Posted By orchard on March 5, 2010

Unless you are a professional speed reader,  chances are that I read faster than you.  And not just the more obvious aspect of words per minute, but also tenaciously.  If I am eating breakfast at home, unless it’s a family meal (as in we are all sitting together), then I am reading.  I freely admit to taking whatever book I am reading at the moment to the bathroom if I think that I am going to be in there for more than a minute or so.

I read while cooking, waiting for my computer to boot (which is rare–I typically leave it on), during commercials (exception: the super bowl, in which case I read during the game and watch the commercials–or I just ignore the whole thing).  I read at night before bed (last night I stayed up an extra hour or so reading). I also read when I am walking.  People tell me that this is a bad habit, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that.  In fact, I’ve fallen while walking without a book FAR more than while reading.  I do not, however, read while I am driving.  People who do that deserve exactly what they get.  It’s as bad or worse as driving while intoxicated.

And when I am reading, I move through the pages quickly, but never skimming.  Skimming leads to a person needing to re-read pages because a useful bit of information was missed.

At work, about 25-35% of my job is reading journal articles and test manuals (the other part being WRITING journal articles, test questions & manuals and more).  I re-read Robert Jordan’s massive series recently, going through it in fairly short order.

I have never understood people who don’t enjoy reading, or that say they don’t have time to read.  I DO understand people who read slowly because of some problem or other.  I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are highly dyslexic, and I don’t blame them for reading slowly.

In fact, reading quickly isn’t necessarily a virtue.  It means that I have less overall time with the story, the characters, and the setting.  It means that even a lengthy series of books is but a passing friend.  It means that without a solid local public library (I appreciate my librarians more than I can possibly say) I would have long exhausted my ability to acquire books at the rate I read–not having hundreds of dollars to spare on my habit each month.

There are upsides that are undeniable, however.  I have read a lot of books in my life–likely numbering in the thousands, but I can’t be sure.  When a new book comes out, I never have to wait long to finish the one I am on to read it.  Because of this I have been exposed to a myriad of writing styles and stories.  Reading quickly means that I can take a risk in getting an author I don’t know much about–I won’t be spending a month on their stuff, and if I don’t like it, I’ll know that much sooner (of course, with few exceptions, once I start a book, I finish it–only if it egregiously vulgar or poorly written will I abandon it).

Of course, the point of all this, is that I believe that being a quick reader allows me to be a better writer.  Of course, that’s not the only requirement for being a good writer, but it helps.  I’ve noticed that the big names in writing have very different approaches to reading.  Orson Scott Card (whose various columns are quite insightful) seems to read a bit of everything.  I know that David Eddings once wrote that he avoids reading fantasy, though that’s what he writes.

Personally I read largely in the speculative fiction area when I’m reading for pleasure (most people might call this genre ’science fiction & fantasy’, but that’s another post).  There are two major reasons for this: first I enjoy seeing what worlds others will create and second I appreciate that there are some moral, political, social and ethical dilemmas that are more easily presented as part of a plot on a fictional other world than as dealing with examples on our own planet. Of course, I also like to get away from reading journal articles with titles like “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Endophenotypes, Structure, and Etiological Pathways”.  I just like a mental break, and speculative fiction allows me that, while keeping my mind engaged.

So, I may read faster than you, but chances what you read is more carefully selected.  Or you might actually read faster than me.  Who knows?

Categories: Personal
Tags: metacognition, reading