Reading multiple books simultaneously (1 Viewer)

[fleepbasding]

So who does it? And do you think it hurts information retention, or anything negative? And if you are doing so now, which books are you reading at the same time (non-fiction included).

I'm afraid I've always done it. Mostly because I become interested in another book while I'm still reading one. Oh well.

 

[Emma-Jayde]

I usually have 2 or 3 going at the one time. usually because someone will recommend something, or I'll pick up something that looks good.
It doesn't do anything negative for me, the only way that would happen is if i were reading (for example) the 4th and 8th book of a series, which is just silly.
At the moment, I'm reading George R.R Martin's "A Storm of Swords", Robert Jordan's "Crossroads of Twilight" (...I need something to distract from the boringness of this one! ) and George Orwel's "1984". All for lesiure, not study.

 

[jhakka]

Oh God no. I never even split up a series if at all possible.

At the moment I have three serieses going, but that's only because two of them (The Obernewtyn Chronicles and Fire of Heaven) are not yet complete, and I'm waiting on the final books to be released (one more week for Fire of Heaven! ).

Once I get the final Fire of Heaven book, I'll do a very bad thing. I'll finish the Dark Tower book I'm reading and then read The Right Hand of God before finishing the Tower.

To me it's not natural to be reading more than one series, let alone one book, at once. But sometimes we don't have choices.


On that note, I also can't re-read a series from the middle. If like like book 2 of 3, I have to start at the first one and read the whole lot.

I'm very picky with my books.

 

[bernz]

Often, since I was small (though I haven't grown much). I don't like reading series out of order and will avoid it if I can, but sometimes you just can't wait for book two and book three or four might be sitting there just beckoning to you.

At present, I'm reading Three Views of Crystal Water (somewhere in the middle), The Virgin (middle to end) and Where Rainbows End (just started); that's in the order I started reading them.

 

[NRuus]

I am almost always reading more than one book at one time. Sometimes i will start reading a book and put it down for several months and then pick it up again to continue reading it as well. At the moment I am reading book seven of the Wheel of Time series: Crown of Swords, as well as, Stokers Submarine, The Celtic Stone, Star Wars: Shatterpoint and An Offer From A Gentleman all for leisure and Emma I am reading for school.

I haven't picked up Stokers Submarine or the Celtic Stone in a while though as I have been trying to finish the Wheel of Time series first.

I think my habit of reading more than one book simultaneously gets to be a bad habit.

 

[fleepbasding]

yeah, the main thing that gets to me about it is that it takes ages to finish each book. Although I like it because if you're getting a little tired of one you can just switch to the other.

I think the ideal situation is to be reading 1 fiction and 2 non-fiction. Whenever I start reading more than 1 fiction, the other gets left behind. This is my experience anyway.

 

[genavania]

yeah having heaps of books at the one time is good, whatever mood u r in u can just have a read. also school/non school books can be read. Im reading Emma, Skull beneath the skin, walking the boundaries, finding joy and brother fish

 

[SarahMary]

If i'm reading a book for the first time, its the only one i'll read, but if i've read a book before i'll have a couple going at once. reading silence of the lambs-thomas harris, and The Silmarillion- Tolkien. Same deal applies for series, if i've read the series before then the order doesnt matter. however for the first read through, they've gotta be read in order

 

[virgin^sexy]

i'm currently reading lolita & endgame. i don't usually read two at once, though.

 

[SiZmOs]

yeah ive always been reading more than one book..
though usually its 2, 3 or sometimes 4 fiction books coupled with how many textbooks along with any magazine i find on the shelf ... oh, and of course my monthly Empire magazine...

 

[Kyle O'Brien]

Usual i have a non-fiction book, one standard novel going and a Sci-Fi novel. At the moment i have The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes, Emma by Jane Austen for english and I, Robot by Issac Asimov

 

[loquasagacious]

I usually only read one at a time however if a new book crops up, looks interesting or the old one gets boring then i'll start a second.

Mostly though I like getting a pile and working through it.

 

[shyr]

i tried reading two books simultaneously...but sometimes i get confused. and i didn't enjoy it as much as concentrating alone with one book.

nowadays, i finish reading a book before going over another one. so that i won't be tempted to read both together.

 

[passion89]

Currently I'm reading The name of the rose (Umberto eco) and re-reading skull beneath the skin for extension english and I don't think it's going very well...

I think it's better if you stick to one book, where you concentrate solely on it.

 

[cocopuk]

lOL --- i like to think i'm multi-talented all the time ...
currently i'm reading *great expectations* for school *scarecrow* as a at home thing and *the messenger* 'cos somebody said it was good
well i can tell you two things:
1/ reading more than one book at a time does NOT work
2/ reading three bookes at a time means u dont even know where the books are =D

 

[666_blessings]

I'm usually reading 2 or 3 books at a time, especially if they're really long books. At the moment I am reading: my psychology textbook, philosophy course readings (can get insanely confusing at times), Eugene Onegin (by Pushkin) and 1984 (again...). For the most part the memory retention seems to be hoding up alright.

 

[Enlightened_One]

My sisters do it terribly. I don't think they can finish a book without starting another two. I used to do it, and sometimes still, depending on the reason. At the moment I'm reading David Balfour on my computer but have also started "The Kraken wakes" and at the same time I am reading two books by Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathrustra and On the Geneology of Morals), which I have to read. So, yeah, it's a bit annoying.
But I have no problem with retaining info or remembering what was going on etc.