PLEASE HELP: Anxiety before reading important books

[FatGuy]

Hey guys, this issue has been crippling my ability to learn so I'd appreciate any help!

This is what happens: I'll sit down and choose an important book to read like a book that I've been told contains a lot of great educational material that'll help me in my life. Then, while I'm reading the book I keep thinking to myself "Okay, this is important so I gotta make sure I remember this" and I end up not absorbing the material contained in the book. However, if I'm reading something I don't label as important like posts on a sports internet forum I'm a member or some junk magazine article I feel zero anxiety and I'm able to remember 100% of the details of what I read.

This only happens when I'm reading books I've labelled important.

Thanks for any help!

[HarryT]

Have you tried taking notes if the material is important? That's easier than trying to simply remember things. I'm doing a part-time degree course for which I have to read a lot of academic books, and I always take notes while reading them. You don't have to rely on your memory.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

Hey guys, this issue has been crippling my ability to learn so I'd appreciate any help!

This is what happens: I'll sit down and choose an important book to read like a book that I've been told contains a lot of great educational material that'll help me in my life. Then, while I'm reading the book I keep thinking to myself "Okay, this is important so I gotta make sure I remember this" and I end up not absorbing the material contained in the book. However, if I'm reading something I don't label as important like posts on a sports internet forum I'm a member or some junk magazine article I feel zero anxiety and I'm able to remember 100% of the details of what I read.

This only happens when I'm reading books I've labelled important.

Thanks for any help!

The obvious soloution is to stop reading important books.

If you insist on attempting to learn things though - have you tried audiobooks, reading in shorter chunks, or breaking up by reading a magazine in between chapters, different people learn better with different methods.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Have you tried taking notes if the material is important? That's easier than trying to simply remember things. I'm doing a part-time degree course for which I have to read a lot of academic books, and I always take notes while reading them. You don't have to rely on your memory.

And the act of writing notes helps you memorize the important data.
You could also try bookmarking or highlighting the important text and read it once a day until you have it memorized.
Apache

[Cinisajoy]

Don't think of them as important. Just treat them like your other reading. Take notes too.

Now are these books important as in college/job related or just books someone else thinks would be important in your life.

If the first: take notes. If the second: just read the book and don't worry about the "important" part.
The more you stress the less you will retain.

[Froide]

Responders have provided both a great chuckle (i.e., "stop reading important books") and several pieces of good advice. Several have suggested taking notes. However, you may be wondering how to take notes when reading important material.

I get the impression you're not referring to books assigned for academic or professional training, and you won't be tested on them. Whether that's true or not, it's a fact that various types of reading material require different reading, learning, and note-taking strategies. Therefore, I am providing several resources you might find useful:

*Check out some of the note-taking guides found here
* Review the Critical Reading test-prep guides for the ACT and SAT (which are applicable to everyone, not just test-takers) by SparkNotes and by Gary Gruber (NOTE: all of SparkNotes' books can be read online, free of charge, at www.Sparknotes.com!)
*Read or watch the video of How to Read a Book
*Read How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
*Read summaries and analyses of the books you are finding difficult to read (either because they're dense, boring, or complicated), by such resources as CliffsNotes, enotes.com, SparkNotes, and heck, even Wikipedia
*If you really can't get through an "important" book that you'd like to learn more about, by reading it, then consider watching its play or movie adaptation.

[LovesMacs]

Why are you reading those books: are they required for school/work, or are they books that you've been told are classics/good for you/etc.?

As other people said, take notes. If feasible, try to summarize the essential points of a chapter in your own words.

If you are reading these books more out of personal enrichment and a desire for enjoyment, try not to get too bogged down in note-taking.

I do suggest making a list of characters if you are reading fiction. This helped me enormously when I read War and Peace.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

I do suggest making a list of characters if you are reading fiction. This helped me enormously when I read War and Peace.

My printed edition of "War and Peace" came with its own bookmark with all the rather convoluted family trees printed on it. Very useful .

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by HarryT

My printed edition of "War and Peace" came with its own bookmark with all the rather convoluted family trees printed on it. Very useful .

That is brilliant!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rkomar

That is brilliant!

It's this edition, if you want one . (Although I didn't pay anything like as much as people seem to be charging for it now.)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0307700755

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

My printed edition of "War and Peace" came with its own bookmark with all the rather convoluted family trees printed on it. Very useful .

I've been known to screengrab an important map or family tree, and make it the cover of the ebook. Then all I have to do to check it is sleep my Kobo and take a peek.

[Nancy Fulda]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

[B]like a book that I've been told contains a lot of great educational material that'll help me in my life.

This is your sticking point right here. The important work was selected for you by someone else: you're reading it out of a sense of duty rather than because it truly interests you.

The sports forums and flashy magazines, in contrast, are topics that snared your interest and convinced you to read even though they have no recognized societal value.

So I think what you're experiencing is perfectly normal. We naturally gravitate to the types of information best suited to our psyche, and tend to remember that information better.

Don't get me wrong! I think it's wonderful to read classic and significant manuscripts, and hope you'll continue doing so. But don't get down on yourself because the learning curve is higher there than on the stuff you've picked out all on your own. I have, quite frankly, forgotten 90% of Les Miserables and nearly 100% of War and Peace. I still think I'm a better person for having read them. These things have a way of sinking into your subconscious.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

Hey guys, this issue has been crippling my ability to learn so I'd appreciate any help!

This is what happens: I'll sit down and choose an important book to read like a book that I've been told contains a lot of great educational material that'll help me in my life. