Infographic-tastic

I was trawling GoodReads recently, updating my progress in the 2014 Reading Challenge, when I came across some fun infographics I wanted to share with you all.

First up we have the "Top 10 most read books in the world":

I can't decide whether I'm happy to see a young adult novel series that has been so widely read as to appear in this list, or simply to be horrified that it's appearing alongside books like The Diary of Anne Frank and The Bible? Answers on a postcard please.

It's nice to see Lord of the Rings at #4, too. From my own experience in the world of bookselling, I found that Fantasy (and Science Fiction) tended to be viewed with some derision as genres, but I think this is beginning to change. We probably have George R. R. Martin to thank for that. By the way, George, could you please hurry up and finish The Winds of Winter, please.


Next I discovered "The Benefits of Reading Books", which reads like many a conversation I have had with my peers trying to argue the same, mostly, without success:

I always enjoy a Chinese proverb and this one is no exception, though I wonder what sort of garden could be found in the books you usually find on or around my shelves/floor/desk/handbag; possibly some sort of post-modern steampunk dystopian science-fiction garden, that you might not necessarily want to go into.

I would definitely agree that reading reduces stress and can put you in a better mood. I find there is nothing better than the ability to escape into a book, forgetting everything that might be winding you up in the real world for a few minutes - or indeed, hours - and the sense of calmness you can feel as a result. Having said this, it probably does depend upon exactly what you are reading: I've finished some books in a state of upset due either to the fact that I've come to the end, or indeed that the end has come to one or more of the characters I've spent the last few hundred pages getting to know.

My last offering is "Unpacking Reading Habits" - I think some of the connections here are a bit tenuous, but it's good for a laugh!
I do think it's true that I pick up speed towards the end of a book, though I don't think that I am more likely to read fiction at 12am (I am usually asleep). Would be interested to know if anyone else has different experiences / reading patterns, though.

It's nice to see some infographics being done for reading, and books. I think one of the benefits of e-readers and online reading in general is that more people are reading now than before, be it in the form of a blog, a newspaper or the faithful fiction title. It's also useful, particularly in HE (but also for some students in FE) to have such a wide range of databases and journals available online, though it does take something away from the experience of going to the library, hunting down the books you need and retiring to a cosy corner to read them. But then I am rather old fashioned.

Until the next post, where I might even produce something with a slightly less tenuous connection to work ... happy Friday!

Online bookmarking, the world beyond old receipts and train tickets

Hello readers!

Welcome to the first blog post for July, we're now officially in the midst of the British summer and enjoying all the bounteous sunshine that it has to offer!

..........

ahem.

I have spent the last few weeks dabbling in bookmarking sites including Pearltrees, Pinterest and LibraryThing, with a side order of Delicious and Evernote, though I haven't had too much success with the latter. In terms of Perry's 'organisational thinking', this surprises me:

American philosopher, John Perry, identified two types of organisational thinking.* Vertical organisers tend to to work on one task at a time, with an uncluttered surface and make good use of filing cabinets and (in a computer sense) hierarchical folders. Traditional bookmarking sites favour vertical thinking.

By contrast, horizontal organisers like all their projects spread out in front of them so everything is close to hand. The approach is used as a memory aid to keep track of project status, and as a prompt to carry out tasks. More modern bookmarking sites, such as PearlTrees, are better suited to horizontal organisers.

 *OUCS (2011) Reserach Information Managment: Organising Humanities Material. Oxford University Computing Service, Oxford.

I would have said that I am a 'vertical organiser', working on one thing at a time in a linear, hierarchical way. (I have been known to sub-divide my e-mail and T drive folders to a ridiculous degree.) However, given that i've found Pearltrees, particularly, to be more useful in re-designing the Hair and Beauty e-maps from the old VLE, it would seem that I have 'horizontal' tendencies as well! Not like that.

This brings me to Pinterest, another real discovery for me in terms of presenting information. I've been playing around with boards largely for Hair and Beauty, my subject liaison. I found this a particularly difficult subject to be involved with initially, as my liaison roles at Brockenhurst were very academic and suited a different type of support. Pinterest is brilliant because it allows you to select useful tidbits, including photographs, and organise them however you see fit - up until recently i've been pinning onto a 'Hair and Beauty Inspiration board', something I think Holly used to do, and it works very well with this. I did manage to share it with a member of the department who was interested in showing this to students, so I'd call that a success!

Lastly, I have always enjoyed using LibraryThing as a virtual extension of my bookshelf, the online branch of my reading 'empire', as it were. I particularly like the 'connections' feature which suggests other books you might like, without the same element of rampant capitalism with which certain online retailers do the same thing. It also makes excellent widgets.

I leave you with this gem, courtesy of Pinterest. Let us not forget our paperback origins in this brave new digital world :) Until next time!