[Aaron]

After decades of reading asynchronously, it has become habitual that I also tend to think asynchronously as well.

This is to say, I tend to revisit many different lines of thought in a given period of time, returning to each thought process & "picking up where i left off" on each topic, so to speak.

How about the rest of you people?

Do you tend to dwell on a single topic for extended periods, or do you "bounce around"?

Something else I wondered about is readers vs non-readers.

If you're a reader, it's almost always easy to recognize other readers. You know after a few brief sentences if you're talking to someone who reads.

Daily & extensive readers are like body-builders, whose daily trips to the gym turn them into Uber examples of the human prototype.

Am I, as an avid reader, as different from my non-reading counterparts, as a body-builder is, from a couch-potato?

Am I some freakishly huge, Krell-like super-intellect by comparison?

And just how much credibility do I give the vast non-reading population? I'm trusting my world's future to the mental couch-potato's I wouldn't trust to park my car am I not?

Is how I "think" fundamentally different from these "others"?

If I compare my own body to that of an avid body-builder... well... there's no comparison that's very meaningful beyond being human.

Is the same thing true for our minds?

[Fergus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', 'A')fter decades of reading asynchronously, it has become habitual that I also tend to think asynchronously as well.

This is to say, I tend to revisit many different lines of thought in a given period of time, returning to each thought process & "picking up where i left off" on each topic, so to speak.

How about the rest of you people?

Do you tend to dwell on a single topic for extended periods, or do you "bounce around"?

Something else I wondered about is readers vs non-readers.

If you're a reader, it's almost always easy to recognize other readers. You know after a few brief sentences if you're talking to someone who reads.

Daily & extensive readers are like body-builders, whose daily trips to the gym turn them into Uber examples of the human prototype.

Am I, as an avid reader, as different from my non-reading counterparts, as a body-builder is, from a couch-potato?

Am I some freakishly huge, Krell-like super-intellect by comparison?

And just how much credibility do I give the vast non-reading population? I'm trusting my world's future to the mental couch-potato's I wouldn't trust to park my car am I not?

Is how I "think" fundamentally different from these "others"?

If I compare my own body to that of an avid body-builder... well... there's no comparison that's very meaningful beyond being human.

Is the same thing true for our minds?

[NTBKtrader]

I usually bounce around when I am thinking and I constantly 'brainstorm' on the issues that are most important to me. I think this is probably very normal.

[vision-master]

I got better things to do than become a "book worm".

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'I') got better things to do than become a "book worm".

[firestarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'I') got better things to do than become a "book worm".

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'w')hat one reads is a more meaningful barometer of their intellect than how much they read.

[KhanCEO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '
')And just how much credibility do I give the vast non-reading population? I'm trusting my world's future to the mental couch-potato's I wouldn't trust to park my car am I not?

[WildRose]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '
')
Am I, as an avid reader, as different from my non-reading counterparts, as a body-builder is, from a couch-potato?

[vision-master]

And I ain't too good with the literary skills. Never was and never will be.

[Daculling]

Definitely bounce around. Sometimes I have dreams where I'm having discussions with my coworker and we work out problems that exists in the wake world. I give them the credit for working the problem

[evilmonkeyspanker]

I find myself fluctuating back and forth on ideas more often than not. I have always found it very hard to focus of anything perticuler for more than a few minutes at a time... unless of course it involves making money.

[gg3]

I read quite a bit; usually on "difficult" topics; and I also spend too much time online in places such as this one:-)

I much prefer being able to go deeply into a subject or line of thought for a period of hours, and come out with something useful or at least with some well-framed questions.

My work often calls for me to ping-pong from one topic to the next depending on the needs of the client at the moment. This is particularly distressing when I'm on desk duty dealing with calls; feels like a series of random final exam questions.

Male humans, when subjected to frequent interruptions and task switching, show a transient 10 - 15 point drop in IQ for the duration of the exercise. Female humans under the same conditions, lose only 5 points. To get the lost points back, take a break, relax, and then stick to one task at a time with no interruptions.

