So the year has, almost, gone by. I thought I’ll have a lot more to write about in this time; more to read about in this time. I did start with REAMDE after TCTBD and did get into it for a good couple of weeks. But I fell off of it after some time my parents came I think. And then I remember feeling that I wont have the time to pick it back up again, since the bus services were going away. So either I’ll drive or be a passenger to a talkative person, either way that means no reading time. I tried starting with Three Body Problems though. Oh yea, and I finished that as an audiobook. So I guess I can make a post about that. It was better and more expansive than the show. Atleast it shows you how most of the story is set in China, and not US.
Besides all the books that I aimed for, there were other things that I did read. Stuff like blogs, articles. Really long ones too. And they pique my interest in a different way. It’s like I have a separate need for reading articles and a distinct one for reading books. Out of these two, the one for books is weaker. I guess that’s because the value gain from it comes over a long duration of time. Or atleast I percieve it that way. Maybe if I write what I learn everyday I’d have more of a realization that I’m learning something everyday. Come to think of it, that was the whole point of this blog. But I broke that monotony by reinstalling Reddit and Instagram. On the other hand articles/blog posts give me a different satiating feeling in that, I get to either learn an immediate new thing or I get hands on with something new. I never think of writing them down. My father used to get me to do this when I was younger. He would ask me to summarize some of the news articles that I found interesting. I feel like I should be doing them still with all the articles I read.
This was also the year where I thought I’ll undertake a specific youtube course on malware inspection. I got someone for mentor as well. He was pretty helpful in setting a direction, and then I couldn’t leave my current workspace to dedicate any time there. What does that tell me about me? I have a lack of skills? I don’t want to do things? I don’t know. Let’s zoom in to see where I went wrong. I understood that Malware analysis was where I had to dive deep. Then I bounced around the internet to find a few resources to learn from. (Oh also this was the time I was about to pick up another book, becuase I thought books are much better at this than any online tutorial) I couldn’t find a good/preferred way to study malware analysis and I think I got burnt out in my struggle to get started. That;s pretty articulate, for someone who can’t put forward their idea. lol. Anyways, so yea that’s what happened. It would’ve been much more productive to just sit down and start working through a structured course instead. I did think of this at the tail end, and asked Claude to fix me up a schedule, but ’twas too late. Another book I picked up which I still hope to read through is the one recommended by a colleague. It’s purely work related. While reading it I feel that all the information is pretty obvious. But that can’t be right?! And this feeling demotivates me reading anythign further. One way I thought I could combat this was highlighting within the book and making my own notes to reference back. But that’s not been usefull, since I don’t go back to it. And with digital books, it’s not like you could flip pages to find page tabs and skim information. Actually, I can do that, if I’m a little more structured in my reading.
On the plus side, this is also the year when I got to know that I’ll be a dad soon. The feeling has yet to sink in. But what did sink in were the books I need to read. I ordered a bunch of books on parenting, and then I took them one page at a time. I’m going too slow with them. I should be finishing them by Feb'25 but I doubt I’ll continue reading till then. I can’t find a good block of time. What I actually have read up a ton on are cook books. I’ve tried a lot of new recipes and made a lot of meals. I’m pretty sure the amount of grocery lists I’ve made and number of recipes I’ve rewritten, could make up atleast a quarter of an average book.
Takeaways for the time ahead:
- For reading long novels, develop a companion notebook which helps in keeping track of what is going on for each reading session
- For reading work related (academic) books, have page tabs and notes within the books. It’s all digital so we aren’t messing up someone’s work. Think Half blood prince’s book. Add something unique
- Find a structured way if youare reading a book which is teaching you something that is completely new.