• Blog
  • Images
  • Links
  • About
Menu

Zubair.Chaudary

  • Blog
  • Images
  • Links
  • About

Reading with my Ears.

January 11, 2015

In 2013, I read 3 books. 3. I spent a few moments rationalizing why I had only read 3 books in 365 days. I came up with the universal excuse - not enough time.

Not enough time? Sure, I may have been working 60 hours a week. I probably was watching too much mind numbing TV. But that still did not account for 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, or 730 hours in a month. Seven-Hundred-Thirty hours in a month. 260 hours could be explained by work, I only slept 6 hours a day on average - another 182 hours. 730 - (260 + 182) = 288. 288 hours in a month was what was conventionally thought as free time.

That's almost an average of 9.5 hours per day. Yet, despite that 9.5 hours, most days ended with me wishing for a few extra minutes. I did what any engineer would do - I gathered data. From the moment I woke up, till the moment I went to bed - I wrote down what I did. What I found was that the majority of free time was spent with my mind being passive. I was cooking breakfast, or getting ready for work, or folding laundry, or doing dishes. Yes, this time was not ideal to sit down with a cup of caffeinated hot liquid and spend hours reading a book - but it was time that my brain was only doing one thing.

I made the conscious decision to start filling that time with people speaking into my ears. First, I started with podcasts. RadioLab, 99 Percent Invisible, TED Radio Hour, Freakanomics - there were a lot. It may have been the advertising on those podcasts, but I started hearing a lot about Audible. I was someone who wanted to read more, and had time to listen to podcasts. So, in 2014, with the help of Audible, I read 20 books. Yes, read - the biological sense that I use to get written words into my brain doesn't change the verb used to describe the act of consuming books - I will fight you over this. Anyway, 20 books - thats more than a 500% increase.

So what did I read? Old favorites, new favorites - fiction about space, non fiction about space, books on presidents, books on history. As Maria von Trapp sang - these are a few of my favorite things: 

  1. Books from the Kingkiller Chronicles.
  2. Ready Player One
  3. Ghost in the Wires
  4. SuperFreakonomics
  5. Think Like a Freak
  6. Zero to One
  7. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
  8. Ender's Game
  9. The Devil in the White City
  10. The River of Doubt
In Favorites Things Tags Books, Productivity
← A Code.First! →

Find something

  • Books (1)
  • Productivity (1)

Latest & Greatest

Blog
Unit Testing is Important
Unit Testing is Important
about a year ago

#iphonex #nofilter Cotton Trees.
#iphonex #nofilter Reading our first NYT best seller together. #babysfirstbook Last Morning, 2017. #shotoniphonex Baby’s First Tulips. #iphonex #nofilter This changes everything. Not Records Clouds and water Window seat. Delayed Train. Eclipse Lens Flare. #iphone7plus #nofilter Eclipse, behind clouds.
#iphone7plus #nofilter Skyline Lights. #blackandwhitephotography #iphone7plus #snapseed NY Bridges & Buildings at sunset.
#iphone7plus #nofilter #imonaboat Hudson River Sunset.
#iphone7plus #nofilter #imonaboat NY from a boat. Water Lilies.
#iphone7plus #nofilter Mufasa! Mufasa Mufasa Mufasa! They really did give every last drop of energy.
#coldplaydc

  • Zubair Chaudary
    Stormy Sunset. @ Colorado Convention Center https://t.co/LtYD5xc6WI
    about 9 months ago
  • Zubair Chaudary
    Rocky Landscapes. Thanks for the hike: @kstuffandthings! @ Roxborough State Park https://t.co/IzmJu8WilN
    about 9 months ago
  • Zubair Chaudary
    Thanks for the safe flight @southwestair, the picturesque skies were a nice added touch. @… https://t.co/9QSF7jgliP
    about 9 months ago
  • Zubair Chaudary
    Sunset Reflections. @ New Brunswick (NJT station) https://t.co/Hx9YbbKmNS
    about 9 months ago
  • Zubair Chaudary
    Transit Sunset. #nofilter #iphone7plus @ New Jersey Transit Train https://t.co/kV5BhlyjrY
    about 9 months ago