5 ms·

For me it's been a struggle to read for the last couple of years. It's something that I used to do when I commuted by train to my old office, I read like a book

by kuu 6y ago

For me it's been a struggle to read for the last couple of years. It's something that I used to do when I commuted by train to my old office, I read like a book per month. But after I changed to new place where I have to go by car, that's gone and now even more when I work from home. I just cannot find the right time or the proper situation for reading, and there are much simpler distractions such as Netflix, social networks or the videogames...

ant6n 6y ago
I feel like listening would be a good alternative, say when driving or doing house work. I hear long blog articles of yesteryear got replaced by audio formats (podcasts?), or audio books for whole books, but I’m too much of a geezer to learn and understand how to use them and try to figure out what’s good (hey at least with written stuff you can Scroll through quickly and see whether you like it, not so easy with audio).
- kuu 6y ago
  Yeah, I listen to some podcasts but it's true that is a bit hard to find the ones you'll like
doublejay1999 6y ago
I've been worrying about this for a while. I think there are 2 things at play; the first is a gradual wearing of our attention span in a world where we can scroll through the whole worlds news and everyone's opinion on it, in the time it takes to defecate. A continuous flow of intellectual snacks - some healthy, some junk - is habit forming. Without judgement whether it's a good or a bad thing, it's certainly a thing. The second (which I think is exacerbated by the first) is plain old cognitive friction : it requires more brain energy to invest in book. A full page of small font text, vocabulary stretching language, vivid images created by words, high concept theories, different plot elements to assemble; all of these represent a much high load on the cranial CPU - and that's not to say we can't do it, but that we are subconsciously reluctant to make the effort. In the same way that if your loaded gym bag is waiting at the end of the bed, you're much more likely to get to the gym than if you have to hunt through the laundry, search for your membership card, find your car keys etc etc. I think this is covered by Dan Kahneman in Thinking Fast & Slow, but i could be mistaken. Anyway, it's a thing.
Freak_NL 6y ago
In bed before going to sleep. No distractions, comfortable position (obviously you would need some pillows), and it helps wind down your brain. In the weekend you can also pick up the book again in the morning if you wish. The benefit: you sleep there every day, so you can read a bit every day. I don't use a smartphone, so no computer in bed means no incoming messages or time-sinks available at the touch of a button; I would recommend leaving the smartphone in another room or having a set routine of placing it in some kind of zero disturbance (or call only) night setting. Whatever works to stop you from grabbing it for some more mindless scrolling in bed. The time you use for reading must come from somewhere, so cut down on the low-value entertainment (this may be hard, I don't know). Going to bed is something to look forward to when your book is there waiting for you once it is part of your routine. A good book beats starting another episode on Netflix once you've found the genres or writers that work for you.
- ed312 6y ago
  I do this, and its great, but I don't think this is an ideal space to read non-fiction. I absolutely tear through fiction series on my Kindle but I'm not sure retention is great for non-fiction, educational, or technical topics. The only "solution" I've found is to block off a couple hours on quiet weekend days.
  - phrotoma 6y ago
    Same. Fiction helps me wind down at the end of the day. Nonfiction gets my mind whirring with ideas and is not helpful at bed time.
- fantod 6y ago
  I was basically forced to do this as my insomnia got so bad during the pandemic. Now I read before bed and problem solved!
cehrlich 6y ago
I struggled with this for a long time, and I have now found a solution that works sometimes (ie as long as I don't sabotage myself): I bought an alarm clock. Basic $10 Casio thing, but anything else is also fine as long as it's "dumb". After a certain time in the evening, and in the morning before I eat breakfast, nothing with an internet connection is allowed in my bedroom. That's my reading time. It's actually more difficult for me as my bedroom is also my office, so I need to unplug my laptop and put it in the living room overnight, but someone living in a bigger house/apartment than me would not have that particular issue.
roudaki 6y ago
I started turning books into cloze flash cards. it forces me to pay attention and I can read in small chunks. If book is really really good I would retype it. If its really really good it becomes memory palace. But this is my passion and of course everyone cant do that. So try audiobooks and take long walks. Also it is really healthy to avoid screens 60 minutes before sleep and reading paper is nice way to do that.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  I don't do this with every book, but I've been doing it with some technical content lately. It's surprisingly effective. Read a chapter, marking up portions I want to revisit. Revisit it with the computer open and type a bunch of things into Anki (or copy/paste if it's a Kindle book or PDF) with appropriate pieces marked up to make the cards. Really nice for math and CS books if you also have LaTeX as you can get it to render well with a bit of practice. Now I just need to get back into my Anki habit, I was good for a couple years and then just stopped late last year which is frustrating, it was useful but my momentum was lost and I haven't recovered it yet.
  - roudaki 6y ago
    it is scary to break that chain as Anki is not a problem if used regularly. but when you first start there is a lot of work setting up and going through all the cards and not just the one you need. more you use it longer it takes to get back in. like entire weekend long. it is number one reason people dont use card system even when it is known it is best study method.
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
      Yeah, that was my reaction the first time I broke the habit ("scary" seeing 100s of cards for review). But I got through it quickly. Now the issue really is just the habit, I'm not doing it daily and barely getting it in 2-3 times a week. I've managed to restore my exercise routine after work, now I need to restore my study routines.
- kuu 6y ago
fallat 6y ago
You just have to consciously make time.
floren 6y ago
I drop in and out of frequent reading. I find that using my Kindle really helps bring me back into the habit, because I can read in any lighting and it always keeps my place (for some reason I never use bookmarks in real books). Once I've read the Kindle for a bit, I'm ready to put my hands back on real books. Maybe reach for something easy, too--a book or series you enjoyed in your youth, long enough ago that you won't remember every detail. Save Tolstoy for later :)
mdu96 6y ago
Starting a reading accountability group has been incredibly helpful for me. Every day we post what we've read as we try to make reading (even the tiniest bit) a daily habit.
npsimons 6y ago
I'm in a similar situation. Unless it's something I can work through (with examples or problems) or something I care about (very ephemeral), it's hard to carve out the focus or time for it. I tried starting "Emperor's New Mind" by Penrose a month or so back. I don't think I made it past chapter one. Currently I'm binging Stephenson's "Anathem" (I fucking love this book), and feel a little bit of excitement at digging into the sources, but I'm afraid it will end up like most bibliographies I scour - well-intentioned lists I hardly ever make any progress on. Despite my avoidance of FB, IG, etc, I still find myself spending an inordinate amount of time on Reddit or even HN. But the occasional hit of something truly useful (the Cesium for UE4 post was intriguing to me, as a project at work a few years back was attempting something similar on a smaller scale), but the constant low-level dopamine from neophilia keeps me constantly scrolling, but ultimately listless and depressed at the end of the day. Oftimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to make my own pinprick math, but I'm just too addicted to the Reticulum.
RandallBrown 6y ago
Get an Audible subscription. I go through a book a month and it's been amazing. Some of the narrators are fantastic and really make the book better.
cgh 6y ago
In my circle of male friends, I am the only one who reads fiction. My female friends are more likely to read fiction and some even belong to book clubs, where they sit around and discuss books. In my entire life as a reader, I've never been able to discuss fiction with people in real life. Non-fiction is completely different, as most of my friends read pop-science or political books regularly.

