9 ms·

Whenever I real long-form books, my mind will occasionally wander into other areas, while my eyes keep reading on. I'll have to continually go back and re-read

by Retra 12y ago

Whenever I real long-form books, my mind will occasionally wander into other areas, while my eyes keep reading on. I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read. This isn't just an internet-fueled lack of attention, it's how I've always read, and how I image most people read most of the time. The difference is with a website, you can go investigate your immediate thoughts rather than committing to the re-read. It is lazier, maybe. It's probably not great if you want to learn something in depth and stay focused on it for long periods of time.

kiba 12y ago
Typical mind fallacy is thinking that the way your mind operates is automatically how everyone's mind operate.
- Retra 12y ago
  Well, I'm no freak of nature, either.
  - nsomaru 12y ago
    Wouldn't say it's about being 'normal' or a 'freak.' If you haven't cultivated the habit of reading, it's not effortless (like most things). When things aren't effortless (or close thereto), its easy for an undisciplined mind to wander. If it's something that you value, you will do it enough that it becomes effortless. Perhaps the author missed that point?
    - walljm 12y ago
      Though your point about cultivating the discipline is applicable, not all brains process data the same way, and its possible the posters habit is a factor of biology not effort.
jader201 12y ago
"I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read." This is me. "and how I image most people read most of the time." I wish I knew if this were true. I've always felt that I have some sort of "disorder" or some form of ADHD or something that causes my mind to wander anytime I try to read a book. I'm a terribly slow reader for this reason (at least when it comes to books -- internet articles, for some reason, don't seem to have this same effect on me), and as a result, I've not read too many books at all. I mostly get my information in smaller bursts. Come to think of it, whenever I see what I consider super long articles posted on HN, and a ton of discussion about how great the article was, I feel terribly inadequate that I can't read said article in less than an hour (or more). Short articles I'm fine with, it's the longer ones -- and books -- that I struggle with. And it's certainly not the result of any "conditioning" from reading short internet articles all the time -- I've been like this since long before the era of blogs and HN. Would love it if someone could shed some light on this.
- noir_lord 12y ago
  Not for me, when I read I get lost in the book and it gets dark outside, the cats come and sleep on me, the street lights go on and I look up at 10pm and I've read half a novel. It's a sense of peace I get from few other things in life.
  - sukilot 12y ago
    This, or even watching a slow paced movie (the kind more common before 1990) is incredibly refreshing break from the modern distraction filled world.
    - noir_lord 12y ago
      Funny you should say that I watched terminator the other day in prep for the new one, forgotten how slow relatively action films used to be, I kinda miss that sometimes.
    - jmccree 12y ago
      As I've gotten older and have less free time and there's so much more content out there, one practice I've come to accept is reading the wikipedia page and plot synopsis for a book/movie before starting watching something. In the same way I read HN comments before deciding whether to read the original article often times. Before wikipedia I would read the last chapters of books first. I'm more worried about my time being spoiled than the plot being spoiled, and after all a good movie/book is even better the 2nd time around. This has allowed me to commit to watching or reading things I never would have before as I'd get bored (read: worried this is a waste of my time) 10 minutes into a slow moving movie.
thret 12y ago
This sometimes happens to me if I am not in the mood, need to be doing something else, or if the book is badly written. Some text books need to be read with concentration. But if something is good, it is more like a trance - I'll 'come to' hours later and need to be prodded with a stick if you want to interrupt me.
fsloth 12y ago
"Whenever I real long-form books, my mind will occasionally wander into other areas, while my eyes keep reading on. I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read." When that happens to me while reading a book often enough I decide the text is not for me and move to another book. "The difference is with a website, you can go investigate your immediate thoughts rather than committing to the re-read. " Funny, I would describe my most engaging readings of a book precisely by this sort of associative experience (unless it's fiction... which I don't actually read that much anymore).
gone35 12y ago
That definitely sounds like a very mild but treatable form of language disorder to me. It might be too mild to be of interest to language disorder clinicians, but maybe you could try 'treat' yourself by setting up a long-term plan of progressively 'harder'/longer reading materials. Check out for instance Pearson's Developmental English series [1]. Might seem arduous and pointless; but if it increases your ability to read long-form comfortably, it could make an enormous difference to your life. [1] http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/course/Advanced-Reading-1012-grade-level/91028322.page http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/course/Advanced-Read...
majelix 12y ago
> I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read. That's a feature, not a bug. Limit your first reading to basic understanding of the plot and setting; ignore exploration of "deeper" themes until subsequent re-reads.
- Retra 12y ago
  What I'm saying is that my eyes simply scan the words while I think of other things. There's no comprehension there, I'm just losing my place in the text.
peu4000 12y ago
Not saying you have it, but this is a common symptom of ADHD. I'd recommend the book Driven to Distraction, it's pretty informative!
walljm 12y ago
"I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read. " This happens to me sometimes, but its rare and usually means I'm tired or not interested in the subject matter. If I'm interested I'm glued to the page and won't break concentration for hours.

by Retra 12y ago

kiba 12y ago

Typical mind fallacy is thinking that the way your mind operates is automatically how everyone's mind operate.

