Books on tape are also fun. On my bicycle ride back home from Colorado a couple of summers ago I listened to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, and Healthy at 100 by John Robbins. I highly recommend them both, as well as Jared Diamond's Collapse.
These are activities that couldn't have been enjoyed at the same time all that long ago, and I believe they hold a lot of potential. I spent a lot of time in college sitting through lectures. Sometimes I took notes, which may have helped me process and retain some of the information. But I think that I would have been much happier if my professors had recorded their lectures then sent my classmates and me to go do manual labor or ride a bicycle while listening to them. Then we could have met back up to summarize and discuss the material. Or we could listen to a lecture while taking public transit to class, then spend the actual class time reviewing problems together or doing something interactive. OR... people could listen to the lectures while working in the garden, then have a discussion via Skype. I think I'm going to try this out. Let me know if you've got any good podcast recommendations or want to join a virtual discussion club. I'm sure there are already numerous clubs like this in existence, I just haven't thought to google them before. I'll let you know what I discover.
