I remember the guy having the time at last to read, but am not remembering the twist. Why was it a nightmare? (Maybe I blocked it out!)
He wore thick, coke bottle glasses to read. Just as he found the pile of books with time enough at last to read as much as he wanted, he drops his glasses and breaks them.
The twist was at the end of the episode his glasses got smashed and he could not see well enough to read anything.