Retra 12y ago
Well, I'm no freak of nature, either.
- nsomaru 12y ago
  Wouldn't say it's about being 'normal' or a 'freak.' If you haven't cultivated the habit of reading, it's not effortless (like most things). When things aren't effortless (or close thereto), its easy for an undisciplined mind to wander. If it's something that you value, you will do it enough that it becomes effortless. Perhaps the author missed that point?
  - walljm 12y ago
    Though your point about cultivating the discipline is applicable, not all brains process data the same way, and its possible the posters habit is a factor of biology not effort.

jader201 12y ago

"I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read." This is me. "and how I image most people read most of the time." I wish I knew if this were true. I've always felt that I have some sort of "disorder" or some form of ADHD or something that causes my mind to wander anytime I try to read a book. I'm a terribly slow reader for this reason (at least when it comes to books -- internet articles, for some reason, don't seem to have this same effect on me), and as a result, I've not read too many books at all. I mostly get my information in smaller bursts. Come to think of it, whenever I see what I consider super long articles posted on HN, and a ton of discussion about how great the article was, I feel terribly inadequate that I can't read said article in less than an hour (or more). Short articles I'm fine with, it's the longer ones -- and books -- that I struggle with. And it's certainly not the result of any "conditioning" from reading short internet articles all the time -- I've been like this since long before the era of blogs and HN. Would love it if someone could shed some light on this.

noir_lord 12y ago
Not for me, when I read I get lost in the book and it gets dark outside, the cats come and sleep on me, the street lights go on and I look up at 10pm and I've read half a novel. It's a sense of peace I get from few other things in life.
- sukilot 12y ago
  This, or even watching a slow paced movie (the kind more common before 1990) is incredibly refreshing break from the modern distraction filled world.
  - noir_lord 12y ago
    Funny you should say that I watched terminator the other day in prep for the new one, forgotten how slow relatively action films used to be, I kinda miss that sometimes.
  - jmccree 12y ago
    As I've gotten older and have less free time and there's so much more content out there, one practice I've come to accept is reading the wikipedia page and plot synopsis for a book/movie before starting watching something. In the same way I read HN comments before deciding whether to read the original article often times. Before wikipedia I would read the last chapters of books first. I'm more worried about my time being spoiled than the plot being spoiled, and after all a good movie/book is even better the 2nd time around. This has allowed me to commit to watching or reading things I never would have before as I'd get bored (read: worried this is a waste of my time) 10 minutes into a slow moving movie.

thret 12y ago

This sometimes happens to me if I am not in the mood, need to be doing something else, or if the book is badly written. Some text books need to be read with concentration. But if something is good, it is more like a trance - I'll 'come to' hours later and need to be prodded with a stick if you want to interrupt me.

fsloth 12y ago

"Whenever I real long-form books, my mind will occasionally wander into other areas, while my eyes keep reading on. I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read." When that happens to me while reading a book often enough I decide the text is not for me and move to another book. "The difference is with a website, you can go investigate your immediate thoughts rather than committing to the re-read. " Funny, I would describe my most engaging readings of a book precisely by this sort of associative experience (unless it's fiction... which I don't actually read that much anymore).

gone35 12y ago

That definitely sounds like a very mild but treatable form of language disorder to me. It might be too mild to be of interest to language disorder clinicians, but maybe you could try 'treat' yourself by setting up a long-term plan of progressively 'harder'/longer reading materials. Check out for instance Pearson's Developmental English series [1]. Might seem arduous and pointless; but if it increases your ability to read long-form comfortably, it could make an enormous difference to your life. [1] http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/course/Advanced-Reading-1012-grade-level/91028322.page http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/course/Advanced-Read...

majelix 12y ago

> I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read. That's a feature, not a bug. Limit your first reading to basic understanding of the plot and setting; ignore exploration of "deeper" themes until subsequent re-reads.

Retra 12y ago
What I'm saying is that my eyes simply scan the words while I think of other things. There's no comprehension there, I'm just losing my place in the text.

peu4000 12y ago

Not saying you have it, but this is a common symptom of ADHD. I'd recommend the book Driven to Distraction, it's pretty informative!

walljm 12y ago

"I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read. " This happens to me sometimes, but its rare and usually means I'm tired or not interested in the subject matter. If I'm interested I'm glued to the page and won't break concentration for hours.