In my experience, the time taken to read a book increases super-linearly with its difficulty. A brilliant work of philosophy can take weeks of dedicated study t

In my experience, the time taken to read a book increases super-linearly with its difficulty. A brilliant work of philosophy can take weeks of dedicated study to understand, and in the most extreme cases, entire careers. Mastering a truly difficult book can be very intellectually satisfying, and that is often part of the 'value' you get from the process. The problem is when an increase in difficulty is not matched by a commensurate increase in value, when a text is both difficult and unrewarding, and rather than being satisfied by the labour of understanding, you are repelled by the fact that it came to nil. I don't really understand what the point of reading a novel slowly is. Some poetry is difficult and rewarding, though I can't say I've ever found any great virtue in purposefully enigmatic prose. In fact, I tend to like novels most when they are graceful, and my eyes can slide across the page with ease. Tolstoy comes to mind. I am not a fast reader though, so maybe all of my reading is unavoidably 'slow'.