Late Latif!
I am usually a few months behind on magazines. While
I am still "Dealing with America's fiscal hole" (The
Economist Nov 21st issue), the world thinks it is
"Time to Get Tough" and learn "Lessons from Obama's
first year" (The Jan 16th issue)!
If you read magazines like I do, line by line, cover to cover, you are essentially treating it like a novel. And if that has been your modus operandi for some time, you will begin to respond to news stories the same way you would each episode in a series. You read them with close attention, go over what might happen next, and wait eagerly for the drama to unfold. Given that most magazines are a 100 pages long, it is time consuming and I am usually behind all news.
Now, don't let this fool you into thinking I do this before I think my method has virtue. For one thing, I am terrible at remembering facts. Everything I read, be it about politics, art, technology, science, environment or finance, turns into the same glop of cogitative matter -- none that I can use in a social conversation. Moreover, by the time I have read it, people have moved on to something more current and know so much more.
Even with the podcasts I listen to, the news articles I read online, the TV shows I watch, I find that it is less about keeping up with affairs and more about adding to that same glop of cogitative matter, which only satisfies my mind.
But sometimes, I wonder if I should be less ignorant and put an effort into remembering those facts. Most people I know who do, seem to have so much more to offer to a conversation... and seem so much more knowledgeable. I find that I am utterly fascinated by what they have to say, even though I have read about it before... their cogitative glop is more meritorious and full of cognizance, while mine only makes me look ignorant!
But perhaps, what mine helps with is in understanding a dinner conversation with my friends better than I would have if I had not read anything in the first place.
If you read magazines like I do, line by line, cover to cover, you are essentially treating it like a novel. And if that has been your modus operandi for some time, you will begin to respond to news stories the same way you would each episode in a series. You read them with close attention, go over what might happen next, and wait eagerly for the drama to unfold. Given that most magazines are a 100 pages long, it is time consuming and I am usually behind all news.
Now, don't let this fool you into thinking I do this before I think my method has virtue. For one thing, I am terrible at remembering facts. Everything I read, be it about politics, art, technology, science, environment or finance, turns into the same glop of cogitative matter -- none that I can use in a social conversation. Moreover, by the time I have read it, people have moved on to something more current and know so much more.
Even with the podcasts I listen to, the news articles I read online, the TV shows I watch, I find that it is less about keeping up with affairs and more about adding to that same glop of cogitative matter, which only satisfies my mind.
But sometimes, I wonder if I should be less ignorant and put an effort into remembering those facts. Most people I know who do, seem to have so much more to offer to a conversation... and seem so much more knowledgeable. I find that I am utterly fascinated by what they have to say, even though I have read about it before... their cogitative glop is more meritorious and full of cognizance, while mine only makes me look ignorant!
But perhaps, what mine helps with is in understanding a dinner conversation with my friends better than I would have if I had not read anything in the first place.
