4 ms·

I'm totally with you on this. I think it has to do with how I remember and retain information as I learn. I subconsciously use contextual, visual cues to rememb

I'm totally with you on this. I think it has to do with how I remember and retain information as I learn. I subconsciously use contextual, visual cues to remember where some piece of info was to refer back to ("that one figure in the middle of a page in the section with a giant blue block of text"). For some reason, I completely lose this when learning via digital textbooks. I think it may have to do with the need to zoom in to really read anything properly.

amelius 6y ago
Perhaps it's an idea to tilt your monitor and put it into portrait mode.
- tzs 6y ago
  My guess is that it is more than just visual clues on the page and facing page currently visible. I suspect it is also the 3D layout of the pages in space, and how that changes as you go though the book. With a book, it feels different when reading material at different places in the book. Even if I'm not going through the book linearly but instead looking up things in the index and jumping to them, I get a sense of where things are in space. Later, if I'm trying to find something again I can usually go to close to the right place without bothering with the index. I suspect that the reason for this is is related to why/how the method of loci [1] (AKA memory palace) works. We are really good at remembering spatial relationships, and the book lets us tap into that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
  - amelius 6y ago
    Good point, but wouldn't an always-visible scrollbar have the same effect?
    - tzs 6y ago
      It might. I'd expect that the effect would be stronger with a physical book because more senses are involved. With the physical book you not only have the visual difference in how the book looks depending on how far into it you, you also can feel a different weight distribution.

4 ms·

I'm totally with you on this. I think it has to do with how I remember and retain information as I learn. I subconsciously use contextual, visual cues to rememb

by albertshin 6y ago

amelius 6y ago
Perhaps it's an idea to tilt your monitor and put it into portrait mode.
- tzs 6y ago
  My guess is that it is more than just visual clues on the page and facing page currently visible. I suspect it is also the 3D layout of the pages in space, and how that changes as you go though the book. With a book, it feels different when reading material at different places in the book. Even if I'm not going through the book linearly but instead looking up things in the index and jumping to them, I get a sense of where things are in space. Later, if I'm trying to find something again I can usually go to close to the right place without bothering with the index. I suspect that the reason for this is is related to why/how the method of loci [1] (AKA memory palace) works. We are really good at remembering spatial relationships, and the book lets us tap into that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
  - amelius 6y ago
    Good point, but wouldn't an always-visible scrollbar have the same effect?
    - tzs 6y ago
      It might. I'd expect that the effect would be stronger with a physical book because more senses are involved. With the physical book you not only have the visual difference in how the book looks depending on how far into it you, you also can feel a different weight distribution.