Additional reading: how do you do yours?

How many of you do extra reading relating to your module material? I freely admit I’ve never really done much myself due to my somewhat lackadaisical approach to studying anyway. I’m usually rushing around at the last minute trying to read the material provided by the OU which doesn’t leave me any opportunity to benefit from additional reading.

It’s not so much that I don’t want to do any extra reading and my bookshelf is certainly groaning under the weight of countless books I’ve bought with the self-promise to broaden my literary repertoire, I just rarely seem to get round to it. About 18 months ago I bought a Kindle thinking that might help me read a bit more and I played with it excitedly for two days before it ended up in the TV cabinet where it has lain lifeless ever since (although I did get it out and charge it yesterday for a specific purpose which I shall come to presently).

I need to read more, that’s a definite. I enjoy reading and love the debate it sparks in my head. While sitting hooked up to a platelet donation machine during the week I afforded myself the opportunity to continue on with a book I started reading months ago ‘Nudge’ and found myself engrossed in a chapter suggesting that marriage as a legal and religious doctrine should be abolished.

'I have made efforts to convince myself that I need to read more. In order to be able to formulate more informed theories and prepare better and more logical essays...'

Now whilst this isn’t directly relevant to my OU studies there’s probably a way it will create a parallel between something I read in my module material and the suggestion in the book. It doesn’t have to be exactly relevant; it just has to feed a sapling thought which will grow into an intricate web of cross-referenced ideas tangled together like the lush tendrils of a sweet pea clambering skyward in the hopes of flowering.

Anyway, I digress slightly (I’ve got grow-your-own on the brain, but that’s another story). I have made efforts to convince myself that I need to read more. In order to be able to formulate more informed theories and prepare better and more logical essays I need to widen my scope and this doesn’t just mean ‘read more textbooks about my module topic’.

Coming back to my Kindle in fact, after watching a few documentaries lately about religion and fundamentalist Christians I decided that rather than taking everyone else’s word for it I really ought to read the Bible for myself. Being an agnostic pretty much since birth (I would never refer to myself as an atheist) this is quite a radical decision for me but actually, having studied philosophy it seems to make a great deal of sense. So I’ve downloaded a free Kindle version of the Bible and just to counter it and retain my agnosticism I’ve also taken delivery of The God Delusion. Gotta keep it real.

I really enjoy reading and need to set aside more time for it. Not just for personal growth, but for the benefit of my studies with the OU and with Durham. In my ‘to read’ pile at the minute, along with The Bible and The God Delusion are:

• 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism
• Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class
• Chin Up, Head Down: A Mother's Journey of Madness and Grief

Any other recommendations?