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/lit/ - Literature

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16307910 No.16307910 [Reply] [Original]

Why is /lit/ obsessed with the amounts of books one reads a year or how fast one reads a book?

Can't /lit/ see that this is just another symptom of modernity, the excessive and ridiculous need for quantification, efficiency and speed?

Those who've never stood still and reflected over a page, an aphorism or sentence for some time - perhaps even a day or two - but instead rushed back to finish the book for 'muuh I want to read x books a year', those are the true retards.

Read slower, read less, think more, rest more.

>> No.16307917

>>16307910
Good post OP. Those who read the most usually think the least.

>> No.16307923
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16307923

>>16307910
>muh modernity bad

>> No.16307938

>>16307923
Nobody said it was bad. However, it is obvious that certain parts of modernity can be bad. Things like feeling pressure to read a certain amount of books each year or maintaing a certain speed is self-defeating for the actual purpose of reading itself.

Idk why I am even giving a serious response to this.

>> No.16307962

>>16307923
How do I wish a poster like you to get well without sounding smarmy, condescending or dishonest?

>> No.16307980
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16307980

>>16307923
>modernity good

>> No.16308021

>>16307910
Ironically, the greatest advantage a reader can have is being dyslexic. The dyslexic is forced by his own physiology to slow down and focus on each thing he reads, be it literature or science. I have a slight case of dyslexia and I have tried to find ways to make my case worse. Unfortunately, all of the things I've found about amplifying the effects of dyslexia are all about just adding distractions which is the exact opposite of what I am trying to do.

>> No.16308023
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16308023

>>16307923
>abnegating Tradition

>> No.16308027

>>16307910
Don’t you get it OP? One day you are going to die your time on earth is limited. I’m already 22. If you don’t maximize efficiency you will be left behind. I have to... CONSOOOOOOOM

>> No.16308028

>>16307910
I generally agree, although it is possible to miss the forest for the trees if you read too slowly. Giving a book a quick read will help you get a solid overall impression and it is more enjoyable for most works of fiction, just like watching a movie without pausing constantly. Ideally you'd mark everything noteable and reread those passages, reflect on them, etc. after finishing the whole book.

>> No.16308045

>>16307910
true because of this I've gone to only reading one book per week.

>> No.16308046

>>16307910
Only a couple of the newer anons and the psueds do this thankfully a good amount of /lit/ still understands this. Nice thread though everytime I saw those threads highlighting the same thing I always thought in my head,”How can you actually absorb and contemplate anything ‘reading’ that many books?”

>> No.16308057

>>16308021
I wouldn't call it the greatest advantage but it surely can be turned into a strength like you mention. Aggravating dyslexia for that reasion sounds a bit over the top though.

>> No.16308067

>>16308028
I agree, it also depends on the book. I'm currently reading Bukowksi which I am reading at a fairly fast pace. However, I do stop myself now and then to let the material breath. At the same time I am reading Hobbes which I am basically reading in slow-motion. Certain pages can take more than 20 minutes. All depends on the book, but I would say that taking breaks more often than not is beneficial, although sometimes there can be books you just decimate and that should be allright as well.

I guess it's more about the reasons for reading fast than anything else. If you read fast because of a pressure to read quickly you're a moron. If it goes naturally, more power to you.

>> No.16308077

>>16308046
Indeed. Schopenhauer has written something about this that you'll might find interesting.

"When we read, someone else thinks for us; we repeat merely his mental process."

http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEESchopenReadingTable.pdf

>> No.16308112

>>16307910
If I'm reading a good book, I'll read it quite quickly, but for a great book I take my time. I have spent a few months reading War and Peace and probably have spent more time thinking about what I've read than actually reading.

>> No.16308141

>>16308077
The same is applied to television and film. We are giving our autonomy and attention to someone else for a set period of time.The director/writer/cast are all controlling our metal faculties during the process of watching something, and hopefully that thing is so good a true sense of escapism emerges in which ego death occurs and we are no longer ourselves but we are the thing we are watching in real time.

>> No.16308173

I agree. Comprehension should always trump reading speed. It doesn't matter how many books you read in a year if you don't even remember them. It's similar to how normies will binge watch Netflix and then completely forget the plot to everything.

>> No.16308178

>>16307923
I highly doubt you are a modernist