Forgetfulness
After partial_charge's response to my entry about Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great, I figured Sam Harris's The End of Faith deserved to be the next of the recent spate of books about religion by atheists and skeptics that I would read. So I hunted down my copy of the book (seriously--I think books are beginning to take advantage of my distractedness and are migrating through the apartment, exploring different areas while I'm not looking, because they never seem to be where I think they should be) and prepared to read.
What I found when I picked up the book, however, is that I've already read it. I have notes all through the book. At first I thought that surely meant that the book wasn't very good or memorable since I didn't even remember having read it, but now that I'm skimming through my notes and what I've marked, I think my forgetfulness has a different source: I just really need to write about books like this after I read them for them to make a real impact and stay with me. So I'm re-reading parts of Harris and skimming my notes and I'll write a real entry about The End of Faith when I've finished.
Speaking of forgetfulness and migrating books, I could swear that I bought a copy of Clifford Simak's City over the summer, but I can't find it anywhere. And it's on my reading list, so I'll have to buy another copy. Seems silly if I already have one, but there it is. What's really frustrating is that I can remember what it looked like, I know it's here somewhere, but it won't surface. There's another book like that on my SF list, but, tellingly, I can't recall at the moment what it is.
What I found when I picked up the book, however, is that I've already read it. I have notes all through the book. At first I thought that surely meant that the book wasn't very good or memorable since I didn't even remember having read it, but now that I'm skimming through my notes and what I've marked, I think my forgetfulness has a different source: I just really need to write about books like this after I read them for them to make a real impact and stay with me. So I'm re-reading parts of Harris and skimming my notes and I'll write a real entry about The End of Faith when I've finished.
Speaking of forgetfulness and migrating books, I could swear that I bought a copy of Clifford Simak's City over the summer, but I can't find it anywhere. And it's on my reading list, so I'll have to buy another copy. Seems silly if I already have one, but there it is. What's really frustrating is that I can remember what it looked like, I know it's here somewhere, but it won't surface. There's another book like that on my SF list, but, tellingly, I can't recall at the moment what it is.