Read Read Read

I was told that after about 6 months of reading, I'll get into the groove (vocab; names; theorists, authors, scholars, academics; thoughts) of my research. So I guess I'm supposed to have some sort of reading list? I had been told to read Burrell and Morgan's Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis. Apparently it's a very important book, and according to my lead, it's a light read.

So here's the thing, "light" is fairly subjective. I had also been told that it shouldn't be an issue for me to get through the book as the lead himself read it as his bedtime story. Let's get this straight - thanks for thinking I'm capable of getting through such a dense read, and also, what you read for leisure is WILDLY different to what I read. I still enjoy reading fairytales - though J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is nothing like Disney's and Brother Grimm's are also ... well ... rather grim stories as well. Anyway, I digress. Sociological Paradigm's first chapter was ... not a leisure read for me. I read the first paragraph about 15 times. And when that failed me, I started reading it out loud. It sort of helped.

I should also preface this by saying I hadn't read anything heavy for quite a long time, the last thing I read to this sort of calibre was Henri Lefebvre.

Moving back to SP, the same words kept coming up over and over again. It's like as if the author thought - hey if I keep using these words, maybe the reader will defo know what I'm saying. I didn't. I asked my friend a lot about what ontology and epistemology is. (Poor friend who is also studying to be a lawyer). At this point, I get it conceptually but if I had to succinctly explain it to someone, I cannot.

Knowing that I'm meant to read constantly and being dyslexic made the tedious task a mountain of a job. It took me about two weeks to get through the first chapter. Don't get me wrong, I know the words the authors used. I just don't understand any of the words when they've strung it together as sentences and then into paragraphs and finally into a book. I looked up sooooooo many words in the dictionary because I simply had not come across many many many of the vocabulary. Needless to say, the first book did not start off with me feeling like I'm adequate and capable. I also couldn't quite understand why 2/3 of the book went on and on about Functionalism. Give the other paradigms a chance! They have value too! In total, it took about 2 months for me to finish the book. I felt defeated. If the first book is this hard, what am I going to do with the rest and more importantly, how will I keep up? After SP, I went onto reading Yin, then it was Throsby, Sennett. Luckily, those only took about 6 weeks to finish all three.

I guess with practice, reading does become easier. Or maybe my brain had really adapted to this new way of working where it just couldn't do anything but succumb to reality. Poor brain. I know it's a lot for you to do in a short amount of time. I hope it'll be worth it. I don't know if I've necessarily gotten the hang of the volume of reading one is to do, but I certainly do feel guilty when I'm not able to get in reading during any given day. I don't keep to only reading books. I also read the news, articles, journals, blogs, pretty much anything that gives me vetted info, I will use it. I hope that this is acceptable. I don't think it's pragmatic, at least in what I'm doing, that I solely focus on academic writing. I want my research and insight to be relevant to current affairs.

In conclusion: Read like a mofo

Task: Read like a mofo