I've been listening sporadically to the audiobook of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon for the past month or so, about an hour to an hour and a half at a time when running. Audiobooks take a little getting used to, but in this case it's probably an easier transition since I've read the novel twice before.
So today, the last 15-20 minutes of my run were spent listening to the super-nerdishly detailed description of how Randy Waterhouse has perfected the art of eating Captain Crunch cereal.
Fifteen to twenty minutes?!?
All of a sudden, I was reminded of how I found Charles Dickens' works -- at least, those that I had the misfortune to read (David Copperfield, Oliver Twist) -- to be incredibly boring and overwritten, seeing as how it could take over a page to describe someone opening the door. Bleech!
Yet, I was completely enthralled by the ridiculously lengthy discussion of how to eat Captain Crunch cereal. With near freezing milk. Which touches the cereal as little as possible before entering the mouth.
I guess I'm just a math/science nerd at heart, so nerdy digressions that are thought up by a math/science nerd is just bound to appeal to me.
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