[FRIAM] efficacy? effectiveness?

[Steve Smith]

good (and very relevant to my own experience) thread... thanks...

I was an early and avid reader, with modes and subjects shifting through 
time and context.

I have shifted 99% of my fiction (text) consumption to audio and boosted 
my video fiction (4X) consumption significantly in the last 5-10 years 
for lots of reasons (social engagement, more free time).

Like Jon said, "reading was (once) pure play", I've replaced it with 
lower-engagement/demand alternatives which is a bit like replacing the 
episodic wild berries in my diet with pure sugar or maybe pixie-stix?  
Or maybe just candy-bars with *some* nuts and chocolate to buffer the 
power-hit of refined sugar?

Following Glen's point, I do read more non-fiction via linear (and 
resampled linear) text than I do fiction... and it is a mixed blessing.  
  I've always enjoyed nonlinear/hyperlinked prose (e.g. browsing/tracing 
a dictionary/thesaurus/encyclopedia) as well as self-curation of 
tech/history material using ToC and Index navigation, but also highly 
value the author/editor's curation (what I think Marcus rankled at?).

(about) the only time I read much in significant linear batches is when 
I soak in my clawfoot tub.   After a significant physical activity 
(usually chores) or during some mild illness (light flu/cold or taking a 
chill from exposure) I will settle into a long hot bath where I can 
sometimes read chapters and chapters from a book or some long-form 
journalism which I normally crash out of after 5-10 mins max.

Mary is much more capable of dropping into a book (still) despite the 
distractions and has not really shifted into audio-consumption of 
fiction.   Her stack of "have read" grows monthly and reinforcing my 
"audio-forward" fiction, she reads aloud to me A) at bedtime; B) on 
short and long drives; C) when something is acutely compelling to her.

I'm ashamed to admit that about all I have to offer in return to her is 
"being a good listener" and an occasional short-segment of an audio-book 
I've been listening to which is salient to whatever is afoot in the 
moment in the world or between us.   My offerings are a fraction of the 
quantity (and quality?) of hers to me.

Too much of my reading happens from a screen (this one) and/but I can 
*barely* read from my TS (tiny-screen phone) which saves me in some ways 
(I spend less time staring at my palm than many) but not in others (when 
I'm staring at my palm I'm likely just reading headline-fragments)....

My (midlife-adult) children both read modestly, though both have 
commutes which have pushed them into audio (something I introduced them 
to on car trips as children).  Both prefer Kindle-class screen-readers 
for portability/convenience but do still murder trees. ElderDotter 
before-child commuted 1hr each way by rail and read a LOT during that 
time.  YungerDotter worked in our bookstore for a year while finishing 
her BA in Santa Fe which reinforced her appreciation for the used-book 
world, but the demands of parenting and careering and general adulting 
have cut into *their* reading time.   YD commutes in a TSLA (FU Elon 
Musk!) but loathes the (f?)SD features and definitely doesn't Read While 
Driving (best I know)....

ED records/rates (most of?) her conquests on GoodReads (yes, I know, 
Bezos coopted that and is a dipshit for doing so) but does not review 
much if at all there.  So I know she is consuming (possibly on audio but 
not exclusively) order 1-4 novels/nonfics a month, many of which I 
myself have already read and. few which I have been inspired to (esp. if 
Audio-available).   Reading lists used to be an important part of my 
larger social fabric, now it is just with my familial and some 
professional intimates.

Mary's children are also mid-life/career readers still and some of their 
consumption habits bleed into my awareness through her (2 are GoodReads 
rater/reviewers).  One D-in-Law is the most eclectic (a big Jane 
Austen/Raymond Chandler/Agatha Chrisite fan who also reads AE. Van Vogt 
and jack Williamson interleaved with heavy shite on Cancer (she is Stage 
4 6 years in now), as well as Feminist and Ethnic studies).  She is a 
trained Librarian-Archivist  which might explain her text-heavy 
orientation.  She and the son-husband declare to consume all their news 
and politics and economics strictly through long-form journalism and I 
(mostly) believe them.  He's a serious film-buff so the cinema he 
reports on is eclectic and arte-haus heavy.  He broadens our watch list 
significantly.  Sharing their diets as-such with us enhances our 
intergenerational coupling (gives us something to talk about besides 
Trump-Reviling, when we chat).

My grandchildren (all 2 of them) are less likely to be lifelong readers 
beyond the basics required by school and friend-networks... but I may be 
wrong... the parents offer/push/expose them to as much as makes sense 
in-context but tik-tok/video/"socials", etc are strong attractors of 
attention.  My own shift from written text on paper to screens and 
linear to highly non-linear and from text to audio/video-narrative 
follows their pattern with a little more plasticity/inertial resistance 
than they naturally have.  Mary's 2 (twin) grandchildren probably read 
more than their general peers (fairly screen-time restricted at 9 years 
old) and the boy, finally diagnosed Autism-Spectrum voraciously goes 
through topics like the Titanic, the Vietnam War, still 
illustration-heavy but concept/factiod dense.   His social skills are 
not always helped by being encyclopedic in his latest obsession.

My dog does not read nor listen to synthesized audio nor watch TV 
(except through seideyez), although he is acutely aware of dogs barking, 
doorbell and knocking sounds coming from the TV as well as animal-shapes 
on TV (Dogs most acutely, cats sometimes, horses and other large 
mammals.    Mary reads to him sometimes and he does alert to her (tone 
of) voice, but I don't think he's processing anything beyond "emotional 
content".

Our mothers died with unfinished novels at their bedsides and our 
fathers barely read at all (Mary's was marginally illiterate, my own 
never bothered beyond Forestry and Grazing Journals in his early 
career).  Our grandparents (except 1) might have been 
functionally/circumstantially illiterate with little time or available 
material to read though all finished 8th grade and two graduated a 
work-study hillbilly college in Geology.

I discuss way too much of my reading/listening with an LLM (re Jon's 
reference) to my benefit and demise methinks.   Youse guys have to hear 
less of my reflections and observations that way, however.  Net win?

Did I tell you about Daniel Boone, T.Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, G. 
Cleveland, H. Arendt, Wengrow&Graeber, Sterling&Gibson, et al?  (off my 
very recent Audio-stack).

"TL;DR" is a bit too long even for a bumper sticker these days?

- Steve

On 1/26/26 5:05 pm, Jon Zingale wrote:
> I remember loving the book "Last love in Constantinople". It is a 
> fiction book that comes with instructions suggesting that the reader 
> pull tarot using just the major arcana and then read the book's 
> chapters in the derived order.
>
> Lately, I almost never find the place in myself to settle into reading 
> as deeply as I once enjoyed. When I would read a lot, I wouldn't 
> stress at all about how I moved through or sat with a text, linear or 
> not. Instead, reading itself was pure play. Much of that joy now feels 
> alien to me, a faint dream.
>
> I can remember feeling the transition away from being situated in deep 
> focus as normal and into something much more reactive as the new 
> normal. It's almost like I expect to be smacked in the back of the 
> head at any moment. I feel as if my eyes are anxious not to waste 
> anymore time where they are.
>
> Occasionally, when I get a few days off from work, step away from my 
> numerous obligations, get a few miles of running in, alternate between 
> the sauna and the cold, I briefly find myself remembering what it was 
> like to have a deeper reading practice.
>
> I delight in those rare moments where I find that I can sit with a 
> math book, say, and have something I want to direct my attention 
> toward, and I don't mind at all that the content undresses slowly. I 
> don't even care that it would in some ways be more efficient to 
> discuss the topic with an LLM.
>
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