Sunny's bookshelf
Sunny's bookshelf photo by Judy Solomon

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Reading Journal 4, Part 1, Jonathan Crary’s 24/7

Pictorial Image vs. Alphabetical Image vs. Sleep and the Price Paid

Comments made about a book only just begun cannot be interpreted as a book review. I am on page 35 of 128 pages of text, and the pages are small, 5”x8”. Of those 35 pages read almost 20 of them are interrupted with multi-colored Post-its, my marking words to be looked up in order to verify what I’m only pretty sure they mean. The book I have been reading in bed for the past two nights is Jonathan Crary’s 24/7, Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. This will be slow going.

Reading in bed is a dangerous habit, not because it will not aid the reader in falling asleep, but because if the book has taken hold, as has Crary’s 24/7,the reader is not aware of when sleep has arrived and reading has ceased, thus whatever reading light had been in use remains lighted. It is that still-burning light which has awaken me at 4:45 this morning. I should turn off the light and go back to sleep for at least another three hours. I do not.

Crary’s book is about the human need for sleep and and its apparent encroachment by a culture of 24/7, i.e., about a capitalism run amok with its ability to sell around the clock, day and night. 24/7 is more than interesting. At this early stage, I suspect it is also an important book. My intent is to finish and then review it if I can be certain of what I’ve read, and possess the ability to convince my readers to buy it.

The bedside lamp is not all that has awaken me. Crary’s ideas, and those quoted thoughts from others, have taken their toll and demand to be attended to. If there is a capitalism of words, I’ve just forked over payment with the loss of sleep. It’s already 8:15. Talk is not always cheap.          – Sunny Solomon

 

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