While the writing part of my sabbatical is going great, the reading side of it is not proceeding according to plan. I find it hard not to veer off in all kinds of directions because there are so many fascinating things to read. And then I find myself reading all kinds of things that don’t make a whole lot of sense for my research. Of course, I can explain how I got to the accounts of medieval Spanish historians from the literature of the economic crisis but that’s not very helpful.
It was so great to be a student with a reading list given to me by somebody else.
Clarissa's Blog 
In my experience one never knows just what will turn out to be helpful in research in unexpected ways. My advice is to trust your instincts and read what you wan t to read.
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That’s true! It’s not always immediately apparent, and sometimes it takes years, but knowledge always comes in handy at some point.
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Had I been able to travel around the time you were in England, I’d have given you one of these:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-unknown-unknown/mark-forsyth/9781848317840
It’s a Penguin Books mini-book titled “The Unknown Unknown: Bookshops and the Delight of Not Getting What You Wanted”.
I’ll offer you one of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies cards for today: “Honour your mistake as a hidden intention” … 🙂
Therefore you may find this to be a useful diversion:
http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/
Otherwise, regrettably I am now out of “entertaining pain killers” and have to suffice with ibuprofen and paracetamol, although at least the GP now helps me pick up pharmacy bottles of each …
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I hope you get better soon! I was no use on this trip, anyway. I was permanently confused and out of it.
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I have a tip about jet lag and how to manage it …
When flying eastward, stay awake to what your normal bed time is back home in local time, or make as much of the attempt as you can. This is without regard to how much sleep you can manage on the plane, because essentially it doesn’t really count toward fixing jet lag.
You’ll be wrecked that day, and you’ll be in a haze for most of the hours past your ordinary sleep time back home, but you’ll wake up on something that resembles local time.
The next day, try to drink a fairly large amount of tea or coffee at the start of the day — you’ll need it to finish the time zone reset.
Flying westward makes this a bit easier, but if you don’t get enough of a nap on the plane, you’ll have to reset by half-measures over two days.
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I did everything according to the rules, and on the first day it worked. After that, though, no such luck. But at least when I got back home it was very easy to adapt.
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Everything is connected, though! And it’s so fun to veer off in different directions!
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