4 ms·
Ever since my first year at uni, my reading has been transformed. The lectures forced me to read highly mathematical and algorithmic books, some of which took m
by Kenji 11y ago
Ever since my first year at uni, my reading has been transformed. The lectures forced me to read highly mathematical and algorithmic books, some of which took multiple hours per page if you want to comprehend everything. Now, my reading has slowed down drastically (10-100 times slower) but when I'm done with reading something, I understand it well enough to explain all the key concepts to someone else. Another thing is that I somehow memorize where things are, that is, when I remember some passage, I know where to look in the book almost down to the page (this doesn't work for PDFs which is one of the reasons why I avoid them). But I've lost the ability to read for pleasure, I used to be able to finish a novel in an evening.
- somerandomone 11y agoI'm curious because once you have the ability to understand several-hour-per-page materials reading novels should be a breeze?
- vanderZwan 11y agoI suspect it's similar to my experience with many video-lectures: on one hand, they are almost always filled with enough new information to keep my attention. However, the pace at which this information is fed to me can be just a bit too slow, meaning that my brain has to do too little work to process it. This combination of keeping attention while not activating my own thinking has an ability to put me sleep in a very drastic fashion. As in, trying to pay attention to the lecture and literally falling asleep in the blink of an eye. The only way to counter this is to download the lectures and play them back at an increased pace - 1.2x to 1.5x, depending on the difficulty of the subject. Perhaps the novels have the same issue for Kenji: too little stimulation to keep the mind going, even if it keeps your attention.
- HenryTheHorse 11y ago> But I've lost the ability to read for pleasure, I used to be able to finish a novel in an evening. I'm convinced there is such a thing as a "reading muscle". After being "lost" for many years in the "I can no longer read fiction" territory, I dove into it unexpectedly one weekend and found my fiction-for-pleasure groove again. (Ironically, it took a long non-fiction book to do that!) But this does mean I no longer allow myself to aimlessly binge on TV or the web for pleasure. Reading certainly requires a stronger intention and attention.