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Aliteracy: A sad but true

7 comments on Aliteracy: A sad but true

Aliteracy
: A sad but true observation on Sand in the Gears:

I’m disturbed, when I fly or ride the train, by the number of people who willingly embark on a trip of an hour or more without anything to read. I read a wonderful essay once by someone who referred to such people as “aliterate.” I see many of the same people every day, just sitting and staring at their hands, out the window, at their fellow passengers. Not all of them get motion sickness. I have the suspicion that some of them simply do not read.

7 responses to “Aliteracy: A sad but true”

  1. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    I’m one of those who do get motion sickness. I simply cannot read in any type of moving vehicle including a plane (don’t even try to tell me I shouldn’t be able to sense the movement; I’ll keelhaul you). I have to be at the window seat (except in planes, when I have to be _away_ from the window seat– then I use a walkman to try to zone out entirely; I hate plane trips). I use the opportunity of a car or train trip to look out the window and write stories in my head, which I write down as soon as I am not moving anymore. I usually do have a book with me, just in case…

  2. Thomas Nephew Avatar
    Thomas Nephew

    I literally run back to the house or head to the bookstore near where I work if I don’t have something along to read on the Metro.
    But my wife is another one who gets carsick easily, so we’re a divided household on that score (as well). Works out nicely for me, though, she does a lot of the long-haul driving, she can’t even take being a passenger for very long.

  3. Matt Welch Avatar
    Matt Welch

    Geez, get a load of the Transit Literacy Police! Yea, reading is one of the pleasures of public transport, but so is watching the world roll by, looking at stuff you didn’t notice before, daydreaming, brainstorming. Vive la whatever, as us literate Californians say.

  4. misanthropyst Avatar
    misanthropyst

    Ah, the Tyranny of Useful Time. Very Calvinist. Could an argument be made that those driven to compulsive reading in order to avoid being alone with their thoughts are not necessarily displaying intellectual or moral superiority? Perhaps just simple neurotic anxiety?
    And so what if they are, or aren’t? As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make another you. One’s enough.”

  5. Cowboy X Avatar
    Cowboy X

    can you believe those people who don’t spend their time on the bus knitting scarves for the cold and homeless? jeez… I read 2-3 books a week, but if I read more than a roadsign in a car I’ll be sick for the rest of the trip.

  6. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    This is what I love about this cocktail party: You never know what is going to spark a conversation.
    This twanged a nerve with me because, in all my single years, when I ate out (on the nights when I didn’t bring in pizza or McD’s), I hated looking lonely and pathetic just sitting there and gobbling and so I always had something to read with me. I still do.
    It’s a defense, a shield (and just something to do).

  7. Scott Chaffin Avatar
    Scott Chaffin

    Giving Free Passes to the motion-sickness crowd here…
    I would love to have a commute where I could have 30 uninterrupted minutes of reading — my to-be-read pile grows larger, and my time grows shorter. Right now, my commute is from bed to office, with a stop in the kitchen to start the Mr. Coffee. Even worse, it’s turning into a double-back to the Mr. Coffee, after I check email, comments, and referrer logs.