- People, this is not a bookpocalypse. The news that a reality-TV star is going to let a ghostwriter lightly fictionalize her life? Is no worse than the thousands of other branded children's and YA books out there. If you've never read one of these, they are bad, but a lot of people think they're entertaining. And Ms. Conrad calling herself an author is no worse than the hundreds of other books that come out each year by celebrities who promote their autobiographies which they haven't even written. Call me immune to quality, but if the glamour of "The Hills" gets someone to read, I count that as a positive.
- On the negative side: The American commute -- it's really, really long. GOOD magazine describes how long with a nifty chart comparing commute times among American cities in the audio-book length of WAR AND PEACE and the entire "Ring" cycle and the viewing time "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I would have liked them to time someone reading WAR AND PEACE -- to simulate the public-transit commuter, naturally -- but I see why they chose the audio book. I'm surprised there wasn't more gridlock in NYC, though! I don't commute by car but I would have guessed it was much more than an average of 11.21 minutes in traffic per day.
*My math: 365 days a year minus about 21 holidays and days off = 344 days a year. But I only go to work 5 out of 7 of those days = 245.7 days a year commuting, rounded to 246.
(46 hours/year) / (245.7 days/year) = 0.1869987 hr/ day or an average of 11.21 minutes. Mmm, math!
1 comment:
When they say 11.4 minutes in traffic, I don't think they mean 11.4 minutes commuting time, but that you would spend 11.4 minutes more than you have to, simply due to traffic.
It's for this reason my grandfather-in-law, when he worked in the D.C. area, would arrive at his desk by 5am, so he could avoid traffic.
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