4 ms·

I speed read pulp novels, and have for decades. From Doc Savage to Honor Harrington's recent outings, sometimes you just want the the combination of that litera

I speed read pulp novels, and have for decades. From Doc Savage to Honor Harrington's recent outings, sometimes you just want the the combination of that literary equivalent of zoning out in front of the TV, combined with finding out what happens next. You're right that speed reading very well done stuff is a waste of time, but for the written equivalent of fast food, it seems to work fine. And if something does turn out to be better than expected, I can always slow down or go back and reread at my normal speed.

SeanDav 11y ago
What is the point of speed reading a novel? If you can't be bothered to read what the author wrote, word for word (or nearly so) then you might as well go online and read a summary of the novel - job done. When an author writes a book, they consider every word they put in. Every word has meaning and a reason for being there. I am sure you could take almost any novel ever written and reduce it down to a 10th of it's original size and not lose any of its plot, but it would not be a good book to read. Of course, it is your time and you can read or not read a book any way that pleases you, I just do not see the point in skimming it.
- peteretep 11y ago
  What if you want content that's half-way between the summary and what the author wrote? Certainly in the rare cases I read "airport novels" whose authors are masterful at pacing, intrigue and plot, but whose writing I don't particular enjoy (Grisham, for example), I'm just vegging out and don't want to absorb every last morsel.
- mattmanser 11y ago
  I recently read Robin Hobb's liveship trilogy. I was often skipping/speed reading pages at a time to keep the story going at a pace that I enjoyed. I enjoyed the story without having to 'endure', from my point of view, the boring exposition and over detailing and over explaining of plot points. The dialogue was good, the story interesting, but there were big chunks of text talking about character motivations or other inner monologue and scene painting that were very unnecessary and dull. Entirely skippable. From my point of view. I've even done the same with my favourite author, Iain M Banks, who got a little wordy in his later novels (for example Matter, which was a bit of a slog compared to the sublime Excession, which I soaked up every word). That's the point. Not every word in a book is created equal. Authors aren't infallible and also I'm very quick at picking up the gist of a plot point or argument, it's my 'superpower', I get a bit bored at the comprehension rate of most people that authors aim for. Also I prefer story to detail, I think of it as the difference between people who listen to music for lyrics vs listening to the tune. Personally I don't understand lyric listeners, it's called music, not poetry. Each to their own.
- jasode 11y ago
  >When an author writes a book, they consider every word they put in. Every word has meaning and a reason for being there. I think that's true of authors writing poetry and some authors of novels such as Gustave Flaubert[1]. He spent years refining the same sentences over and over for a single novel. However, a lot of authors' output has a lot of fluff and fat and the final novel's sentences are hardly more polished than a 1st draft "brain dump". A lot of thrillers and mysteries sold at airport bookstores could be characterized like this. However, it's fine because the plot was interesting and readers will forgive a lot of flabby sentences they had to slog through. Some authors really "craft" their sentences. Some authors don't.[2] I think readers, as they read certain authors... implicitly perceive if... Each. Word. Is. Really. Important. ... and therefore, slow down to digest it as necessary. E.g., I would read Flaubert slowly but read Charles Dickens quickly. It gets more complicated with non-English writers like Flaubert because there would be 2 layers of word choices happening: it's Flaubert's French word choices and then the English translator's choices. Dickens, on the other hand, wrote to a schedule of installments. Even though he didn't literally get "paid by the word count", he did have to fill out a set number of pages each month and the quality of writing is uneven. [1]Flaubert believed in, and pursued, the principle of finding "le mot juste" ("the right word"), --from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert#Perfectionist_style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert#Perfectionist... [2]http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/50-shades-of-grey/feature/a512275/50-shades-of-grey-23-funniest-quotes-from-el-jamess-novel/ http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/50-shades-of-grey/feature/a...
- givinguflac 11y ago
  80% of my reading is non-novel material, and speed reading comments and articles allows me to cover 5-10x more content per day. Need input...
- throwanem 11y ago
  > What is the point of speed reading a novel? Well, if it's a recent Honor Harrington novel, to skip over all the stuff you already know is going on because it's been covered in pretty much exhaustive detail in the last four or five books too. David Weber is a man in desperate need of an editor.
- notahacker 11y ago
  Many novels are better for being speed read. Dan Brown and Stephen King for example, are very good at ideas and pacing but if you spend ages trying to savour their word choices you'll probably end up disappointed.
- B1FF_PSUVM 11y ago
  > Every word has meaning and a reason for being there. That would be "Rent is due", for most professional writers. Or so they say.

