Anna Karenina - a long, long book

I love the account about Teddy Roosevelt that David McCullough gave at a commencement speech:

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. . . Once upon a time in the dead of winter in Dakota territory, with the temperature well below zero, young Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat, accompanied by two of his ranch hands, down-stream on the Little Missouri River in chase of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized row boat. After days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then, after finding a man with a team and a wagon, Roosevelt set off again to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. He left the ranch hands behind to tend to the boat, and walked alone behind the wagon, his rifle at the ready. They were headed across the snow covered wastes of the Bad Lands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in that eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina."
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Then David said: "I often think of that when I hear people say they haven't time to read."

Well I did it. I finally read Anna Karenina. It has taken about nine months. I've been reading it in snippets via DailyLit.

The story displays life in Russia in the 1870s. There are broad strokes taking place in at a variety of places, with a wide range of characters. One of the main characters is Anna Karenina. Anna falls in love for Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky. Vronsky falls in love for Anna. Anna leaves her husband and runs away with Vronsky.

While reading this I often thought that so many problems would be avoided if people just did the right thing. Anna ended up destroying so many lives.

I can't say I enjoyed the book. I found it interesting. I'm glad I finally read it. But it wasn't a fun book. It wasn't uplifting. It was a classic Russian novel and most everyone suffers.


I've decided to go for something a little smaller. My next book via DailyLit will be 100 Ways to Succeed/Make Money by Tom Peters.


If there is a book you've been putting off for awhile, check to see if it is in DailyLit. Having snippets pop up in my email helps me to read some books.


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Technorati tags: reading, classic, books

I finished "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne

Again I'll mention that I like DailyLit. They provide an amazing service. They deliver books via email in manageable chunks.

I just finished From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne. It was pleasant, not great, but a fun read. The basic story is about a group of Americans who after the Civil War build a huge cannon to blast a rocket to the moon. Jules Verne goes into great detail about how long the cannon is, how much gun powder is needed, and so on. He gets some of the physics wrong, but he also gets some of it right.

Several times I've posted about David McCullough's account of Teddy Roosevelt reading Anna Karenina. I've decided that for my next DailyLit book I'll try "Anna Karenina."


If you haven't checked out DailyLit, give it a try.


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Technorati tags: reading, classic, books

Reading the classics via email - a little more structure

Often in modern life it is easy to be distracted from good intentions by interesting things not of much worth. Reading is one of the activities I try to do more. The Common Room posted this morning Reading on the Installment Plan.

"Daily Lit sends books in installments via e-mail. DailyLit currently offers over 250 classic public domain titles that can be subscribed to and read in their entirety for free. Popular titles include 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu and 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen Readers can choose how often and at what time they want the e-mails sent to them (e.g. every weekday at 6:30am). Books on DailyLit can be read any place that a reader receives e-mail, including on a PDA, Blackberry, Trio, etc. Each installment of a book can be read in under 5 minutes, and if a reader is done with a particular installment, a reader can receive the next installment immediately in his/her e-mail Inbox. DailyLit has recently added forums where readers can discuss their favorite books and authors."

By getting a small selection of a classic book via email it is easier for some people to read a book they have been meaing to read for a long time. You can do this on your lunch break, between commercials, or some other odd moment.

They have Anna Karenina. This reminded me of an account about Teddy Roosevelt that David McCullough gave at a commencement speech:

". . . Once upon a time in the dead of winter in Dakota territory, with the temperature well below zero, young Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat, accompanied by two of his ranch hands, down-stream on the Little Missouri River in chase of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized row boat. After days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then, after finding a man with a team and a wagon, Roosevelt set off again to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. He left the ranch hands behind to tend to the boat, and walked alone behind the wagon, his rifle at the ready. They were headed across the snow covered wastes of the Bad Lands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in that eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina."

Then David said: "I often think of that when I hear people say they haven't time to read."

It is important that we make time to read good books. Good books have a postive effect on our minds. I've been meaning to read The Art of War by Sun Tzu for a long time. I'll try out Daily Lit by first reading it.


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Technorati tags: reading, classic, books

Some of our best posts from August 2008

Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for almost eight years. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from
August 2008:

An unusual reason for homeschooling - To avoid air pollution.

Janine and I shared Sorta kinda the first day of school and Ramping up for the new school year.

I wrote about how David McCullough got me to read Anna Karenina.


This was one of my favorite videos from August 2008 -  I Will Survive- Homeschool Version:

Some of our best posts from June 2007

Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for over seven years. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from June of 2007:

Janine wrote about a Father's impact on education.

With an informed understanding of public schools as a group public school teachers are less likely to trust public schools.

The importance of a large vocabulary reveals that if children don't know certain words they might not even be able to have certain thoughts.

