<div class="bbWrapper">I agree with you that people do mistake reading for accomplishment, and one can get caught up reading business books or the forum instead of taking action.<br />
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I do want to note that I've seen a lot of anti-reading sentiment on this forum lately, people saying that you should only read to progress your business, about specific problems, read -> immediately take action, etc. I've also seen people advocate against it because it encourages "consumption" instead of producing or saying you should only read 1 book / year. Citing "facts" like you forget 99% of what you read anyways. As if reading for leisure is the devil. <br />
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Whether you read for leisure or read to accomplish specific goals, I think to say the least its beneficial to have a set time and place to read. There are a lot of benefits to reading to simply say scrap it altogether, such as improving effective communication, bettering your vocabulary, enhancing your memory, to the potential cognitive benefits such as aiding against Alzheimer's.<br />
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But you should set aside a time and place for it. Whether that's an hour a day, or 20 minutes in the morning or before bed, or whatever, know when you're going to read and have a nice little reading spot as well so you aren't distracted. You read for the overall benefit of the long haul, understanding that there might not be immediate benefits to it, but it might give you a 0.1% progress that day.<br />
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Where it becomes a problem is when people dedicate time that would be better off to their business, mistake it for making progress, or just get distracted and lost in a sea of overwhelming information.<br />
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Ideally, I read 2 news articles a day from different sources, read a chapter or two from two different books each day, and spend a little time on the forum... this might amount to an hour or an hour and a half of my day, which to me is a small price to pay. But its controlled, and I don't lose sight of my overall goals, whether I'm reading a nice fiction book or a meaty, grind it out business book (Like the one I'm on now, "Competing on Analytics" - dry as hell and hard to finish).</div>
