This essay was adapted from the latest episode of the Coffee Before Pants podcast Signal to Noise. If you would rather listen, just click here
It’s everywhere. Everywhere you go. It’s something I have recently been thinking about quite a bit. Perhaps, it is a sign of age that I am noticing this thing, but I’m not so sure. I think it’s a sign that our environment is changing, and not necessarily for the better. Every day society is surrounded, even bombarded, by it. Constantly. In our home, in the workplace, in the grocery store, in restaurants. We are even subjected to it at the gas pump. It’s everywhere and it’s only going to get worse unless we find a way to minimize, or even eliminate it from our lives. I am talking about noise. We are assaulted by clamor, needless chatter, and bad music with have already grown tired of hearing. We can’t go out without hearing it. We can’t go out to eat and have a pleasant conversation without being drowned out by music. It’s not just music. It seems you can’t go anywhere without hearing advertisements. Loud, abrasive ads that demand your attention. When you go to a gas station, you pull up to the pump, enter your credit card information, and start pumping the gas. There’s always a notice that says Do not leave the pump unattended. As soon as you press the lever to start pumping, the pump starts blaring advertisements and pseudo-news at you. At least there is a mute button, right? I don’t think I’m alone in wondering why I have to listen to music or television when eating out. Valerie and I go to restaurants to have a nice meal, not to watch the NBA playoffs or listen to music. If I were interested, I would do those things at home. It’s still noise, yes but it is the noise of my own choosing. The loud music and television also starts a domino effect with fellow patrons, as well. The restaurant has a TV playing, or loud music. The conversation gradually gets louder because they want to have a conversation but have to talk over the TV. This causes other conversations in the room to also get louder. And so on. When I use the term Noise, I am not just talking about auditory noise. Visual noise also is a major issue. We are constantly bombarded by it. All this noise is affecting out ability to focus. That is what the noise makers of our society want. They want you to lose your inability to focus on what you want to do and instead focus on what they want to sell you. At least, for the most part. And noise, like static, daily traffic, white noise, can affect one's overall health. A new study led by Charlie Roscoe, research fellow in environmental health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that nighttime and daytime noise generated by things like cars, trucks, trains, and airplanes was linked with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a group of women in the U.S. Roscoe discusses the significance of the findings, and why the health impacts of noise should be taken seriously. And what is my point? My point is that, although this is not a new phenomenon, it is getting worse. We are losing our ability for critical thinking, we are losing our ability to read the things we want to read and instead the media and advertisers are trying to tell you what to think, what to read. So, consider this a call to arms, so to speak. There are ways to combat the pervasive noise in our lives, to help us focus on reading. Reading or whatever task there might be at hand that requires concentration. Some of my suggested tacts might seem anti-social. Others are just small ways we can rise above the noise levels. One, and this is the hardest. Turn off your goddamn smartphone. Seriously. It rules your life more than you care to admit or notice. Wake up. Nothing that happens outside of your silence is worth your attention. Unless you are on call for your job, nothing that happens is going to change because you missed a call. This is an excellent way to retain your focus. You can read, write, journal, meditate, what have you. Just leave the smartphone off. Give yourself an hour a day, whatever hour you choose, to involve yourself in these tasks. Second, invest in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. I have a pair of Status Core ANC over the ear headphones and they are amazing. I don’t know if other brands have this feature, but these have noise cancelling feature separate from the Bluetooth feature. If you like listening to music while you read, fine, but with these headphones, it isn’t necessary. I profess to be a bit of a hermit, myself, but occasionally I do like sitting at a coffee shop or café to read. These headphones are a must for me for obvious reasons. I even wear them when I read in the library, which has it’s own share of noise. Whatever happened to being quiet in the library. Our local library has a quiet room. It used to be that all libraries were quiet rooms. Weather permitting, of course, enjoy the relative silence of local parks. Bring your headphones nonetheless, since there is always a chance of some cretin playing music too loudly. Three, when you are out and about and simply want to read, put a sign on the table stating such. I have seen signs and stickers that say “the headphones mean I am reading, or the headphones mean I don’t want to talk. If you see that sign, please respect the owner’s intentions. And four, set up a hermit space in your home, if possible. This way you can make your own coffee. Listen to the noise or sounds of your own choosing. Or put your headphones on and listen to….nothing. Don’t forget to turn off or silence your phone. I am keeping in mind that there are those, unlike myself, who are not as sound reactive as I am. There are those who could focus on there reading or writing through a loud rock concert. I am not one of those. I prefer to be in a quiet space, alone with my thoughts. All the while I was working on the podcast, I kept thinking, am I not just one more aspect of the noise? Seriously, how many podcasts are there? Add this to all the YouTube and TikTok channels, most just add to the noise. I don’t want to add to the noise and clamor. I had serious thoughts about discontinuing the podcast. Instead, I intend to rise above the noise, or if nothing else make the noise less noisy. One way I will do this is to keep presenting what I hope is quality content. I would like to hear from you. What steps do you take to cultivate a positive reading environment? Travel into a large woods just to sit and read? Do you in fact wear headphones or earbuds when out in public, in order to concentrate? I am always looking for ideas myself. Let me know by either commenting down below or contacting me on the contact page. (As a side note, the reason I adapted this into a written post from the podcast is that I appreciate that not everyone likes listening to podcasts. I understand. I have never been able to enjoy someone reading to me, or listening to audiobooks.)
