people sitting next to you on the train reading your book

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I never do this w/ other people as I find it intrusive, though I find other people doing this sometimes, and sometimes they're reading my book for the entire 45 minute subway ride. Am I supposed to start talking to them or something, or is this a normal thing people do if they're bored?

I think that's rude - I wouldn't do it.

Can you read upside-down? That'd stop the b*****ds.

It's just a boredom thing. I sometimes do it myself. It's rude, but it's only natural. I don't think it means you have to talk to someone, though. In fact, you can hide your reading material.

this sometimes happens when im on the bus using my iPod (the bus gives free WiFi)

i often just type something like "some nosey c*** is reading everything i type"

or something equally as immature, silly or downright dirty. they soon get the message.
if i call them fat or whatever, they would have to first admit they were reading over my shoulder

etc

to be honest i've caught myself doing the same thing, mainly because I was bored... however, i've found that it can turn into a good conversation that throws the boredom straight in the bin.

Back in college I rode the train to and from school. This trip was usually about 25-30 minutes, so i'd get out my laptop and do some coding, simple maintenance or playing solitaire. Once there was this older woman sitting beside me while I was writing some java code for a hobby project... after a while she asked me what I was writing, and she seemed very interested in what I was doing. I stated it was a simple calculator with some added stuff for some things we were going through in maths and explained a bit about how it worked. She told me her son was a programer at some company and that he occasionally would code some small games for her as gifts.

we met on the afternoon train a few times a week for about half a year or so before she had to move out of town, talking while i coded some simple, funny programs for her...

While I think it's rude while someone is writing private stuff (like IMs, private messages and emails), I don't think it's rude while reading a book, a newspaper or something that isn't private...

I hate when people do that, but my biggest gripe is when people sit next to me and eat junkfood. More often than not I place my bag on the next seat and tell people who ask that my friend/relative has gone to the toilet or buffet car.

I'm scared to use my laptop in public places because of this and i make sure that I have it facing away from people as much as humanely possible when at Starbucks or whatever.