“How to treat Odell as More Than a Weekend Retreat?”

Odell (2019) says that her book is not to be taken as a weekend retreat designed to create a more productive worker on the other side of the experience. Having read this book for coursework, I began from a place of mourning; I did not feel I had the time to savor this book the way the author seemed to insinuate that the text should be read. I spent considerable time wondering when my joy for learning shifted or if it was ever uncomplicated (I suspect it was always complicated). On a second readthrough, even relieved of the burden of time constraints, I find my reading habits have not changed; I hurriedly scan the text, looking for key moments of insight instead of sitting at length with each anecdote. When did my reading habits become so ingrained? Clearly, this second visit is warranted. My second approach to the first half of the book seems to be completely uninformed by the first, and my reading continues to be extractive in a way that I don’t find welcome in this text.

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