Quote:
Originally Posted by empyrking
I have a long reading list and sometimes I just wondered if reading faster would be more beneficial.
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I guess it depends on your definition of beneficial. To me, reading for fun, beneficial means more fun. When I was in school, a slow reader who had to read a LOT, beneficial meant reading more, which meant reading faster. Now it means maximizing my enjoyment from what I read. Speed and quantity just don't have much to do with that.
Sartre's novel "Nausea" had a character who intended to read all the books in the library in alphabetical order. I don't remember much detail about that, having read it 30 or 40 years ago, but I think the guy finally made it into the B's before he realized there were more new books being written all the time starting with B than he could keep up with, let alone reading the older books or catching up with the new books starting with A. He needed speed reading.
I also have a long "to be read" list and, to make it worse, about half the books I read were never on that list. I have no intention or expectation of catching up. When I finish a book I look for something to read next. I look in my TBR list and I look on Amazon and I look in my Kindle and finally I pick one and then I take my time with it and enjoy it. You might almost say I milk it.
I guess there's nothing wrong with a productivity mindset where reading is concerned. I don't think it's for me, though.
Barry