/lit/ - Literature

Well, personally I don't like reading THAT fast, it ruins the deeper feel of me getting into the story/book.

and i would say about a good 4-5 minutes per page depending on how big the font is.

oh and I can either do the one or the other.

nice pic by the way; )

I've spent most of a morning on two pages of Kant before, and still not really grasped it it. I think it's the depth not the speed, though a bit more speed would be nice.

>>1340993

>Well, personally I don't like reading THAT fast, it ruins the deeper feel of me getting into the story/book.

But I have a feeling people can get that same feeling at greater speeds.

Or at least can fully understand a page and be satisfied faster than I can, because I'd need to re-read or slow down my reading to grasp the idea or scene.

When I'm thinking about whether I can get a chapter done before the library closes or something I assume about a minute per page.

When I'm thinking on the scale of "how many books could I read", I just assume 1-3 average-novel-length in a week, because the real limit is the amount of time you can spend each day, not the time it takes to do the reading. (Incidentally, "speed reading" is bullshit.)

As for visuals, I find that the image in my head is a highly mutable stream of action more than a single picture. Like a Michel Gondry film or something.

I visualize very strongly and easily. I remember books I've read more as hazy dreams than texts.

>>1340989
What the fuck?! I know her from high school!

WHAT THE SHIT ARE YOU DOING MEAGAN?!

I'm interested in the visualization thing. I have poor visualization skills, it's a conscious struggle to keep any image at all in my mind. I think it might be because I didn't read much when I was younger.

>>1341019
Or it could be you didn't read much as a kid because you didn't visualize, which made reading boring.

>Reading speed is something that I feel is important because it determines how many books you can read in your lifetime.

Its not really this important and you shouldnt care about such things. Just concentrate on getting most from the books you read and dont count numbers. In the end, we all will spend last 10 years of our life re-reading our favourite books.
>Finally, do you think it becomes easier to do the more you read?
Its a fact than reading speed increases as you read much.

>>1341019

I think maybe the visual parts of my brain are just fucked. As well as zero visualization skills, I also have a pretty severe case of visual snow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow)) which can make reading a struggle.

Anyone else have this?

>>1341025
It might be you just have a bad imagination. Could that be it?

>>1341025
Practice drawing from mind. It helps to make visualization easier

>>1341027

No, that's not "it", that's just a shittified generalisation of what I've said.

>>1341030
Why do you take it as an insult? Some people obviously have stronger imaginations than others. and I didn't imply you said you had bad imagination, I simply threw out the idea that this could be the reason you struggle to visualize books.

I see no reason that you couldn't get a better one through reading more, or picking up a creative hobby.

I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.

>>1341033

Unless you live under a rock you know that saying "bad imagination" carries tabbo, negative connotations.

>>1341050
I lol'd!

>>1341050
Oh, hi Mr. Allen

Average, which included americans, is around 300. For people who like reading it's closer to 500

>>1341050
>He can't speed read
>>>/b/
Don't come back

> Reading speed is something that I feel is important because it determines how many books you can read in your lifetime.

dude, get some real problems...

and yes, the more you read a certain genre / subject, the easier and faster you will be able to read it. But only up to a certain point.

>>1341068
>>1341068
>he doesn't get the joke

>>1341050
>>1341050
hello Mr Woody Allen

>>1341085

>>1341099
>>1341099

>>1341107
>He expects people to open a gif

>>1341114
>>1341114

>his computer can't handle opening a .gif

>>1341118
>He realised that no-one opens gifs and used a jpg
>He got butthurt over this fact

>>1341122
you've just got a slow computer.

Enjoy the lack of sexilady

>>1340989
I read very slow. And I can't read that much per time I read either.
My friend can read a 250-pager in 2 days, I need two weeks.
I read a maximum of 60 pages per time I read and I don't read every day. I often think rather much about everyting I read.
I like reading short stories as these often come to the interesting point in books faster than usual books does.
I often have severe trouble finishing a longer book too, as it feels that I've read all the good parts and I just wanna read the last ten pages but I may miss something from the rest of the end.
For example:
I read the Master and Margarita until the last 80 pages in June, it's now December and I still haven't finished it.

