5 ms·

I've never been able to get the hang of speed reading (I think I lack the knack for skimming), but I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and have a similar procedure

I've never been able to get the hang of speed reading (I think I lack the knack for skimming), but I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and have a similar procedure for dense sections. Even when I'm distracted and prone to zoning out, I always get essentially 100% comprehension because I just rewind back to the last part that I remember well. In fact, it seems I still pick up something when I'm zoned out, because I'll remember little aspects of the section on the re-read. So just blasting through does seem to lower the cognitive load of a re-read, even if your comprehension the first time around is very low or seemingly non-existent.

grogenaut 13y ago
So another thing to note is sometimes what you are zoning out on isn't important so if you still get what's going on don't skip back. You can do the same thing going forward in a binary search type pattern. Works really well for stuff like Tolkien or Mellville whe're they're off on a tangent describing the sea or the somthings of somewhere and how onrey they are.
- shawn-furyan 13y ago
  That's something I don't have the mindset to do. I would sooner drop a book completely than just skip whole passages.
  - doorhammer 13y ago
    I can understand this; I think it depends on what your trying to get out of the book. There are some books I read (for example, I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land) where I like the book well enough, but I'm not particularly into the prose and/or writing style, so I'm okay missing some things here and there. I think that happens to me when I do "decompressing," where I'm reading a book to unwind my brain after having read nothing but papers or technical books for a few weeks. Other times I'm just in the mood to sit down and really experience what the book has to offer. When I'm in that mood, I don't want to sacrifice really taking the time to let a book evoke imagery and mood, in the name of speed. I guess some folks can get that reading a lot faster, but I can't right now.
    - shawn-furyan 13y ago
      Hah! I just finished Stranger in a Strange Land this weekend :) It was my introduction to Heinlein. I'd avoided older scifi because I'd wondered whether I would relate to it, and felt confirmed in that suspicion with Stranger. It's not that I'm not glad that I read it, and if I consider the context that it was written in circa the 1950s, then I can definitely appreciate how radical it must have been. But to my sensibilities, it feels tawdry and cheap, and thus insincere. It's in no way a fair criticism since it seems to have been part of the zeitgeist that led to the free love of the 60s and subsequent over-indulgence and exploitation of the 70s (and thus the dominance of the idea that sex sells and so on). And from what I gather it was rather sincere in so far as Heinlein was supremely interested in challenging prevailing mores of the time. But outside of that context, to me, it feels, again, cheap and tawdry, and just kind of stale.
      - doorhammer 13y ago
        No, I completely relate. I feel the same way reading it, and like you said, it's not fair, but that doesn't really take away my general feeling about it. It's the kind of book where I think I can intellectually appreciate it's contribution and what it was in the context it was born out of, but I'm not really super interested in reading more like it.

grogenaut 13y ago

So another thing to note is sometimes what you are zoning out on isn't important so if you still get what's going on don't skip back. You can do the same thing going forward in a binary search type pattern. Works really well for stuff like Tolkien or Mellville whe're they're off on a tangent describing the sea or the somthings of somewhere and how onrey they are.

shawn-furyan 13y ago
That's something I don't have the mindset to do. I would sooner drop a book completely than just skip whole passages.
- doorhammer 13y ago
  I can understand this; I think it depends on what your trying to get out of the book. There are some books I read (for example, I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land) where I like the book well enough, but I'm not particularly into the prose and/or writing style, so I'm okay missing some things here and there. I think that happens to me when I do "decompressing," where I'm reading a book to unwind my brain after having read nothing but papers or technical books for a few weeks. Other times I'm just in the mood to sit down and really experience what the book has to offer. When I'm in that mood, I don't want to sacrifice really taking the time to let a book evoke imagery and mood, in the name of speed. I guess some folks can get that reading a lot faster, but I can't right now.
  - shawn-furyan 13y ago
    Hah! I just finished Stranger in a Strange Land this weekend :) It was my introduction to Heinlein. I'd avoided older scifi because I'd wondered whether I would relate to it, and felt confirmed in that suspicion with Stranger. It's not that I'm not glad that I read it, and if I consider the context that it was written in circa the 1950s, then I can definitely appreciate how radical it must have been. But to my sensibilities, it feels tawdry and cheap, and thus insincere. It's in no way a fair criticism since it seems to have been part of the zeitgeist that led to the free love of the 60s and subsequent over-indulgence and exploitation of the 70s (and thus the dominance of the idea that sex sells and so on). And from what I gather it was rather sincere in so far as Heinlein was supremely interested in challenging prevailing mores of the time. But outside of that context, to me, it feels, again, cheap and tawdry, and just kind of stale.
    - doorhammer 13y ago
      No, I completely relate. I feel the same way reading it, and like you said, it's not fair, but that doesn't really take away my general feeling about it. It's the kind of book where I think I can intellectually appreciate it's contribution and what it was in the context it was born out of, but I'm not really super interested in reading more like it.