What exactly do you call "reading a book" ?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I chose the second option, although for most books, it's more true for the first. But if I'm reading a romance with way too many sex scenes, I do start skipping over those.
...

but that's the GOOD PARTS!

[kennyc]

P.S. I took a speed-reading course long-long ago (but not far away) and can apply that a bit still if I'm skimming something, but have long ago slipped back to my normal (1st Gear Low) reading speed.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by kya

Usually I skip the introduction because sometimes they talk too much about the plot and I don't want to know anything in advance but if I really liked the book then I go back reading the intro.

I once read the intro first, and that was one thing I regret about Sans Famille.

[coderserdar]

reading a book is so serious job
because of this we should read the book carefully...

[astra]

I usually read any foreword, introductions etc., things that do not belong to the story itself after I finish the book.

[ucfgrad93]

I read every word.

[Tattncat]

I read every word from front to back including several versions of the Bible and text books as well. I can't help it, it's just the way I'm wired.

However, if it is an author who I suspect is new to writing, I will skim a portion first. If the spelling and formatting is too awful, I will delete it without reading it. I have had to do this only once.

[anjirlly]

As I age, I try to choose my fiction more carefully and savor every word. However, life's too short for bad novels, so I'll skip to the end to see if there's enough redeeming interest to bother with the middle.

For a mercenary, but effective approach to getting through the enormous amount of nonfiction reading expected of graduate students, see Paul Edwards's pdf "How To Read a Book" at this site:
http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/essays.html

[allinhi/]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I chose the second option, although for most books, it's more true for the first. But if I'm reading a romance with way too many sex scenes, I do start skipping over those.

I do a periodic re-read of the JD Robb "Eve Dallas" series, and I regularly skip the Eve-and-Roarke sex scenes in those.

What?, some would say thats like buying playboy for the articles! Actually as a guy thats why genre romance's aren't appealing. The series you mentioned aren't, they are mystery with some romance conventions. Not one of my favorites, but ok in a pinch.

This "I read every words, sentence, page, chapter of every book, no exception" except for a few books where I just skimmed a few parts.

[allinhi/]

I may have cast a false vote. I voted I read every word. Now that I have read the posts, I guess not. If I don't like a book I sometimes abandon it. I read every word up to that point, but if 1/2 through the book and dislike it, thats enough. I also don't always read all the short stories in a collection. I don't know if I am a fast reader, about 75-80 pages an hour for fiction, but I don't always eat everything on my dinner plate either, life is to short and I know there are so many great books that I will never have time to read them all. As it is I always have a book with me and probably read 12-16 hours per week.

[allinhi/]

Originally Posted by kennyc

P.S. I took a speed-reading course long-long ago (but not far away) and can apply that a bit still if I'm skimming something, but have long ago slipped back to my normal (1st Gear Low) reading speed.

In the commercials you always see their fingers tracking down the page. Can you stil do it with an touch screen reader?

[CWatkinsNash]

I'm quite amused by the implication in a few posts that it's abnormal to consume large amounts of reading materials in a given time frame, or to read the entire thing. While I do have OCD tendencies, that's mostly restricted to organizing my ebooks; it doesn't really come into play while reading them. Once I start a book, I read the words as they come. It's not a conscious effort to hit every single word, it just flows that way. I rarely feel the urge to skim unless it's non-fiction reading purely for information, but in those cases I'm not really intending to read the entire thing anyway.

I can easily read as many as a few hundred pages on a non-work day, and there were a few periods this year when I was reading more than a novel each day. I'm not consistent in that regard, however. Sometimes I'll go a month with hardly any reading.

Reading is just like anything else - it requires more effort from some people than others. That doesn't mean that there's anything "wrong" with readers at either end of the effort spectrum.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by allinhi/

In the commercials you always see their fingers tracking down the page. Can you stil do it with an touch screen reader?

Depends on the UI, eh? Works fine on my Sony 505 (non-touch-screen)

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by allinhi/

In the commercials you always see their fingers tracking down the page. Can you stil do it with an touch screen reader?

Well, I imagine it would be frustrating to do that on my KT, heh. I'd be pulling up menus and flipping pages by accident all the time, I'm sure.

I actually do use my finger to mark the paragraph I'm on when reading physical books. But I find I don't need to do that with an ereader - I use a bigger font on my KT which seems to negate the need to use my finger.

But then again, I'm not an exceptionally fast reader.