Depends on syntax. Marx is a bastard for complex syntax, or at least his translators are.
Shakespeare has more advanced syntax too (maybe that's just because you need to have a talent for wording things in an eccentric way in order to keep the rhyme and rythm of a poem). Plus, Shakespeare used those now archaic words that feel like you've gone over speed bump every time you see one of them.

Difference between Shakespeare and Marx in this respect is that Shakespeare uncommon syntax is to his advantage whereas Marx's just makes his points needlessly vague. Bad writing imo, but Marx is one of Hegel's progeny so what do you expect? (Compare this to Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, who have very lucid writing styles).

It depends on why I'm reading. If it's just for pleasure, I average about 100 pages/hour. At that speed, I have no problem visualizing what's going on. I sometimes feel that I visualize too much - I'll get wrapped up in what I'm reading and have a crystal clear picture of what's going on in my head, and I'll be completely oblivious to the world. Sometimes my cat will come and jump up on my lap when I'm like that, and I'll jump because I didn't see her wander over to me and it breaks my concentration.

I generally tend to read non-fiction more slowly, and if what I'm reading isn't very well written or isn't translated well, it'll take me longer to read.

Keep in mind that I started reading at a very young age - by 3 I was reading kid books on my own and at 5 when I was in Kindergarten, I was reading Nancy Drew chapter books by myself - and since I started reading, I've very rarely not been in the middle of a book.

100 pages/hour is average, imo.

>>1341177
IF IT'S DIALOGUE DRIVEN, SURE.

>>1341177
Stop reading these pocketbooks with 15 lines on a page for a while

>>1341183
how does one read a pocketbook????

>>1341183
NOPE.
I read normal books, son. Standard-sized. Most philosophy or classics, what you call "literary fiction".
No excuses, bitches.
100 pages per hour is average.

>>1341186
EH, HE'S PROBABLY RIGHT. I DO THE MAJORITY OF MY READING IN 'BITE-SIZE' BITS, SO IT'S HARD FOR ME TO DETERMINE THE SPEED IN WHICH I DO IT. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK THOUGH, SINCE I'M READING A SHIT-TONNE OF CLASSICS MYSELF.

>>1341189
YOU'RE FUCKING RIGHT, BRO. FUCKIN A. HYPOTHETICAL HI-5.

>>1341190
SO WHAT ARE YOU READING?

>>1341186
Have you perchance read Walter Benjamin, or maybe William Gaddis..?

>>1341186
Dude, you have your head so far up your ass that I am surprised you can read anything at all.

Lets say you need 30 seconds for a page.
OK. THis in certainly manageable.
Understanding whats written is a different thing, though.
Take a look at this philosophical text:
http://web.mac.com/titpaul/Site/Phenomenology_of_Spirit_page_files/Phenomenology%20of%20Spirit%20%28
entire%20text%29.pdf

You are welcome to start with the preface.
Now tell me again how fast you could understand a page (its bilingual, so in fact two pages) of this.
Easy.
Now go to the beginning of the first chapter (p 90 in the pdf).
How do you feel now?
Be honest to yourself, not to us!

>>1341205
I read this in German, it took me 2-3 hours before I had even a sense of comprehending the first chapter. Preface is even worse! It's actually easier in English.

>>1340989

spreeder.com

Beat your inner-voice and you'll end up retaining comprehension but going through text at a higher rate.

>>1341169

OP Here.

If what you say is true, I envy you greatly.

When I read a page and time myself, it takes about a minute. If I was to time myself reading 30 pages it would probably take an hour.

I always find myself re-reading passages and stopping to conceptualize things clearly.

I wish I could have read more as a child (I wish I could have done a lot of things as a child that would have benefited me tenfold in the future) but now my only hope is reading often and consistently.