Not check email. Not surf the web. Not sleep. Read." Kind of like I do with favorite tv shows. Except when I read, I have to take the initiave myself and figure out when to do it, rather than letting the tv station do it for me. That's the tough part.

Maybe tonight after Voyager. Could I say every night at 2100? Hmmm. That kind of cuts into my wind down/surf/zone out time. Maybe I'll try it. For a week. See how I like it. Hmmm. Well, I'm outta here. I might comment on this more later.