Forgetting how to read

[ottdmk]

I'm lucky. I don't get into "the zone" as often as I used to... but I still get there quite a bit. I find my Kobo great for that, but other gizmos work too... Marvel Unlimited comics on my tablet for example. Or Girl Genius pdfs.

[BookCat]

Unlike most people, I don't possess a smart phone. My mobile is very old and will only call and text; it can't take or recieve pictures, film, or contact the internet. I do all that on my laptop. So that has had no effect on my reading.
However, I haven't read much for many months, focussing mostly on writing and drawing. Over the last week, I've been reading for several hours a day and noticed how much it's tiring my brain. I keep wanting to sleep!
I have been totally absorbed by the book, an early whodunnit (That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green) and wanted to continue reading till I find out who did do it, but I have to keep resting my brain!
I've probably lost reading stamina during the months I haven't read very much - a bit like losing physical stamina if you stop exercising. Maybe this is what happened to Michael Harris, the guy who wrote the article?

[anacreon]

Originally Posted by June

I have experienced this, and it was awful: while I was on chemo, it was basically impossible to concentrate on a book. I managed to read some short stories, but it was a struggle. Focus was only for a few minutes max. So a whole year wasted while I “could have read” it was a very strange experience - I am normally always reading, the back of a milk carton of nothing else is handy.

My mother had another type of medical related reading problem. She had patches (I think it was morphine) she used at will to manage her pain. A few months into this she complained to her pain doctor that she hated having to choose between manageable pain and being able to read and he told her that was because morphine narrowed the visual field, which nobody had mentioned before while explaining its other secondary effects.