Someone who doesn't read gets about the same education as someone who can't. Where you get your information seems of vital importance to how you see the world. We are bombarded with information, and misinformation all day long. I'm fascinated by how people wade through the deluge, when and where they consume, and how they structure their work-life around it. TheAtlanticWire has this wonderful series called Media Diet that I read religiously. They focus on the reading habits of "prominent figures in media, entertainment, politics, the arts, and the literary world". I'm going to steal this idea from them, however my focus will be on prominent figures in athletics, nutrition, and health.
This essay is from Alex Hutchinson, a former physicist and national-class runner, who writes Sweat Science for Runner's World Magazine. Alex has won a National Magazine Award for science journalism, and his latest book is called Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? Fitness Myths, Training Truths and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise. ~ Matt Hart
I should start by saying that my media diet is affected by the fact that I'm
currently (but temporarily) living in Australia. It's funny how that changes
what I read. I've been dividing my time between Canada and Australia for
four years now, while my wife completes a degree. It means that paper
subscriptions to magazines are essentially an impossibility, and that means
that I miss a lot of stuff that I would check regularly if I were stably
based in one place. It's not that it's impossible to get those things here -
it's just that a bit of minor inconvenience is enough to drop some otherwise
good content off the radar.
On the flip side, it can be pretty valuable - and surprising - to learn what
you can live without. Like many people, I'm sure - especially people who
write for a living - I sometimes find it a struggle to get the right balance
between staying informed and spending all my time reading (and envying!)
other people's work.
I wake up reasonably early, around 6 or 6:30, and immediately flick on my
computer to check email and respond to anything urgent before the end of
North American business hours. Then I check the websites of
The New YorkTimes and
The Globe and Mail, both of which I pay to subscribe to online.
I'll read a few articles, then head out for my run with my wife. For the
rest of the day, I'll be checking those two websites very regularly, as
distractions/breaks between bits or work. I tend to read most of what
appears on the main page of the Times, and rely heavily on the most-emailed
list, which I find is a pretty damn good filter of what's interesting. (In
contrast, the Globe's most-emailed list tends to be dominated by anything
remotely titillating. I haven't figured out whether that's a difference in
audience or site moderation!)
Most of my work these days involves writing about scientific research
related to fitness, training, and health. I try to keep up with some of the
journals in the field - primarily British Journal of Sports Medicine,
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Journal of Strength & Conditioning
Research, and European Journal of Applied Physiology. I'll do a round to
skim their tables of contents and preprints once every week or two. I also
do a round of blogs to see what people are saying - people like Amby Burfoot
(whose
exerscience Twitter feed is also a great resource), Yoni Freedhoff,
Pete Larson, Steve Magness, the
Science of Sport guys, the
Obesity Panacea
guys,
Stephan Guyenet. I also find Twitter often sends me to interesting
places, and I'll end up spending half an hour reading a blog that I don't
follow regularly.
As a big running fan, I also end up checking
Letsrun and the
Runnersworldsite, among other places, pretty close to hourly. Say what you will about
Letsrun, but they do a very good job curating good content from across the
runningsphere. There are a lot of excellent running sites that I don't need
to check regularly, because I'm confident that Letsrun will flag the stuff
I'd be interested in.
For pleasure (I can make a case that the running stuff is "work," though
it's pushing it a bit), my first go-to is
The New Yorker, which I read
essentially cover to cover every issue. That's what I'll read over lunch, if
I need a break during the day, and in bed before sleeping. I bought a Kindle
specifically so that I could get
The New Yorker instantly, wherever I happen
to be in the world - and carry as many issues of the inevitable backlog as I
need to! These days I read less fiction than I'd like to; the last novel I
read was "
Cutting for Stone", by Abraham Verghese. I do find myself reading a
fair amount of nonfiction that's peripherally work-related; right now I'm in
the middle of
Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. (Both are great, by
the way.)
I don't consume much of other forms of media. I don't like video on the web,
at least for information that could be conveyed just as well with text, like
interviews. It's just way too slow and inefficient. My wife and I will
typically watch a half-hour of TV after dinner to unwind. Sometimes it's
something being broadcast, but mostly it's a series on DVD. And if there's a
good marathon or track meet being streamed from somewhere in the world,
we'll find time for that!
Runner's World Magazine: Alex Hutchinson's "What I Read" essay
Others from the Media Diet: What I Read Series
Matt Hart
Endurance Coach, Athlete and Writer
Dr. Ben Lewis
UltraRunner, Doctor and Banjo Player
In my job as the "coach" in Trail Runner Magazine I have the great pleasure to communicate with top scientists, sports royalty, and the authors of the books I read. Some very famous and more importantly smart people actually talk to me, mostly because I write for a national magazine.
