[HN Gopher] How to gain more from your reading
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How to gain more from your reading
Author : prostoalex
Score : 171 points
Date : 2021-07-21 00:52 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (psyche.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (psyche.co)
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| Old eyes tire quickly. Reducing eye strain and increasing font
| size will also go a long way towards content retention. Zoom in!
| randcraw wrote:
| And brighten your light. A well aimed lamp does wonders to ease
| eyestrain, especially for high-mileage eyes.
| Bhilai wrote:
| I mostly read fiction and I try my best to read everyday. My
| problem seems to be that I sometimes try to rush through the
| details to the main story line to figure out the plot. Because I
| get limited time to read, I try to read very fast and cover a lot
| of ground so I can know more of the story. From reading this
| article, it sounds like I should slow down and re-read but I am
| not sure if some books are worth it.
| leokennis wrote:
| This article is, perhaps unsurprisingly, very well written and
| structured. A joy to read compared to most internet writing!
|
| It vibes pretty well with my own "rules" for reading:
|
| * I read one book at a time
|
| * In general I only read when I feel like it, but I will read
| every day: if I don't feel like it, I'll just read one page
|
| * At any point am I allowed to stop reading a book and pick up a
| new one
|
| * I do not track "pages per day" or "books per year", I do not
| participate in "reading challenges"
|
| This way, reading has most personal value to me without becoming
| a "second job" with the pressure to "perform" that comes with it.
| wombatmobile wrote:
| Why do you read one book at a time?
|
| Have you tried more than that and found it unsatisfactory?
|
| I usually have two books on the go. I leave them in different
| places. That's key. I am a different person in each place, and
| I can keep my associations separate and distinct for each book.
|
| Given enough places, I'm confident I could read more than two
| books in parallel.
| typhonic wrote:
| I have added your response to my collection of wisdom;
| particularly for the statement "I am a different person in
| each place."
| handrous wrote:
| I'd guess reading ebooks, even on tablets or phones, makes
| one-book-reading the path of least resistance. I mostly read
| multiple because I physically keep the (paper) books near
| where I read them. I'll read a different book in bed than at
| my desk than in the living room, because _that 's what's
| there_. Some of those (the bedside one, especially) don't
| tend to travel with me. Others might. It's mostly a result of
| the physicality and locality of the actual books, as objects.
|
| However, if I'm reading a book on my phone & tablet, I'll
| mostly stick to one until I'm done with it. They way they
| sync reading status and time-of-last-access across devices
| encourages it, even with multiple devices.
| leokennis wrote:
| I read almost exclusively on my ereader, so "two books in
| different places" does not apply to me. But years ago before
| the ereader existed I also self-disciplined to one book at a
| time.
|
| If I don't, my reading will become like my internet browsing:
| chasing my interest of the moment, half reading something
| about it, going on another chase and never properly engaging
| with one subject.
|
| Of course some people will be better at context switching and
| the discipline to actually finish the multiple books they're
| reading...but not me.
| slothtrop wrote:
| I also do two, usually one fiction and one non-fiction.
| sixstringtheory wrote:
| I was a one-book-at-a-time person for the longest time, and
| in the last two years relaxed what I realized was an
| arbitrary rule and allowed myself to read any of a number of
| books (because I buy them faster than I can read them
| anyways) depending on my mood. I currently have at least one
| going in each of these areas:
|
| - technical
|
| - design
|
| - autobiography
|
| - classic fiction
|
| - short nonfiction anthology
|
| - history
|
| Progress is a lot slower per book, but it's not a race. I
| much prefer being able to pick up whatever I'm interested in
| at the time than having to wait, feeling like I have to slog
| through the end of the current book.
| thibran wrote:
| By the way, this is also a much better learning strategy.
| Switching topics means to recall the information before
| continuing, which is very much desirable.
