Bring backup reading material

A few years ago, I boarded a flight and eagerly started reading a new book I’d downloaded. It had come well-recommended, and seemed like a topic that matched up well with my interests. I’m not going to say what it was because, in the first chapter, the author elected to tell a story that I found so disturbing that I decided to stop reading.

Now perhaps I am too sensitive, but my more immediate problem was that I was also now stuck. This was supposed to be my book for the flight! How was I going to fill the next few hours?

Fortunately, I had a magazine, and I had a few half-read books on the Kindle app on my phone that I could restart.

But it was a lesson to me that it never hurts to have a back-up reading option. The first book might not work out, and sometimes even a good book can get boring! These days I like to have a book going on the Kindle app, but I always bring a few issues of The Economist (I tend not to read them at home but their bulk is great for filling time). Maybe you could have a paperback going, but download a book or two just as a back-up. If nothing else, you could download a few free samples and have the option to read the first two chapters of a lot of books.

Plane time is real time, and so is waiting time in general. It’s a shame to get stuck with entertainment that isn’t actually as entertaining as one hoped. Plan ahead and that will be a lot less likely.

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