by kuu 6y ago

ant6n 6y ago

I feel like listening would be a good alternative, say when driving or doing house work. I hear long blog articles of yesteryear got replaced by audio formats (podcasts?), or audio books for whole books, but I’m too much of a geezer to learn and understand how to use them and try to figure out what’s good (hey at least with written stuff you can Scroll through quickly and see whether you like it, not so easy with audio).

kuu 6y ago
Yeah, I listen to some podcasts but it's true that is a bit hard to find the ones you'll like

doublejay1999 6y ago

I've been worrying about this for a while. I think there are 2 things at play; the first is a gradual wearing of our attention span in a world where we can scroll through the whole worlds news and everyone's opinion on it, in the time it takes to defecate. A continuous flow of intellectual snacks - some healthy, some junk - is habit forming. Without judgement whether it's a good or a bad thing, it's certainly a thing. The second (which I think is exacerbated by the first) is plain old cognitive friction : it requires more brain energy to invest in book. A full page of small font text, vocabulary stretching language, vivid images created by words, high concept theories, different plot elements to assemble; all of these represent a much high load on the cranial CPU - and that's not to say we can't do it, but that we are subconsciously reluctant to make the effort. In the same way that if your loaded gym bag is waiting at the end of the bed, you're much more likely to get to the gym than if you have to hunt through the laundry, search for your membership card, find your car keys etc etc. I think this is covered by Dan Kahneman in Thinking Fast & Slow, but i could be mistaken. Anyway, it's a thing.