| oh_sigh wrote:
| Yeah, I don't understand this. I actually read 5 to 10 books
| at a time. Many "classics" that we have these days were
| actually published as periodicals/in serial form. So when
| _War and Peace_ was first published, no one sat down and just
| read 1500 pages. New chapters were released once a month or
| so over the period of 2+ years.
|
| So if that's how _War and Peace_ was originally read, why
| shouldn 't I read it the same way?
| sna1l wrote:
| I generally agree with all of these, the one thing I guess that
| can be an issue for me is if I go too long in between picking
| up a book, then I'll kind of forget the context.
| ssully wrote:
| I am pretty much the exact same as you. Only difference is I
| set a "reading challenge" every year, but it's more of a guide
| then a rule. I've failed the goal multiple years; I am just
| happy as long as I am within a few books of my goal.
| starkd wrote:
| >> without becoming a "second job" with the pressure to
| "perform that comes with it
|
| Exactly. If you can develop a skill of reading in this manner,
| it's not something anyone can take away from you. No matter
| what happens to you: illness, imprisonment, poverty, divorce.
| No one can take that from you.
| input_sh wrote:
| > This article is, perhaps unsurprisingly, very well written
| and structured. A joy to read compared to most internet
| writing!
|
| Aeon and its sister site Psyche are genuinely awesome. Probably
| the best sites I've discovered in years. Would definitely
| encourage you to read more of their work. There are definitely
| arguments I disagree with, but nothing to complain about how
| they're presented or sourced.
|
| I like those longer reads that are somewhat detached from daily
| events that you can't really learn anything from.
| Ostrogodsky wrote:
| If by "awesome" you mean barely middlebrow,"dentist-waiting-
| room reading material" then I agree.
| onethought wrote:
| Does rule 1. And 3. Not mean you read multiple books at once?
| Just not simultaneously :)
| EricE wrote:
| Excellent article - especially the advice to occasionally read
| sections of text out loud.
|
| Which, BTW, is not the same as listening to an audio book. I like
| Audiobooks for fiction and entertainment, but listening to an
| Audiobook is NOT the same as reading, which this author touches
| on even they don't make the explicit connection.
| mrjivraj wrote:
| I sometimes fall into the trap of bookmarking interesting content
| but failing to go back to read it, especially long form content,
| although I find such content to be the best for learning about
| interesting things.
|
| There were a few articles I kept coming back to but couldn't get
| through because of distractions, so yesterday I decided to print
| out the articles I wanted to read. 30 mins later, I had gone
| through 3 three great reads (plus made notes).
|
| It was great. I learned a lot, and they spurred some ideas as
| well. I think I might start doing more of this.
| [deleted]
| jld89 wrote:
| This is a great idea, I have exactly the same problem. I'll try
| it out, though I'll probably have to print a hundred pages
| ha...
| mrjivraj wrote:
| 100 lol..
|
| I think i have printed probably about 30 so far, 2 pages per
| sheet + double sided so 4 on a page
| BeetleB wrote:
| Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead
| of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything
| I want to read and place it a physical "inbox".
|
| Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer
| paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my
| eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles where I need
| to enlarge first). I print using either Firefox's "Simplify
| Page" feature or its "Readability" feature. This removes almost
| all the noise: No ads, no menus, etc. It's _just_ the article
| and relevant images. Similar to reading a physical newspaper.
|
| It's been a game changer. I can now read wherever I want. Going
| to the mechanic? I just take some of these printed articles
| with me. I find myself taking notes on the paper - something I
| would not do well on the computer screen. My eyes get a lot
| less strain. Once you get used to this, there's no going back.
| Now when I see an article through a web browser, it's just
| _ugly_. Too many distractions. Even the menus are annoying. I
| didn 't realize I'd been putting up with filth for so long.
|
| I initially worried that my inbox would get full and I'd have
| the same mental angst, and my plan was that if it happens, I'll
| take a random bunch and throw it in the recycle bin. But it
| never came to that - I still manage to read everything I print.
