January 15, 2008, Bethesda Maryland

I am fairly disciplined and peculiar with my readings. I never read fiction before going to bed. It took me many years to know that I am prone to finish the book before I turn out to light. And as my responsibilities increased I has to fore go the all night reading. I never read political periodicals before bedtime either. They make me irritated and keep me awake.

Fiction I read at the farm or in Texas or Nova Scotia. During breakfast I read political magazines, usually for half and hour. If I complete them I read non fiction for the half hour. Ken keeps half dozen book on the go at all times, while I finish one before I start on the next. That has always my pattern, and it still works for me. The evenings we are at home I read for about an hour, usually fiction, but when nine o'clock comes I switch to Science News.


Every month I read the following magazines: Smithsonian , The New Criterion, America Heritage, Popular Science, Wilson Quarterly, Bethesda, Co-op journal,Commentary,National Review, National Geographic, History, The Beaver. Weekly I read Science News and Weekly Standard. Notice I read no newspapers, nor do I watch T.V. news.

I have encouraged my grandchildren to keep a list of the books they have read. I wish I had kept a list of all the books I have read. As our literary memory fades with age, it would nice to look up the list of books you read in 1965. I heard a radio program where John Updike reported that he had never felt that he was loosing his literary memory..until he began to read a book unknown to him where he found his hand written notes in the book. Horrors.

My system is disciplined , that is true. But it lets me sleep at night, and also gets me enough time to read.