Comments on: A phenotype for reading?

By: CentreChick

CentreChick — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:37:39 +0000

I am definitely the social-isolate. Like Angel above, my parents never had the time to read for pleasure. And in a way, I was the total freak of my family. I learned to read at 3, I have one older brother and one younger. I quickly outpaced my older brother at all things school-wise. But, was socially awkward and read to escape. My parents actually punished me when I was younger by taking away my books and making me go outside. I kid you not. I was Matilda at the lending library too. As soon as I got out of college and got a real job, I started buying books like mad because my parents hardly let me buy any books. Then I bought a house and had to pack up all those books and move them. Needless to say, I haven’t bought many books since!

And yesterday was my favorite day (6 each year) because my new mental_floss came in the mail and I can just lose myself in the mag. I just LOVE this mag! I always am in a great mood for about a week after m_f comes in the mail, no matter what else is going on.

By: JaneM

JaneM — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:14:21 +0000

I have been a biblio-holic since early childhood! Parents never read to me and I was not a social isolate as a child (am more of one lately). I think I was more of an escape-artist (escape the not so pretty world for the wonderful worldof imagination). I still dive into a book when I am stressed out!

By: Cinnamon

Cinnamon — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:56:52 +0000

I am also both. My mom pushed me to read at an early age so she wouldn’t have to entertain/interact with me so much, and since I was never really around other kids until I started school, reading was 90% of my entertainment, and it stayed that way. I also read when walking. :-) Glad I’m not the only one.

By: Matt Blind

Matt Blind — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:03:59 +0000

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who divide everyone into two categories, and those who don’t.

my second favourite:
“there are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary…”

By: sd

sd — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:21:25 +0000

I’m both … contributed to in part by the fact that my mother is a huge reader, my father not a reader at all
additionally, i’m not surprised that I’m a combo – I pretty much live my life in the gray area! Geeeee wiz

By: Melissa B

Melissa B — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:44:25 +0000

I would say I am both. My mom and daddy wer big readers. My house growing up was just littered with all sorts of books. I was also read to on a regular bases.
I used books to ecscape as well. In pre-schoolmy fav thing to do was to go to the reading loft that looked a lot like a tree house. It was the only place I could get away from the other kids. Today I still read quite a bit, however it’s mostly Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss that I read to my nices.

By: Patti McCracken

Patti McCracken — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:39:15 +0000

When I was growing up, I upset my mother because I didn’t read enough. There were six kids in my family, and we were all readers. Except me. I read, but not with the zeal my siblings showed.
It turns out I had some sort of reading disorder, apparently.
In any case, I became a journalist/writer.
Funny how things turn out.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:15:18 +0000

I’m a combination of modeled-habit and social-isolate. I got friends in high school, though, and didn’t read as much (though I still read a bit.)

I’d also say that I’m a combination of giver and taker, as I like both.

But I’m definately a Beatles person.

By: popsciolist

popsciolist — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:30:56 +0000

Social-isolate for sure. My mom employed the local bookstore as a surrogate babysitter for my sister and I during shopping trips (that we declined to go on). It also served to mitigate her (irrational, in our eyes) horror of our exponential book accumulation.

To be frank, while our reading habits may have been initially encouraged by our parents as “good exercise”, our proclivities swiftly earned words of caution and incredulity (eg. “how can you read in bed/the car/while walking/eating?”).

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:59:11 +0000

I am definitely a social-isolate. This was fostered almost as soon as I learned to read, which was during the terrifying summers of polio epidemic, when parents kept their children inside during hot summer days, fearing that playing outside was dangerous. A lonely only child, the Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton books were my companions. I have branched out, of course, but then and now, books have shown me the world as I perceive it.