| Somehow, the physical inbox weighs less on my mind than the
| virtual one. I don't feel I _need_ to deal with this inbox. It
| 's OK if it just sits there collecting dust.
|
| Bad for the environment. Good for the brain.
| splittingTimes wrote:
| When I had more time (before having kids) i would print out a
| couple of articles every other day to read while commuting
| with public transport or during the evening. I became a bit
| obsessed with the optimal usage of paper space per article.
| So I wrote a HTML-to-LaTex converter as a golang learning
| project and applied the scientific paper style to the
| articles. I was quite happy with the results. Some HN
| classics can be found here:
|
| https://github.com/frankMilde/interesting-reads
| mrjivraj wrote:
| Do you have a simple system to keep track of the notes you
| take?
|
| I ask because I also started taking notes, primarily because
| I want to write about some of the things I come across. I
| write an investment newsletter
| (https://playingfordoubles.substack.com)
|
| I probably need to get myself some type of filing cabinet to
| keep track of articles I'd like to revisit in the future.
| dSebastien wrote:
| I did this for ten years. I would print 10-15 articles each
| day, and read those during my ~2h of daily commute.
|
| I've learned a ton of things that way. I'm not proud for the
| environment, but the physical aspect did have its importance.
| lugged wrote:
| tl;dr?
| Bhilai wrote:
| If you scroll to the bottom, there is a section with key
| points.
| [deleted]
| asimovfan wrote:
| Reading is my life, I spend the majority of my awake time
| reading. However to be honest, I can only read endlessly when I
| know I won't have any extra gain from it.
|
| I can read everything except what I have to read for work or
| study. Otherwise I am immediately bored.
| jld89 wrote:
| A kind of procrastination I guess.
| zerop wrote:
| It depends on what you are reading they could be different ways
| to read based on the type of content. When I have to understand
| something complex while reading I usually use the student teacher
| pattern where when I try to explain it to myself while I'm
| reading and grasping and try to question myself.
| benrbray wrote:
| I do the same -- I take good notes explaining things in a way
| that make sense to me, so I have personalized study material
| for when I inevitably forget three months from now what I read.
| TameAntelope wrote:
| For non-fiction, I've found that underlining engages me more and
| causes me to retain the information to a higher degree than when
| I'm "passively" reading.
|
| For some books I'll also use the margins or even bring along a
| pad of sticky notes. I tried actually taking notes while reading,
| but it ended up requiring too much setup for me to engage with as
| often as I'd like.
| okprod wrote:
| Great, succinct article. I like to underline as I read, then
| summarize into an index card that I keep, one for each book I've
| read.
| forgotmypw17 wrote:
| One of the most effective techniques is to pause reading to
| subscribe to the article's newsletter.
| Jeff_Brown wrote:
| I feel like most of the work of reading is choosing what to read.
| When I get that right everything else falls into place.
| sanderjd wrote:
| I have really struggled with this, especially since having kids.
| The problem for me is that I have very little time to read, so I
| either have to read fast or read very little, reading fast
| doesn't really work as the article describes, so the choice is to
| read very little, but then that makes choosing what to read a big
| commitment, and that leads to analysis paralysis, and then I end
| up reading nothing because it's too stressful to commit to
| something. For an example, I spent the first 18 months or so
| after my first child was born reading Les Miserables. Granted,
| that's a long book, but lots of good books are long. If my pace
| for reading is something under a hundred pages a month, that
| means I have capacity for two or three normal length books a
| year, and less than one long one, and that makes each choice feel
| extremely precious.
| zerop wrote:
| For me reading fast (and loud) also works, I have realised
| sometimes it's even better.. when I read slowly there js chance
| of concentration disruption, speedy and loud reading is good
| sometimes.. but I avoid doing it when reading something very
| important to me.
| sanderjd wrote:
| What do you mean by "loud"? Do you mean reading out loud?
| zerop wrote:
| Yes. Reading loud enough so that you hear it.