SeanDav 11y ago

What is the point of speed reading a novel? If you can't be bothered to read what the author wrote, word for word (or nearly so) then you might as well go online and read a summary of the novel - job done. When an author writes a book, they consider every word they put in. Every word has meaning and a reason for being there. I am sure you could take almost any novel ever written and reduce it down to a 10th of it's original size and not lose any of its plot, but it would not be a good book to read. Of course, it is your time and you can read or not read a book any way that pleases you, I just do not see the point in skimming it.

peteretep 11y ago
What if you want content that's half-way between the summary and what the author wrote? Certainly in the rare cases I read "airport novels" whose authors are masterful at pacing, intrigue and plot, but whose writing I don't particular enjoy (Grisham, for example), I'm just vegging out and don't want to absorb every last morsel.
mattmanser 11y ago
I recently read Robin Hobb's liveship trilogy. I was often skipping/speed reading pages at a time to keep the story going at a pace that I enjoyed. I enjoyed the story without having to 'endure', from my point of view, the boring exposition and over detailing and over explaining of plot points. The dialogue was good, the story interesting, but there were big chunks of text talking about character motivations or other inner monologue and scene painting that were very unnecessary and dull. Entirely skippable. From my point of view. I've even done the same with my favourite author, Iain M Banks, who got a little wordy in his later novels (for example Matter, which was a bit of a slog compared to the sublime Excession, which I soaked up every word). That's the point. Not every word in a book is created equal. Authors aren't infallible and also I'm very quick at picking up the gist of a plot point or argument, it's my 'superpower', I get a bit bored at the comprehension rate of most people that authors aim for. Also I prefer story to detail, I think of it as the difference between people who listen to music for lyrics vs listening to the tune. Personally I don't understand lyric listeners, it's called music, not poetry. Each to their own.
jasode 11y ago
>When an author writes a book, they consider every word they put in. Every word has meaning and a reason for being there. I think that's true of authors writing poetry and some authors of novels such as Gustave Flaubert[1]. He spent years refining the same sentences over and over for a single novel. However, a lot of authors' output has a lot of fluff and fat and the final novel's sentences are hardly more polished than a 1st draft "brain dump". A lot of thrillers and mysteries sold at airport bookstores could be characterized like this. However, it's fine because the plot was interesting and readers will forgive a lot of flabby sentences they had to slog through. Some authors really "craft" their sentences. Some authors don't.[2] I think readers, as they read certain authors... implicitly perceive if... Each. Word. Is. Really. Important. ... and therefore, slow down to digest it as necessary. E.g., I would read Flaubert slowly but read Charles Dickens quickly. It gets more complicated with non-English writers like Flaubert because there would be 2 layers of word choices happening: it's Flaubert's French word choices and then the English translator's choices. Dickens, on the other hand, wrote to a schedule of installments. Even though he didn't literally get "paid by the word count", he did have to fill out a set number of pages each month and the quality of writing is uneven. [1]Flaubert believed in, and pursued, the principle of finding "le mot juste" ("the right word"), --from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert#Perfectionist_style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert#Perfectionist... [2]http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/50-shades-of-grey/feature/a512275/50-shades-of-grey-23-funniest-quotes-from-el-jamess-novel/ http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/50-shades-of-grey/feature/a...
givinguflac 11y ago
80% of my reading is non-novel material, and speed reading comments and articles allows me to cover 5-10x more content per day. Need input...
throwanem 11y ago
> What is the point of speed reading a novel? Well, if it's a recent Honor Harrington novel, to skip over all the stuff you already know is going on because it's been covered in pretty much exhaustive detail in the last four or five books too. David Weber is a man in desperate need of an editor.
notahacker 11y ago
Many novels are better for being speed read. Dan Brown and Stephen King for example, are very good at ideas and pacing but if you spend ages trying to savour their word choices you'll probably end up disappointed.
B1FF_PSUVM 11y ago
> Every word has meaning and a reason for being there. That would be "Rent is due", for most professional writers. Or so they say.