Bookhounds

Finding time to read

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:50:18 +0530

By I.M. Soni

Are you one of those who consider themselves "slow", "average" or "poor" readers? Do you put yourself in the category of those who often lament: "I have no time."

If so, you can become "extraordinary" from "ordinary" and also find time to read. All you need is a role-model to emulate.

One of the greatest of all modern physicians was Sir William Osler, who taught at John Hopkins Medical School.

He finished his teaching at the University of Oxford. Many of the outstanding physicians of today were his students. Almost all practicing doctors of today were brought up on his medical textbooks. Among his many remarkable contributions to medicine are his notes on how people die.

His biographers and critics attribute his greatness not just to his profound medical knowledge and insight, but also to his broad general education, for he was a very cultured man.

He was interested in what men have done and thought throughout the ages. And he knew that the only way to find out what the best experiences of the race had been was to read what people had written.

But Osler's problem was the same as many others', only more so. He was a busy physician, a teacher of physicians and a medical research specialist. There was no time in a 24-hour day that did not rightly belong to one of these three occupations, except the few hours for sleep and meals.

Osler arrived at his solution early. He would read the last half-hour before he went to sleep. If bedtime was set for 11 p.m. he read from 11 to 11.30. If research kept him up to 2 a.m., he read from 2 to 2.30.

Osler never broke the rule. He simply could not fall asleep until he had done his 30 minutes of reading.

In his lifetime, Osler read a significant library of books. Just do a mental calculation for half a century of 15-minute reading periods daily and see how many books you get. Consider what a range of interests and variety of subjects are possible in one lifetime!

Osler read wisely outside of his medical speciality. Indeed, he developed from this 30-minute reading habit an avocational speciality to balance his vocational specialisation.

Osler is known as an authority on Sir Thomas Browne, a 17-century English prose master. His collection of Sir Thomas's works is considered one of the best anywhere.

The answer may not be the last 15 minutes before you go to sleep. It may be 15 minutes a day at some other time. In the busiest of calendars there is probably more than one 15-minute period tucked away somewhere still unassigned.

We must find our own 15-minute period each day. It is better if it is regular. Then all additional spare minutes are so many bonuses.

On a rough estimate, reading 15 minutes a day means you will read half a book a week, two books a month, 20 a year and 1,000 or more in a reading lifetime.

Intriguing name ... The Hindi-Bindi Club

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 13:11:35 +0530

Slated for a May 1, 2007 release from Bantam (Random house), here's what the blurb describes :

"For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew—daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own. "

Check out the home page at www.hindi-bindi.com

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:28:01 +0530

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 21 (eight days after the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Besides the $34.99 hardcover, Scholastic will offer a deluxe edition for $65 and a reinforced library edition for $39.99. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is being released under the Arthur A. Levine imprint and will have cover art by Mary GrandPre.

Of course, in India, Penguin will announce the special Rupee price in due course.

When the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on July 16, 2005, 6.9 million copies were sold the first day. (About 1.5 million of those sales came from Amazon advance orders.) Some 120 million copies of the six Harry Potter titles are in print in the U.S. About 325 million copies have been sold worldwide.