Digested Readers.

Varun is currently sitting in the TJC Library, in his favourite hangout place in the library, the El Cafe. He loves the Subway cookies sold here [damn. they closed early today...] and he loves the tonnes of interesting magazines stocked here.

They redesigned the Library recently and with that, they added in super nice and comfy armchairs, somewhat stylish chairs [just for the appeal, I think] and displayed a wider collection of magazines. Varun is relaxing in one of those super comfortable seats right now and yes, many people do have a tendency to fall asleep on these...

Anyway, Varun was reading Reader's Digest and he found this article on the brain's attention span. After reading that, he thinks he knows why his attention span is constantly criticized upon and credited for his low grades. Apparently, the brain doesn't just work as one complete thinking machine [Like who didn't know that?]. The different parts of the brain serve different functions, even during the same activity. So one's attention span is based upon many factors.

Varun found out that what he lacks in is his auditory attention, meaning he's unable to concentrate when being spoken to and tends to think of many things while having a conversation. Something in the conversation leads him to think of something else and that leads him to think of something, and so on. See, it's not Varun's fault that he doesn't listen or anything. He just tends to dwell too much indepth. =)

And yes, there is at least something he pays attention to. And that's visual detail. The article tells Varun that he's the kind of person who takes in tonnes of visual information and just stores it in his memory. He doesn't believe that he has a photographic memory but yes, he admits that he's the kind who pays attention to the details. [And no, that wasn't meant as figurative speech...hahaha...]

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Anyway, here's something from the magazine.

Attempting to locate a copy of the popular children's book Archy and Mehitabel, my wife called a bookshop. "What's it about?" asked the clerk.
"Well," my wife said, "it's about this cockroach named Archy who types stories about the adventure of his friend, a cat named Mehitabel."
As the clerk looked in his computer, he asked, "Is that fiction or nonfiction?"

becquet.com

-- Reader's Digest, October 2004 issue, Page 47