Reading on your free time.

MrSamIam

Hey Everyone!

I'm just curious, what are you guys and gals reading on your free time? I'm looking to boost my reading speed, which I believe can be done by being a tad more well read. I know it has been suggested that we read The Economist, Scientific American, or The New Yorker. I'll likely subscribe to one of these magazines - either The New Yorker or The Economist, since Scientific American is the most expensive out of the three.
I absolutely despise economics and the test writers clearly don't share my dislike of the discipline...so, what's the most sensible thing to do? Subscribe to The Economist! Please feel free to bash me for this - I appreciate the criticism .

Johnny_M

Hi MrSamlam,

I have a subscription to the New Yorker and absolutely love it. I would say of the three, The New Yorker is the most eccentric. It's fun, witty, silly, serious, and extremely enjoyable to read.

DumbHollywoodActor

The Great Dissent by Thomas Healy is fantastic. Thanks @c.janson35 for the rec.

MrSamIam

@Johnny_M that's exactly what I'm looking for. Something that I can both enjoy reading and use to enhance my understanding of some of the dense topics that are discussed on the LSAT.

@DumbHollywoodActor I am almost positive that a professor of mine gave me a copy of that book. I'll have to look for it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Would you guys recommend that I read about things that I'm not too fond of, but I know are likely to appear on the LSAT? The obvious answer is probably yes...

LSATman1

The Economist articles use a very similar style to the passages on the LSAT

harrismegan

I think if you read in general it'll help.

I've read a few interesting books. Marching Powder was amazing. I literally couldn't put it down. Not LSAT material per say, but, like I said, I think reading in general can help!

blah170blah

LOVE The New Yorker

nicole.hopkins

[the below does not apply to anyone for whom English is a second language]

I've literally never done any "outside reading" for the LSAT. Instead I watch quality television programming (during the, you know, 6 hours of free time I have each week) such as:





Improvement on RC comes from:
1) doing more RC
2) with better habits
3) knowing which inferences can (and CANNOT) be made
4) elimination based on the passage/inferences/scope

So like, no magic bullet in reading any of this stuff discussed in this thread. Sorry guys, I'm many years out of school (so the old reading muscles are not as fresh as most of yours) and I never read any of this kind of stuff during my LSAT prep.

If you ENJOY reading this stuff, then do what you enjoy!! But this is not another awful LSAT-related task to drag yourself through.

If you want to read something to improve on RC, then read a bunch of RC passages. Trust me guys, once you start to see the Matrix in RC, you realize how turnkey the whole thing really is meant to be.

If you INSIST on doing "outside reading" for RC, then make sure you're reading like an LSAT writer: pick a piece and analyze its argument.

Another thing is ... If you haven't already read a ton of super difficult stuff by the time you graduate from college, then I just don't know where you went to school or what they're assigning these days. That's to say—you're already likely much better prepared than you think you are just by having been through undergrad

So chill and do what you like. You have more than enough work to do just going through curricula and PT/BR.

FWDTexas

This really isn't LSAT related, but David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell is a great read.

nicole.hopkins

@FWDTexas said:
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell is a great read.

Yes—those kinds of books I think are time well spent (meaning stuff that we actually want to read and that also happens to be enlightening). Also Outliers!

I do audiobooks because I have to be able to multi-task.

FWDTexas

@nicole.hopkins I just got outliers in the mail today. I'm going to start reading it tomorrow since I'll be done with my studying after today.

MrSamIam

Thanks everyone! I do appreciate the replies and suggestions.

@nicole.hopkins Quality T.V. sounds great right about now! In all honestly, part of the reason I want to subscribe to a magazine, like The New Yorker or The Economist is because I noticed that the writers tend to use many topics that are covered in those magazines.
My major was psychology, so I've read quite a few research articles. Unfortunately, much of what I've read during UG isn't on the LSAT. I understand that the LSAT is a skills-heavy test, but I know that part of the reason (and a big part, at that) that I'm struggling with the test is because I feel the need to reread some of the stimuli in order to better understand them - 9/10 times the ones I end up rereading are those that discuss economics.

DumbHollywoodActor

Don’t forget Doctor Who, The Leftovers and Trevor Noah killing it on the Daily Show.

Alejandro

@nicole.hopkins said:
[the below does not apply to anyone for whom English is a second language]

English is not my fist language and I follow the same guideline you propose Nicole - so you stand corrected!
Watching and relaxing over a good TV show is what I do on the 6 hours of the week when I'm not working or studying for the LSAT.

The best way for me to improve on RC is to read more RC passages! The same applies to LR.

nicole.hopkins

@DumbHollywoodActor said:
Doctor Who

I still haven't even touched the recent ones—I'm stuck in the 80's!

Pacifico

There is no other Doctor.

Pacifico

And Nicole is saying that the outside reading is not very helpful unless you're ESL and need to just see more high level English that is easily digestible. She isn't saying not to read RC passages if you're ESL.

DumbHollywoodActor

@Pacifico said:
There is no other Doctor.

While I love Tom Baker, David Tennant was an amazing Doctor. And Steven Moffatt is a brilliant writer who’s taken the show to another level (The Matt Smith years are incredibly fun). He’s trying to bring back the grumpy Doctor with Peter Capaldi and just might pull it off this season.

Pacifico

It's okay... All will be revealed in the end that all the other dudes are just a figment of Tom Baker's imagination.

Q.E.D

Hello folks. I'm new. First, let me say this site is amazing. About the outside reading, I gotta recommend Peter Brown's Rise of Western Christendom. It's a fascinating and seminal piece of scholarship surveying the first several centuries of Christianity. It's exquisite prose, sure to challenge a weak reader. Brown's tone is very philo-Christian but, like all serious scholarship, his book wastes no space on historically irrelevant theological questions; i.e., while he doesn't pander to a religious audience, I don't see why a Christian reader should take any offense from his work. Anyway, it's probably a good bit more challenging than journalism. In fact, I'm surprised to see that suggestion since [pretentious and judgy comment about journalism].

Pacifico

Sounds like you need to read some better journalism because the good stuff has never been better. There might be a lot to sift through but there are people doing amazing things in journalism today, they just don't work for the man.

Q.E.D

@Pacifico Hey man, nice to meet you. Your comment is duly noted. What would you suggest? I'll grab one for the coffee table.