You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show about book culture and literary life designed to help you read better.

I'm author and book devour and Mallory O'Mara.

And I'm Brea Grant filmmaker and e-reader.

This episode, we're giving out tips on improving your reading focus.

Plus, we're testing out a new app that y'all

all using, apparently, called Focus Friend. Bean Town, baby. We treat calling Focus Bean. And we're interviewing a long time friend of the show, Adam Sokol, about his new book. Very excited. We haven't had Adam on in a long time. So... We haven't. Exciting. Yeah. Very happy to have been back. Great interview, but first, Brea, what are reading?

Well, we've entered October, what are you reading?

Well, we've entered October. So I'm reading a nonfiction book about the brain. What do you do? The scariest thing there is. I mean, it's, you are, it is true. I'm reading the brain at rest, how the art and science of doing nothing can improve your life by Dr. Joseph Jebeli, I believe.

I'm listening to it, actually.

And it's the same.

Look, I keep being drawn to books like this, obviously, for a reason.

I love a brain book, but this one particularly, it's all about, like, how important rest is for the brain.

Not just sleep, but just turning off,

like not reading, not looking at your phone, not doing anything, but staring at the

fucking clouds or meditating or whatever, turning our brain off and how important that is.

And the first part I've just got through is about how they have measured brain waves and they find that it's just because you're not reading or engaging or doing something. It doesn't mean your brain just like, it doesn't go off like a light switch, which I think a lot of us, especially creatives, but all people, I think. But I know I'm very guilty of this of being like, well, if I'm not like, if I'm not doing anything right now, I should be like making my brain work. I should be like learning about something. I should be reading a book. I should be, you know, researching. Even if I'm not working, I should be doing something. And the point of this is like, actually, no, your brain is doing like the most work, like doing a lot of good work while you're

not doing anything while you're just just walking while you're not doing anything at all it's

it's processing it's uh well it's processing and it's doing like all sorts of creative things

behind the scenes which is why i think so many people like find a lot of value in meditating

but generally just sitting,

just sitting there and breathing is really important for your brain. And I'm just now starting

yet. So I'm sure there's lots more than I'm like totally butchering and saying incorrectly. But

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