Screens

Over the course of my casual reading and podcast listening, I've come across the notion of not using any type of screen (phone, tablet, PC or TV) for at least 30 minutes before bedtime.

Quite naturally my knee-jerk reaction is to say "But it doesn't cause me any problems!" Then i recalled I said the same thing about the period when I used to spend the early evenings drinking coffee with friends. Why, I went to bed like clockwork at 1 am daily! Sure, I took naps in the afternoon, but come on!

So I'm willing to try the screen thing. the problem is what do I do with my time then? I see my only options as 1) reading a book, 2) listen to a book or podcast, 3) nothing at all. I'd add "cook something," but that close to bedtime I'm too worn out to cook; not to mention washing dishes and pans and utensils afterwards.

For option 2, an ebook defeats the purpose nicely... But I have plenty of paper books I've already read. I don't mind re-reading many of them. the question is which one? Some I've re-read so much, I don't think I could take them yet again. And the ones I rarely re-read is because I didn't like them much (or at all). I think right now I could stand to re-read Foundation's Edge, especially if I don't read its sequel, Foundation and Earth, and instead imagine how it should have gone (come to think of it, I'd have to quit reading before the ending of this one...) But then I might want to re-read the second part of Second Foundation first...

I wonder if I still have my copy of Clarke's The City and the Stars?

I used to read regular books in bed
before sleep. All my life..

There's some evidence if you read wild fantasy stories before sleeping (elves, giants, dragons, all that) your dreams will be much more crazy as a result.

Some writers have gotten pretty good story ideas from their dreams as well.

Quote: rxwine

There's some evidence if you read wild fantasy stories before sleeping (elves, giants, dragons, all that) your dreams will be much more crazy as a result.

Oh, there's no chance of that happening. I can't recall ever reading a single fantasy novel or story.

Quote: Nareed

Oh, there's no chance of that happening. I can't recall ever reading a single fantasy novel or story.

It probably just has to be bizarre. Maybe these would do?

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5892742/10-ultra-weird-science-fiction-novels-that-became-required-reading

Quote: rxwine

It probably just has to be bizarre. Maybe these would do?

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5892742/10-ultra-weird-science-fiction-novels-that-became-required-reading

Wow, Dhalgren is finally getting the attention
it deserves. I read it the year it came out and
it knocked my socks off. I haven't read it in
15 years, but I still think about it sometimes.
A must read, honest to god.

Ubik, my god, Dick's best book. If this book
doesn't bother you, you're not really here.

Stranger, Heinlein's signature work. It's really
dated, I don't know if I would have it on
the list.

Lilith's Brood, wonderful. Ground breaking,
like it says they teach it in college writing
courses.

The rest I haven't read, but might.

Quote: rxwine

It probably just has to be bizarre. Maybe these would do?

I've read one. I wont' tell you which, but I'll give you a hint: if Heinlein's name hadn't been attached to it, that piece of garbage wouldn't have sold more than three copies :) And I say this as someone who likes Heinlein overall, and adores "Friday."

But there's bizarre and there's shocking. Clarke's "The City and the Stars" is plenty bizarre, taking place as it does in the far, far, far future. The inhabitants of The City, are stored in the central computer's memory banks after a lifetime. Centuries later they're recreated for another go-round. Then they get stored again. And so on. Indefinitely. Their main activities seem to be eating, sex, play and art (I suppose sport, too, but Clarke was singularly uninterested in such things). No one ever leaves the city, or looks at the stars, either.

Quote: Nareed

I've read one. I wont' tell you which, but I'll give you a hint: if Heinlein's named hadn't been attached to it, that piece of garbage wouldn't have sold more than three copies :)

I loved it when I was 13 when it came
out. As an adult it seemed rather
juvenile and simplistic. Not his best work
at all, but certainly his most famous. It
doesn't belong on the list. You haven't
read Ubik, it's Dick's best. You'll like
Dhalgren, Nareed, it's one of the
strangest yet best books I've ever read.

Yesterday night I kept thinking "Wasn't there something I wanted to do tonight?" I went through possibilities: get a new audio book (no, that's for the weekend), make peanut butter (no, that's for Friday), make piña colada lime Jell-O (again weekend), look up Batman novels (no, did that earlier), take over the world (no, wrong show). And then just before bedtime while doing a last attempt at finishing a Candy Crush Soda level, it hit me: stop using screens 30 minutes before bed!

Oh, well.