Longer Commute Time
I work in Nanjing, but my home is in Chuzhou, and I commute by high - speed rail.
Previously, I would go to Nanjing on Monday morning, return home on Wednesday evening, go to Nanjing again on Thursday morning, and then come back home on Friday. I would stay at my classmate’s place in Nanjing on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We’ve been living together since our days in Shanghai, which is about four or five years.
After my wife got pregnant this year, I started commuting between Nanjing and Chuzhou by high - speed rail every day. It takes about 75 minutes from leaving home to arriving at my workstation in the company. That means I spend 150 minutes (two and a half hours) on the road every day.
In fact, I’ve always hated long - distance commuting. Firstly, I think it wastes too much time. Secondly, the crowded commute has a big impact on my mood.
Fortunately, my current commute is not crowded. Although I need to use four modes of transportation: electric bike, high - speed rail, subway, and walking, the overall process is relatively smooth. So, the second reason doesn’t apply. However, two and a half hours a day is really a waste of time.
I bought a membership of WeChat Reading last year. I usually like to use the AI - reading function of WeChat Reading to listen to books while doing housework and exercising. So, it was natural for me to start listening to books during my commute.
I usually listen to books during the walking, subway, and high - speed rail sections, and I don’t listen much while riding an electric bike. I use the Sony WF - 1000XM4 over - ear noise - canceling headphones, which have a great noise - canceling effect on the subway and high - speed rail.
Here are the books I’ve finished reading or am currently reading this year:
- Learn Some Law, Avoid Some Pitfalls
It explains legal knowledge through common cases in daily life. - Inside China’s Political Economy
It explains the connection between China’s economy and government policies. - The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
It’s a collection of Naval Ravikant’s personal essays. - A Guide to Index Fund Investing
I’m reading it for the second time. It mainly explains the content related to index fund investing in China. - Invest for 10 Years and Achieve Financial Freedom
I’m reading it for the second time. It introduces investment by regular - dollar - cost averaging and is highly recommended (5 - star). - I Deliver Express in Beijing
I’m currently reading it. It’s the best book I’ve read this year. - The Book of Songs
I’m reading it to find names for my baby. - The Classic of Mountains and Seas
I’m reading it to find names for my baby. - Encyclopedia of 40 - Week Pregnancy
I’m reading it to learn about pregnancy - related knowledge and precautions.
The biggest advantage of using WeChat Reading to listen to books is that it can make use of the commuting time. However, there are also some drawbacks:
- Slow
Listening to books is much slower than reading. I haven’t specifically counted the time difference, but intuitively, for the same book, listening takes about three times as long as reading. - Can’t read technical books
Because you can only listen and can’t see the text, and technical books often have a lot of example codes. WeChat Reading often skips the codes directly without reading them out. Even if it reads them out, it’s hard to understand. So, it’s not possible to listen to technical books.
The larger the city, the more people have long - distance commutes.
The leader of my first job lived in Pudong, and our company was in Jiading. It was like commuting across the whole of Shanghai each time. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.
My commuting situation is unlikely to change much in the foreseeable future. So, I’ve been paying attention to Xpeng’s flying cars and full - self - driving. Flying cars can greatly shorten the commuting time, and full - self - driving can free up my attention so that I can do other things even in the car. Either one can solve my commuting problem to some extent.