How can I read this boring, difficult book without suffering too much?

[Beginner-reader]

Hello,

I'm currently reading articles and books for my research paper and the book my teacher told me to read is extremely difficult.
In fact, it's so difficult that I'm only able to read 6 to 7 pages per 15 minutes. This is partly due to the fact that I'm trying to memorize phonetic rules by heart, as it's also a book I have to study. The thing is, the rules keep piling up.

According to my calculations, at that pace, I'll be done in six hours and fifteen minutes.
To make matters worse, this book is on paper, and the print is pretty small. It's much more tiring to read than a book on my Kindle.

I've been reading standing up because I sit way too much during the day. It also allows me to stand directly in front of a window, which is nice light-wise.

I've been thinking of listening to music while reading the book, but it distracts me too much. Maybe someone can recommend an instrumental track?

I just got a Kindle and I've only read one book on it so far, and it was a short one.
I'd really like to have more time to relax before my mid-terms. I don't see myself working for the next four days...

Is there anything I can do to ease the burden of having to read one of the driest books on earth? Don't get me wrong, I love phonetics (and some passages are just delicious) but I'm not big on reading definitions upon definitions, especially when they are accompanied by a list of rules and words.

[ucfgrad93]

I listen to instrumental music when I was reading for my masters program. Music with words distracts me. The two albums I listen to are Sunday Morning Coffee and Sometimes Paris.

I hope this helps and good luck.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Beginner-reader

I'm currently reading articles and books for my research paper and the book my teacher told me to read is extremely difficult.
In fact, it's so difficult that I'm only able to read 6 to 7 pages per 15 minutes. This is partly due to the fact that I'm trying to memorize phonetic rules by heart, as it's also a book I have to study. The thing is, the rules keep piling up.

According to my calculations, at that pace, I'll be done in six hours and fifteen minutes.

A little over six hours doesn't seem like a terribly long time to have to suffer. My honest advice would be to just get on with it. Life isn't an endless round of pleasure, and whatever job you end up doing is almost certainly going to involve long periods doing things that you do find boring.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A little over six hours doesn't seem like a terribly long time to have to suffer. My honest advice would be to just get on with it. Life isn't an endless round of pleasure, and whatever job you end up doing is almost certainly going to involve long periods doing things that you do find boring.

This. The sooner you start the sooner you are done. I always start with the harder or more boring stuff first. Once it is out of the way everything else is gravy.
Apache

[kennyc]

Speed Read? Cliffs Notes?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A little over six hours doesn't seem like a terribly long time to have to suffer. My honest advice would be to just get on with it. Life isn't an endless round of pleasure, and whatever job you end up doing is almost certainly going to involve long periods doing things that you do find boring.

I third this.
Build up a tolerance for the mundane. You're going to have a bit of it around to contend with all your life.

[fjtorres]

Background instrumental music, classical: Dvorak's Slavonic Danses or some other "wake the dead" piece. Once you get rolling you won't notice time passing.

You may also want to reconsider your methodology: stop interrupting yourself to annotate/take notes. Instead, just read through the book to appreciate the narrative on its terms and then return to do the technical authopsy; doing both at the same time means you won't do justice to either.

[robertc88]

By the sound of your post and something I may have picked on seeing your moniker, how much do you read in general to begin with? One indication was you just got a Kindle (congrats) and your first read was a short one. And you generally stand up? Seems like that may be an indication of being somewhat antsy, not sure how many do that regardless of the material.

Is this the first struggle you have had? If not, how did you get through others? This material appears difficult and other methods may not even be applicable to this one given the difficulty.

I am not trying to pry per se or be critical. If more was known about your reading in general, maybe assistance might be easier to come by here. Don't respond obviously if I've crossed a line.

[afv011]

I sometimes listen to the relaxation channel on sky.fm, it's a nice background music for reading.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by afv011

I sometimes listen to the relaxation channel on sky.fm, it's a nice background music for reading.

What? No Soothing sounds of Penguin coos?

[banjobama]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A little over six hours doesn't seem like a terribly long time to have to suffer. My honest advice would be to just get on with it. Life isn't an endless round of pleasure, and whatever job you end up doing is almost certainly going to involve long periods doing things that you do find boring.

Very much this.

I do feel you pain.

Getting off Mobileread/the internet in general will help.

[kennyc]

[pidgeon92]

I - for one - am very curious as to the title of this tome.

[dakini]

break it up into chunks, and let yourself have a break every half hour or hour.

you'll remember a lot more if you break it up. otherwise, you get fatigued and your brain cannot absorb the material as readily.

also, for remembering lots of rules, don't be afraid to take notes. education studies say you retain only 30% of what you hear, 40% of what you carefully read, and 80% of what you write. so, taking notes helps aid memorisation of rules.

[BWinmill]

I must be a slow reader since it usually takes me a couple of minutes to read a page for information, and I've read books where it could easily take over an hour to understand a single page. (Granted, those were heavy in mathematical physics.)

Anyhow, one thing I've done is breaking up reading sessions. I set a 15 minute alarm, then read for two intervals and get up and move around for one interval.