[max_power29]

"PRINT IS DEAD." -Dr. Egon Spengler from The Ghostbusters 1984

[Ludi]

Thinking about thinking is always interesting, but I think it will be difficult to compare how we think with other people. I tend to think both verbally, with a narrator going in my head, and visually, in pictures. I tend to get stuck on ideas and not be able to shake them, especially if I find them confusing or difficult. This can get to the point of obsession, when I literally can't stop thinking about whatever it is.

I don't know if I come across to others as a "reader," what I would consider a highly verbal person, or a nonreader.

[Chaparral]

I generally prefer to concentrate on one task at a time rather than multitask. The consequences of screwing up a copper-repipe or wiring job while thinking about new acquisitons or commodity trades are just too high.

I've multitasked before but it's not my preferred way of thinking or doing things. I also prefer to start and finish one book at a time.

WRT reading, debating, chess problems, sudoku or crossword puzzles, public speaking, I think that to a certain extent, these things are like skeletal muscle tissue: use it or lose it. The neurophysiologists tell us that neurons continuously make new connections throughout life if presented with the need to do so. I started taking on new things (such as repairing stoves and furnaces) several years ago based on such findings. When I read, it takes me forever because I'm constantly mentally arguing with the author. I'm slogging through Das Kapital now. Talk about givng myself a headache. I prefer to read each book cover to cover rather than skim it.

[Doly]

I'm not comfortable multitasking, but I have to do it all the time in my current job (in a callcentre). So I have a lot of practice in it. Most of my posts are written in short bursts between calls. In fact, that's why I seldom write long posts! There's only so many interruptions you can take before you completely lose the plot.

[auwolf]

I'm a bouncer. I tend to delve deep into a topic for a certain period of time (depending on how important I find it) then surface from it and perhaps lose momentum on it before coming back to it... but I'll have several of these going at once. Can be a bit annoying as I have quite a lot of issues demanding my attention at the moment and prioritising is frustrating. I am definitely not a linear thinker, nor can I focus on just one issue at a time. Get too restless.

I am a reader. Love to read. Fiction, non-fiction, political issues, history, philosophies, blah blah blah. Sometimes I think I read too much. Sometimes I wish I was ignorant about certain things instead of researching everything. But that's not me. I admire doers. I'm a thinker. I want to balance the thinking and the doing. It's slowly happening, parenting is definitely not a spectator sport.

[Pops]

I was one of those nerdy types that read under the covers with a flashlight as a kid, I think reading is the most important thing one can teach their offspring. I’ve been going the library on Saturdays with kids and grandkids since forever – it was kind of our weekend outing that replaced going to church. We would get all dressed up, collect some likely books and then they’d find some kids to read or play with and afterwards we would sometimes stop at the park, farmers' market (my oldest granddaughter called it The Festival when she was little) museum, antique store or maybe just The Slushy Store.

Since we don’t have any kids or grandkids around at the moment and our library is rather small I use the internet more and more. The internet is a wonderful source of information, a quick overview at Wikipedia or an afternoon spent trawling the most arcane topic deeper than I would have ever imagined possible. I rarely read fiction any more though I once read quite a bit and though I love the magazine rack at the big bookstores the internet has eliminated that addiction too.

I don’t read or concentrate much on abstract stuff – my brain isn’t wired that way! Math past high school geometry (really anything past pie are square ;>) ), psychology, sociology and what-all are over my head because for the most part I can’t make a visual model in my little brain.

As far as how I think, I suppose I do a little of both linear and non-linear. I’ll research a topic of interest or concentrate on a specific problem, design or project till my eyes cross then I’ll leave it alone. It usually seems when I come back to it I’ll have a fresh insight, realize a simpler or seemingly obvious solution – it drives my wife a little crazy sometimes because she is a get-it-done kind of gal

Speaking of getting it done, I ain’t, so I better!