Freak_NL 6y ago

In bed before going to sleep. No distractions, comfortable position (obviously you would need some pillows), and it helps wind down your brain. In the weekend you can also pick up the book again in the morning if you wish. The benefit: you sleep there every day, so you can read a bit every day. I don't use a smartphone, so no computer in bed means no incoming messages or time-sinks available at the touch of a button; I would recommend leaving the smartphone in another room or having a set routine of placing it in some kind of zero disturbance (or call only) night setting. Whatever works to stop you from grabbing it for some more mindless scrolling in bed. The time you use for reading must come from somewhere, so cut down on the low-value entertainment (this may be hard, I don't know). Going to bed is something to look forward to when your book is there waiting for you once it is part of your routine. A good book beats starting another episode on Netflix once you've found the genres or writers that work for you.

ed312 6y ago
I do this, and its great, but I don't think this is an ideal space to read non-fiction. I absolutely tear through fiction series on my Kindle but I'm not sure retention is great for non-fiction, educational, or technical topics. The only "solution" I've found is to block off a couple hours on quiet weekend days.
- phrotoma 6y ago
  Same. Fiction helps me wind down at the end of the day. Nonfiction gets my mind whirring with ideas and is not helpful at bed time.
fantod 6y ago
I was basically forced to do this as my insomnia got so bad during the pandemic. Now I read before bed and problem solved!

cehrlich 6y ago

I struggled with this for a long time, and I have now found a solution that works sometimes (ie as long as I don't sabotage myself): I bought an alarm clock. Basic $10 Casio thing, but anything else is also fine as long as it's "dumb". After a certain time in the evening, and in the morning before I eat breakfast, nothing with an internet connection is allowed in my bedroom. That's my reading time. It's actually more difficult for me as my bedroom is also my office, so I need to unplug my laptop and put it in the living room overnight, but someone living in a bigger house/apartment than me would not have that particular issue.

roudaki 6y ago

I started turning books into cloze flash cards. it forces me to pay attention and I can read in small chunks. If book is really really good I would retype it. If its really really good it becomes memory palace. But this is my passion and of course everyone cant do that. So try audiobooks and take long walks. Also it is really healthy to avoid screens 60 minutes before sleep and reading paper is nice way to do that.

Jtsummers 6y ago
I don't do this with every book, but I've been doing it with some technical content lately. It's surprisingly effective. Read a chapter, marking up portions I want to revisit. Revisit it with the computer open and type a bunch of things into Anki (or copy/paste if it's a Kindle book or PDF) with appropriate pieces marked up to make the cards. Really nice for math and CS books if you also have LaTeX as you can get it to render well with a bit of practice. Now I just need to get back into my Anki habit, I was good for a couple years and then just stopped late last year which is frustrating, it was useful but my momentum was lost and I haven't recovered it yet.
- roudaki 6y ago
  it is scary to break that chain as Anki is not a problem if used regularly. but when you first start there is a lot of work setting up and going through all the cards and not just the one you need. more you use it longer it takes to get back in. like entire weekend long. it is number one reason people dont use card system even when it is known it is best study method.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    Yeah, that was my reaction the first time I broke the habit ("scary" seeing 100s of cards for review). But I got through it quickly. Now the issue really is just the habit, I'm not doing it daily and barely getting it in 2-3 times a week. I've managed to restore my exercise routine after work, now I need to restore my study routines.
kuu 6y ago

fallat 6y ago

You just have to consciously make time.

floren 6y ago

I drop in and out of frequent reading. I find that using my Kindle really helps bring me back into the habit, because I can read in any lighting and it always keeps my place (for some reason I never use bookmarks in real books). Once I've read the Kindle for a bit, I'm ready to put my hands back on real books. Maybe reach for something easy, too--a book or series you enjoyed in your youth, long enough ago that you won't remember every detail. Save Tolstoy for later :)

mdu96 6y ago

Starting a reading accountability group has been incredibly helpful for me. Every day we post what we've read as we try to make reading (even the tiniest bit) a daily habit.

npsimons 6y ago

I'm in a similar situation. Unless it's something I can work through (with examples or problems) or something I care about (very ephemeral), it's hard to carve out the focus or time for it. I tried starting "Emperor's New Mind" by Penrose a month or so back. I don't think I made it past chapter one. Currently I'm binging Stephenson's "Anathem" (I fucking love this book), and feel a little bit of excitement at digging into the sources, but I'm afraid it will end up like most bibliographies I scour - well-intentioned lists I hardly ever make any progress on. Despite my avoidance of FB, IG, etc, I still find myself spending an inordinate amount of time on Reddit or even HN. But the occasional hit of something truly useful (the Cesium for UE4 post was intriguing to me, as a project at work a few years back was attempting something similar on a smaller scale), but the constant low-level dopamine from neophilia keeps me constantly scrolling, but ultimately listless and depressed at the end of the day. Oftimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to make my own pinprick math, but I'm just too addicted to the Reticulum.

RandallBrown 6y ago

Get an Audible subscription. I go through a book a month and it's been amazing. Some of the narrators are fantastic and really make the book better.

cgh 6y ago

In my circle of male friends, I am the only one who reads fiction. My female friends are more likely to read fiction and some even belong to book clubs, where they sit around and discuss books. In my entire life as a reader, I've never been able to discuss fiction with people in real life. Non-fiction is completely different, as most of my friends read pop-science or political books regularly.