5 ms·

None of those are works that should be speed-read. Thomas Aquinas, Plato, Epictetus, the Qur'an, and (above all) the Bible should be rolled around the mouth, t

None of those are works that should be speed-read. Thomas Aquinas, Plato, Epictetus, the Qur'an, and (above all) the Bible should be rolled around the mouth, tasted deeply, and either made a part of you or thoroughly spit out if they are found indigestible. If your mechanical reading speed is the limiting factor in reading these works, you're doing it wrong.

gavinpc 13y ago
I agree, but god damn, I am jealous. I have two small children and I've finished one book this year. (Coders at Work by Peter Siebel, I highly recommend it.) My wife reads 10x faster than I do but completely eschews the kind of reading I like (viz, literature). But of course, now that, y'know, she has kids too, her overall reading speed is strangely reduced as well. Anyway, at a first glance I found the line coloring helpful.
- JasonFruit 13y ago
  I have three small children, and I heartily sympathize. Any reading I do comes out of much-needed sleeping time.
rokhayakebe 13y ago
Plato is mostly dialogues and it is only hard in the sense that I have to extract the philosophy out of the text, plus Socrates goes around and around. Epictetus is ok as well, the text is simple to read, and I found myself taking many notes and comparing his text to others. Modern interpretation of the Quran with commentary is helpful, the thing about it being that each chapter is somewhat separated from the rest. Bible, I picked than put it back down with humility because I just knew I could not grasp it. Aquinas is hard to follow, imo he is a logician before a theologian and I know nothing of the first and very little of the second science. However I am very interested in the subject of his writing. I agree it is "accidentally" mechanical reading although my goal is "understanding." I just started to read heavily the past 2 years and this is my beginner's eagerness.
- JasonFruit 13y ago
  I don't know if you're reading the Bible out of cultural or religious motives; if it's the latter, I find that praying for understanding helps me understand. You could try it, if you choose.
  - rokhayakebe 13y ago
    Religious curiosity, although I am not Christian. I certainly will pray for understanding. Thanks J..
corin_ 13y ago
Why the Bible above all?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- cristianpascu 13y ago
  That was a personal remark. He's most probably a Christian. For others is Qur'an above all. And so on. For me is Bible+Church Fathers above all. :)
- DanBC 13y ago
  Because the King James bible had considerable effort to translate original texts into best possible English, preserving meaning but also creating a suitably "glorious" text. Very many concepts, words, metaphors, etc come from the King James translation. Ignoring any religious stuff - it's a good read. EDIT: corrected my st / king error!
  - corin_ 13y ago
    Personally I agree, I love KJV (mainly through choral music written with biblical texts), just wondered whether he was making a subjective point like you are, or whether it was a religious point.
    - JasonFruit 13y ago
      I'm very late to respond, but I wrote what I did as a religious point. After a lot of years of doubt on the matter, I've come to the conclusion that what the Bible contains is critically important truth. I honestly think it fails as literature, because it is incoherent unless comprehended by faith; but it is a source of comfort, encouragement, and guidance to those whom God has freely given faith beforehand. But if you choose to read it as literature, I certainly won't stop you!
  - jeltz 13y ago
    The King James Bible is not a that close translation of the original texts. It contains many translation errors and additions by later scribes not present in older texts. Generally more recent translations of the Bible are way more accurate, due to better access and more study of sources today and due to better understanding of ancient Greek and Hebrew. A point of view on King Jame Bible: https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bible-best-translation-available-today https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bibl...

gavinpc 13y ago

I agree, but god damn, I am jealous. I have two small children and I've finished one book this year. (Coders at Work by Peter Siebel, I highly recommend it.) My wife reads 10x faster than I do but completely eschews the kind of reading I like (viz, literature). But of course, now that, y'know, she has kids too, her overall reading speed is strangely reduced as well. Anyway, at a first glance I found the line coloring helpful.

JasonFruit 13y ago
I have three small children, and I heartily sympathize. Any reading I do comes out of much-needed sleeping time.

rokhayakebe 13y ago

Plato is mostly dialogues and it is only hard in the sense that I have to extract the philosophy out of the text, plus Socrates goes around and around. Epictetus is ok as well, the text is simple to read, and I found myself taking many notes and comparing his text to others. Modern interpretation of the Quran with commentary is helpful, the thing about it being that each chapter is somewhat separated from the rest. Bible, I picked than put it back down with humility because I just knew I could not grasp it. Aquinas is hard to follow, imo he is a logician before a theologian and I know nothing of the first and very little of the second science. However I am very interested in the subject of his writing. I agree it is "accidentally" mechanical reading although my goal is "understanding." I just started to read heavily the past 2 years and this is my beginner's eagerness.

JasonFruit 13y ago
I don't know if you're reading the Bible out of cultural or religious motives; if it's the latter, I find that praying for understanding helps me understand. You could try it, if you choose.
- rokhayakebe 13y ago
  Religious curiosity, although I am not Christian. I certainly will pray for understanding. Thanks J..

corin_ 13y ago

Why the Bible above all?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cristianpascu 13y ago
That was a personal remark. He's most probably a Christian. For others is Qur'an above all. And so on. For me is Bible+Church Fathers above all. :)
DanBC 13y ago
Because the King James bible had considerable effort to translate original texts into best possible English, preserving meaning but also creating a suitably "glorious" text. Very many concepts, words, metaphors, etc come from the King James translation. Ignoring any religious stuff - it's a good read. EDIT: corrected my st / king error!
- corin_ 13y ago
  Personally I agree, I love KJV (mainly through choral music written with biblical texts), just wondered whether he was making a subjective point like you are, or whether it was a religious point.
  - JasonFruit 13y ago
    I'm very late to respond, but I wrote what I did as a religious point. After a lot of years of doubt on the matter, I've come to the conclusion that what the Bible contains is critically important truth. I honestly think it fails as literature, because it is incoherent unless comprehended by faith; but it is a source of comfort, encouragement, and guidance to those whom God has freely given faith beforehand. But if you choose to read it as literature, I certainly won't stop you!
- jeltz 13y ago
  The King James Bible is not a that close translation of the original texts. It contains many translation errors and additions by later scribes not present in older texts. Generally more recent translations of the Bible are way more accurate, due to better access and more study of sources today and due to better understanding of ancient Greek and Hebrew. A point of view on King Jame Bible: https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bible-best-translation-available-today https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bibl...