06.22.05
Stumped by the smallest things
I rarely fail to surprise myself with my capability for being stopped in my tracks by trivial obstacles.
Many of you will be familiar with the classic form of the reading in bed problem. One of you wants to read, the other sleep. The solution is one of those teeny tiny lights that clip onto the book. I know this because I’ve been through a battery of them in the last few years.
Buy. Unpack. Fit batteries. Read. And again the next night. And the next.
Some indeterminate number of nights through this process, the batteries run out, or the bulb goes. Or the damn thing just stops working. Go out and buy another one.
This time I bucked the trend. This time I searched around and found the best light I could. Sadly, it goes by the name of ‘Itty Bitty Book Light Volume 2′. I swallowed my pride and ordered it anyway.
It plugs into the mains, or takes batteries. It really is tiny. It can be angled to one side or the other. It has yet to break in any way.
Suddenly, I have an hour or more of additional reading in my evening. That’s up to a book every fortnight, between ten and twenty more books read a year. Just think: I could read everything in my bookpile. I could read everything in the bedroom. I could read every book I’ve got!
It will never happen. Before I stop and think for any duration about how dismal it would be to have read every book I own, I find myself cavilling at my New Best Toy. Why isn’t it rechargable? I want to dump it into a cradle last thing at night, where it will charge up again ready for the next night. I want it to have a screen that can be placed on the left or the right (because if you’re not shielding the light from someone, why are you using a booklight?).
Does anyone know where this iPod of booklights can be found, or are we just going to have to build it ourselves?