There has been speculation in the written and spoken media recently, that younger people, generation X, or millennials (I am probably showing my age by lumping them all into the same category) find it hard to read a long book. This it is claimed has been getting “worse” and the blame for this shortcoming can be laid at the door of social media and the short bursts of consumption that come from consuming things on Twitter, Instagram and the other social media platforms. The ability to concentrate on a ‘good long’ book has declined. University lecturers are loathed to recommend reading lists with mighty tomes as they realise that they will not get read and Shakespearean expert Professor Jonathan Bate expressed his concern and the trend, though he admitted that he had exaggerated that his students used to read three books in a week as opposed to the current rate of one book every three weeks, that students ability too concentrate was suffering.

It is not just the young that appear to be exhibiting this trend. I have a pile of books by the side of my bed, some of which remain unread while others fall into the category ‘started but not finished’. I have currently started reading “The Masters and His Emissary” by Ian McGilchrist. It is a long and complicated book, 463 pages of difficult ideas and concepts. I have decided to come up with a plan, to read a chapter a day, which if I can stick to it will enable me to complete the book in just over two weeks. I suspect like all plans, it won’t survive first contact with the ‘enemy’ which in this case is my resolve to stick to it.

But in addition to a book or in some cases books, I often have two books on the go, there is other reading to be done. I try and read some of the Times everyday, though this is becoming harder as it lurches it the right with increasing regularity and I glance through the Guardian comment columns (All on line of course) The New European is always good value and I enjoy, though often struggle to understand, pieces in the London Review of Books. The enemy is time (not The Times). Trying to fit all this reading appears to be difficult but this is because I waste a lot of time. I did a quick back of the envelope calculation as to how I allocate the 24 hours that I have for each day, and even allowing for sleeping, eating, washing, walking the dog, going to work, including too and from work, day dreaming (scrolling through Twitter) I still had 3 hours left. Currently this is probably taken up with listening podcasts or the radio generally, occasionally watching TV or going out for a beer. The reality is that with a little planning and developing a habit, I could without to much trouble find an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening too read. We will see.