| sanderjd wrote:
| I'm sorry, I know I'm being dense, but I don't vocalize
| when I read, even quietly. Are you suggesting that
| reading out loud is a technique you use to pay attention
| better, or do you mean it metaphorically?
| copperx wrote:
| There was some research that suggested that reading aloud
| is better than silently for retention. I had never
| vocalized before, and I'm struggling to do it because it
| slows you down so much, but it indeed increases my
| retention.
| CuriousSkeptic wrote:
| My solution to this was to simply read books (and other works)
| I wanted to read for my kid. (Luckily there is some overlap in
| interest)
|
| Was pleasantly surprised to discover the depths of some
| children's books though. Can heartily recommend anything by
| Tove Jansson f.ex
| watwut wrote:
| If you are reading physical book, give a chance to epub version
| on phone. It is much easier and faster to pop it out of pocket
| when you suddenly have a chance.
|
| It made big difference for me in exactly that situation.
| yokoprime wrote:
| I can vouch for this. I've started reading on my phone and im
| tearing through books like never before. it's much better
| than mindlessly scrolling twitter
| jmd509 wrote:
| Here's something I've experimented with that I don't see
| recommended often - In similar circumstances, I'll leverage
| both the book and audiobook. This way when I'm on the move, I
| can pick up the audio version where I left off and keep the
| momentum going.
|
| Downside is you invest a small amount of time syncing between
| the two sources, and there might be additional cost associated.
|
| Upside is you gain more cumulative reading time, and it keeps
| things interesting by adding variability and a new dimension to
| the experience.
| sanderjd wrote:
| Yes! Audiobooks have been a godsend for me. I "read" a few of
| those a year, but I _read_ essentially no books anymore.
| Unfortunately, I find that the type of book that works via
| audio is more limited than the full range of books. For
| instance I really can 't read technical books that way. I
| also find I don't enjoy more literary books that way, for
| some reason. But I listen to quite a lot of sci-fi and non-
| technical non-fiction, like history and biographies and ...
| whatever you call mass market sociology / economics / self
| help type books (like Thinking Fast and Slow - pop-sci I
| guess?).
| technothrasher wrote:
| I have a very hard time absorbing audiobooks. When I read, I
| often stop and follow the train of thought that a particular
| passage has begun in my brain before then proceeding on with
| the reading. I automatically do the same thing with an
| audiobook, but by doing that I miss content because the audio
| continues while I'm thinking and I don't pay attention to it.
| Sure, I could stop and start the audio, but I typically don't
| realize I'm even doing it until I realize I've missed a
| portion of the audio.
| solidist wrote:
| Sharing on own reading habits:
| https://link.medium.com/4a2hr1VE6hb
|
| I liked the part of reading everyday - even just a page or two. I
| found through my own experience to be rewarding in time.
|
| Another one I've learned is being open and immediately committed
| to reading suggestions for others, it's personally opened my
| perspective(s)
| njharman wrote:
| My problem is bad memory. I don't remember much of the books I
| read. Even recently.
|
| So, I become very discouraged and see reading as waste of time as
| very little will stick and this I'll "grow" very little from time
| invested. Poor ROI.
|
| I still read but mostly for eprmeral enntertainmen
| handrous wrote:
| Taking notes helps a lot with recall, IME. Otherwise I'm the
| same way.
| jldugger wrote:
| For professional development books, my process is is two steps:
| first, read a chapter. Second, extract key insights I want to
| remember into an Anki card. I may have to re-read the chapter
| in part to do so, which definitely helps with recall.
|
| I generally try to do about one chapter a night, or ten pages
| an hour. And I admit it can be hard to get both steps done in
| the time allotted. Also, the resulting new card review load can
| be a pain in the ass -- a good cloze card will have three or
| four forms to review. If you're adding three or four cards per
| chapter you end up with a lot of new material to review that
| Anki frontloads by design.
|
| tl;dr: Remembering stuff is hard. But possibly worth it.
