i like to read. i think that's obvious. but, reading is time consuming, and sitting down and reading something means you don't have time to do something else. i spend the bulk of my time creating media rather than consuming it...
and, you can't multitask; you can't read and write at the same time. or, you can't do that substantively - not unless you're just writing about what you're reading. but, then you're a critic and not an artist. and, i sort of envy the critic in a sense, and become one in various spurts, but i fundamentally want to create art, not consume it.
i remember reading an interview with michael gira where he explained how difficult it was to listen to music, when he spent all his time and energy thinking about making it - and yet concluding there was a contradiction in it, because it strips out the influences around you and kind of keeps you isolated from reality. he presented a multitasking compromise/solution - he listened to music on the tour bus.
i would rather get my information from the written medium, but the multitasking around being an artist provide for minimal opportunities, and i don't want to cut into the time i need to work on my projects with reading somebody else's thoughts. my compromised multitasking solution is consequently to watch lectures when i'm eating. that keeps me absorbing information, while my activities are focused on writing - which is what i'm primarily doing now and will be until i get through these projects directly in front of me. i don't expect to create much music in this basement; the drug-addled environment simply isn't conducive to creative thought, i really need to get out to a more stable studio space.
are lectures as good as books? no. but, they're the second best thing...
that's why it's so important that i ensure i'm getting information from good sources when i am eating, and why i can't be wasting my time with specious garbage.