A classic reason why public schools are having trouble explores the problem with so many laws.

In May and June of 2007 our family took a 4 week field trip.  The Benefits of travel is a list of some ways travel helps children.

Reading the classics via email was about a cool service: Daily Lit.  This allowed me to eventually read Anna Karenina.

Book review: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson  The Long Tail is a good book.  I've had my daughters read it.

June of 2007 was the first time we watch A Little Momsense:

An easy way to read a classic book

One of the challenges most people have is finding time.  There are millions of demands on our time from people, companies, TV shows, books and so on. 

I want to read more books, but I struggle making the time..  I go through spurts where I'll read a few in a couple days and then nothing for weeks. 

A trick I've found which helps me is DailyLit.  You can sign up for regular emails.  Snippets of a book will arrive via email.  It is much easier to read a book in small bite sizes.  This is how I finally got around to reading Anna Karenina.

Information about books and reading

Chris O'Donnell had some interesting (or scary - depends on your point of view) statistics about reading from a huge collection of statistics about reading and publishing by Dan Poynter. (Hat tip: Atypical Homeschool.net)

These statistics reminded me of an account about Teddy Roosevelt that David McCullough gave at a commencement speech:

". . . Once upon a time in the dead of winter in Dakota territory, with the temperature well below zero, young Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat, accompanied by two of his ranch hands, down-stream on the Little Missouri River in chase of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized row boat. After days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then, after finding a man with a team and a wagon, Roosevelt set off again to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. He left the ranch hands behind to tend to the boat, and walked alone behind the wagon, his rifle at the ready. They were headed across the snow covered wastes of the Bad Lands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in that eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina."

Then David says:

"I often think of that when I hear people say they haven't time to read."


Here are some of the statistics from Dan Poynter's list that I found interesting:

4,986 was the average first press run; second printings averaged 4,776.
--Publishers weekly, April 7, 2003.

Amazon.com sells 5% of all books for $3 billion.
--Newsweek. April 9, 2001.

Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
--Bookselling This Week, November 10, 1997.


Here are some of the scary statistics:

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

--Jerrold Jenkins.


Update I (10 July):

Chris O'Donnell found that some of the above statistics may be wrong, but that reading in general is declining in the United States. (Check out Reading At Risk by the National Edownment for the Arts)


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Technorati tags: book, reading, publishing, statistics, Dan Poynter, no time to read, time to read, Teddy Roosevelt, David McCullough

Do we have time to read?

I have always considered myself a reader. I did get off to a slow start. In third grade I was reading at first grade level. Then around fifth grade my father read The Black Stallion to me, and I was hooked. Over the next year I read the rest of the series and moved on to other books. My father had collected a ton of science fiction books. The books were stored in boxes up in the attic. Through high school I often read a book each day.

In the late 1990s I realized that I wasn't reading lots of books. I was reading tons of stuff on the internet, various magazines, and the newspaper. For some reason I thought it would be worth while writing a review about each book I read. I soon realized I was reading a book a month, or even less frequent. Since then I've focused more energy and attention on reading. I find that if I'll check a book out of the library I'll force myself to read it before I return the book. Books that I buy often just sit on my bookshelf.

How to Read a Book, by Mortimer J. Adler, has several good points about how to be a more effective reader. If you haven't read it, check it out of the library. It is very worth reading. One of the points Mr. Alder makes is there are different types of reading.

David McCullogh (author of John Adams, 1776, ...) in a speech he gave in 1999 tells about Teddy Roosevelt:

". . . Once upon a time in the dead of winter in Dakota territory, with the temperature well below zero, young Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat, accompanied by two of his ranch hands, down-stream on the Little Missouri River in chase of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized row boat. After days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then, after finding a man with a team and a wagon, Roosevelt set off again to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. He left the ranch hands behind to tend to the boat, and walked alone behind the wagon, his rifle at the ready. They were headed across the snow covered wastes of the Bad Lands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in that eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina.

I often think of that when I hear people say they haven't time to read."

He goes on to point out that the average American makes time to watch an average of 28 hours of television a week. He says that if a person gave up television for a week they could read (reading 250 words a minute) all of the following:

The complete poems of T.S. Eliot;
Two plays by Thornton Wilder, including Our Town;
The complete poems of Maya Angelou;
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury;
The Great Gatsby; and
The Book of Psalms.

The real question is not do we have time to read, but is it important to us to make the time to read. Consider blocking out some time each day, or on the weekend, where you will read a book. A good book can be the most effective way to learn a new principle.

Authors spend hundreds, maybe even thousands, of hours learning something, and in just a few hours you can capture the essence of their knowledge and wisdom. This is a great investment of time.