| blueyes wrote:
| Those looking for a deeper dive might consider Harold Bloom's
| "How to Read and Why", for literature; and Mortimer J. Adler's
| "How to Read a Book", for non-fiction.
| okareaman wrote:
| My main takeaway from Bloom's book that has served me well, is
| to clear your mind of groupthink and preconceived notions that
| he calls "cant" to approach the text with an open mind.
|
| From the blurb on Amazon: _" Shedding all polemic, Bloom
| addresses the solitary reader, who, he urges, should read for
| the purest of all reasons: to discover and augment the self.
| His ultimate faith in the restorative power of literature
| resonates on every page of this infinitely rewarding and
| important book._
| rogov wrote:
| "When I began disciplined reading, I was reading at the rate of
| four thousand words a minute," the girl said. "They had quite a
| time correcting me of it. I had to take remedial reading, and my
| parents were ashamed of me. Now I've learned to read almost slow
| enough." "I don't understand," said Miss Hanks.
|
| That's from R.A. Lafferty's "The Primary Education of the
| Camiroi" from 1966. I think I was turned on to Lafferty by this
| site and immediately loved his work. Still, I have "read" six
| books this week, and barely even remember which ones they were,
| let alone what they were about.
| medstrom wrote:
| A shortcut can be to write fiction. Even if it doesn't go
| anywhere publishable, even if you only write a sentence a week,
| regularly tackling the challenge of writing well will naturally
| make you pay attention to how others write.
| jmd509 wrote:
| Wholeheartedly agree. As you read, you'll notice yourself
| noticing - you're consciously processing the narrative but also
| semi-consciously reflecting on how the narrative is delivered.
| You wonder what made that line stick out, what made that
| dialogue feel authentic, what made that description compelling.
|
| It's like a casual fan watching MMA vs someone who practices
| martial arts. You attend not only to WHAT is done but HOW it is
| done, and what it means to be able to do it. You move beyond
| merely witnessing and start analyzing, learning, and
| appreciating.
| runevault wrote:
| This is very true. Though there are also books to read that can
| help see things more deeply. A couple I really found helpful
| here are Elements of Eloquence (gets into rhetorical tools,
| parallel structure as mentioned in the article being one of
| many such examples), and Writing Better Lyrics which gives a
| lot of tools that helps for all forms of writing not only song
| lyrics.
| posharma wrote:
| How do you folks deal with the following? I borrow books from the
| local library but can't mark or underline anything in the book to
| go back and refer. How do you then keep notes to retain the
| salient points of the book? Maintaining notes separately breaks
| the flow of reading. Suggestions appreciated.
| EricE wrote:
| I used to keep a pad and paper - now I can snap a picture with
| my iPad and then annotate on it with the Pencil in my own
| writing. Writing is far more effective at retention than typing
| so I stick with it. It's not as convenient as writing directly
| in your own book, but it's pretty darn close. And if it's a
| subject of importance I'll just get my own copy of the book. I
| recently re-discovered independent used book sites like
| abebooks.com - it's a challenge to not go nuts :)
| okareaman wrote:
| I second this. I take pictures with my phone to save for
| further study.
|
| Edit: I use https://www.onlineocr.net/ a lot when I later
| want the text
| humen99 wrote:
| >Maintaining notes separately breaks the flow of reading.
|
| I would push back on this point. You do not have to keep a flow
| of reading. If there is something that stands out to you, then
| it is noteworthy enough to pause and think about it for a bit.
| When I read books I am waiting for moments like this, as
| something the author wrote resonates with me. In my opinion,
| that's what makes reading fun and valuable. After you reflect
| on the line you can re-read to get back into the flow until you
| are pleasantly provoked by the next piece :).
| yepguy wrote:
| If you'd prefer the low-tech route, try this: Buy notecards for
| your thoughts and leave them in the book as you go. Then before
| you return it, review them to make sure you've captured enough
| context that they make sense without the physical book.
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