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Do you recommend books to others? Do you like it when someone gives you an unsolicited reading recommendation? Do you actually read the books others have recommended or do you avoid reading the book? I personally like talking about the books I read. I mean, that’s one of the biggest points to this podcast, although I do like also talking about literary history. Well, the recommendation of books is the subject of this week’s podcast. And in case you are wondering, I, for some reason, resist reading books that others recommend. I’m not sure why, really. Because of this I will understand if none of my book recommendations are heeded. Perhaps it is an independent spirit that causes us to balk at someone else’s recommendations. I am always looking for something new to read, and yet when someone else recommends a book, I’m not sure what happens in my brain. Maybe it’s the whole “it wasn’t my idea” thing. Nevertheless, I am here this week to tell you about authors I always recommend to others As an aside, personally, I try to alternate between fiction and nonfiction, book by book, but it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes I will find an author I really like and want to read more without having to wait. Then again, that’s me. I don’t hold myself to this rule all the time. I also believe that enjoying what you read is more important than restrictions on what you read or in what order. It’s also important to know that you are not obligated to read a book you are not enjoying. Enjoying what you read is more than half the fun. Haruki Murakami is the author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on The Shore, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. He is a Japanese writer whose novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan. His work has been translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and the Franz Kafka Prize. The first book I read by Murakami was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It’s a fairly long book at 607 pages. However, Murakami keeps the reader engaged and you forget the book is as long as it is. My favorite, so far, though, it Kafka on the Shore. An equally engaging story, and slightly shorter. Murakami’s stories have elements of magical realism, the human struggle with every day life, and a healthy dash of pathos. He is definitely in my top 5 of fiction authors. Shane Jones is the author of The Light Boxes, which I have mentioned in a previous podcast, as well as Daniel Fights a Hurricane, and the Crystal Eaters. He was born in Albany, New York. He graduated from SUNY Buffalo in 2004 with a B.A. in English I enjoyed all three of the books mentioned. They are weird and surreal although written in a literary style that makes them not too difficult to read. These books and more are available at Amazon and Thriftbooks.com Neil Gaiman is next on my list. I will admit, I am not the biggest fantasy reader. I do like the occasional steampunk story and read most of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Neil Gaiman, however, I love reading. Prolific writer Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK but moved to the US in 1992. He currently lives near Minneapolis with his wife, musician Amanda Palmer. He is the author of Neverwhere, The Ocean at The End of the Lane, American Gods, Trigger Warning (Short Stories). His literary influences include H.P. Lovecraft, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, G.K. Chesterton, among others. My first exposure to Neil Gaiman was the comic book/graphic novels of Sandman. The first book I read by Gaiman was Neverwhere, also the book I usually recommend to others. I became so engrossed in the story that I was oblivious when I came to the end of the book. I came to the last page and needed more. Isn’t that one of the signs of a good book? I also recommend American Gods (skip the television series) and, although it’s a kid’s book, The day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, illustrated by Dave McKean. Next is Kevin Brockmeier. He was born in Hialeah, Florida and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a graduate of Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School (1991) and Southwest Missouri State University (1995). He taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he received his MFA in 1997, and lives in Little Rock. His short stories have been printed in numerous publications and he has published two collections of stories, two children's novels, and two fantasy novels. Brockmeier has won three O. Henry Prizes, the Chicago Tribune's Nelson Algren Award for Short Fiction, Italo Calvino Short Fiction Award, the Booker Worthen Literary Prize, and the Porter Fund Literary Prize. Although I have only read Brockmeier’s two novels, at this point I plan on reading everything I can get my hands on. His writing style is empathetic, his descriptions make it easy to see exactly what or who he is describing. Although his novels have been described as speculative fiction, to pigeonhole Brockmeier would be an error of judgement. His work transcends labels. The first novel I read was Brockmeier's first, A Brief History of the Dead. To give you a hint toward the plot, Brockmeier quotes James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me at the beginning of the book. The quote describes the belief of many African tribes that humans can be divided into three categories: Those still alive on earth, the recently departed (sasha), and the dead (zamani). When people die.they are sasha while people are still alive who remember them. When the last person remembering them dies, they go to the zamani and are then revered and recalled by name only. Are you intrigued? And then, there is Brockmeier’s novel The Illumination. And wow, what a story Brockmeier tells. It asks the question “What if our pain and injuries were the most beautiful thing about us?” It describes a universe in which human pain is expressed as illumination, so that one's wounds glow luminescent. I found it a very engaging story. I look forward to reading more of Brockmeier’s fiction. It is safe to say that most people know or know of Ray Bradbury. And if you don’t, well, acquaint yourself with this wonderful writer. Born in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, Bradbury moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of 14. After graduating high school, he ended his formal education and found work selling newspapers. In 1943 he began his career as a writer. He was a prolific writer, authoring stories of science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, and even detective stories. His books are too numerous to list, but if you want a good start, read Fahrenheit 451, October Country, The Illustrated Man, or The Martian Chronicles. I don’t have any favorites, really. I like them all. My first exposure to Ray Bradbury, I owe to two of my junior high school teachers. Stuart Davis, my science teacher, read us the time travel story, “A Sound of Thunder." Steven Lather, our social studies teacher, showed a documentary about Bradbury in class. The last time I looked the documentary, filmed in 1963, is available on YouTube. I will post a link in the episode description. I am grateful to both Mr. Davis and Mr. Lather. On a personal note, a few years ago Valerie and I went to Chicago’s American Writers Museum, where there was a Ray Bradbury exhibit. In part of the exhibit, they had what I assume was Bradbury’s first typewriter, a 1940’s Royal. An adjacent placard encouraged visitors to sit down and type it. I don’t remember what I typed, but there was a sense of awe present. Then again, the whole museum felt like church. You may have noticed the authors highlighted on this episode are writers of fiction. Trust me, I will be back at a later date with non-fiction author recommendations. And there are definitely so many more fiction writers that I could recommend. As mentioned before this was edited and adapted from my recent podcast. If you would like to listen, just click here. Peace. Now go read a book! |
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