I need some professional help

[Jimmy]

HELP! Every day I come across at least 2 or 3 books that seem irresistable while surfing Goodreads or some other blog site. I keep adding them to my to-read shelf! My to-read shelf will be over 1000 books, and totally unmanageable, if I don't stop soon. This must stop. This is not sustainable. I feel overwhelmed. I only buy a few books off my to-read shelf every week or so. And I can read even less of those I buy... about one book a week, this is crazy. What's wrong with me? Someone please help.

[[deleted user]]

Don't panic! You're just a little OCD. and breath...

[Patty, free birdeaucrat]

Hi Jimmy. Amazingly, you CAN sustain this. Add as many books to your to-read list as you want. Add a million books to the list. There is no limit, and no obligation.

As for actually reading, focus on the books that you currently have. And after that, consider a visit to the library. But the goodreads list? Don't worry about it!

[Jimmy]

Yes but the larger it grows the more nervous I feel. It's like a virtual stack of books is piling up and any little movement I make, it will come tumbling down on me! Besides, I can't possibly read them all, what's the point? It feels so overwhelming. I want to read each and every one!

[[deleted user]]

Go in and edit it once a month. Take out anything you probably wont read.

[Kerry, flame-haired janeite]

This is how I feel about my Netflix queue. I've learned to regard it and my "to read" queue more as a place to keep things that I'm interested in and less of a list that MUST BE COMPLETED.

[R.a.]

Herein lies the difference between a "Library" and a "Study."

I HAVE to "get away" from my "library" as it's too distracting--to maintain a focus on my reading task at hand. It's great FOR WRITING. But, reading alone . . .

A personal library teases and taunts. Ahhhh, the study--whether outside, at a bistro table, or some place else, invites only you and a FEW books.

So, with this, I modestly posit a most humble suggestion: un-plug to focus. I sometimes physically leave in order to obtain a clean desk or chair "space." I can then "fall into" that wonderful "reading space."

Another humble suggestion: detach as much as you can from the internet lists. I bet most of the books you're discovering still will be around. I'm ONLY NOW reading Thucydides, a seminal book which has taunted me from the shelves for YEARS. And, of course, I wish I "pulled it" sooner.

Oh well, so many books . . . so little time . . .

Good reading !

With much empathy,

--R.a.

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

R.a., I think your advice applies to SO many more areas than just reading lists.

Un-plug to focus. Indeed.

[R.a.]

Shelby wrote: "R.a., I think your advice applies to SO many more areas than just reading lists.

Un-plug to focus. Indeed."

So true !

I thought "automation" was going to "rid" us of all the paper (NOT the great paper of books--rather the onslaught of flyers, bills, etc). It seems as though it's only created more. Oh yes, they are legal documents; so, they must come in the form of paper.

Hmmmm . . .

Could I / Should I return to a "paper only," being--one living within a slower, perhaps more managable tempo? I'd probably be seen as "old," and "out-dated" despite it being a choice.

I guess I'll have to seriously "manage" my everyday choices as well as everything else.

I miss "play."

--R.a.

[Shel, ad astra per aspera]

I fight this battle every day, R.a.

I like the pace of the handwritten letter taking time to arrive in the mail; I love handwriting, or typewritten letters.

I like hearing the voices of people I love.

Even better, seeing the people I love, which happens less and less because we're all so damn busy managing our channels.

At work, I am on Skype, AIM, email, and the phone all day long. I wear a headset like an implant, switching back and forth between computer and phone. I communicate. I manage my time. I manage expectations. I manage my instantaneous channels.

And while I love the internet -- it would be hard to find someone as enthusiastic about the medium as I am -- I truly do love all that it offers me as a member of the human race and as an individual... sometimes... it's just too much. There is no quiet place. No retreat.

[R.a.]

Shelby wrote:

I fight this battle every day, R.a.

I like the pace of the handwritten letter taking time to arrive in the mail; I love handwriting, or typewritten letters.

I like hearing the voices of people I love.

Even better, seeing the people I love, which happens less and less because we're all so damn busy managing our channels. . . .

Yes !

Recently, I tried to return to letter writing. It was working there for awhile; but, the responses from folks on the other end slowly began to wane.

Because I "grew up" in the world of pen and paper, that's still my favorite way to write–for whatever reason, my thoughts are more organized. I think it has to do with feeling unconciously "rushed" when I am writing with a "screen." Also, all direction mind-mapping becomes channeled into a downward, linear form.

I, too, am grateful for the internet. But, as you said, "sometimes . . . it's just too much . . ." So, I consciously un-plug.

--R.a.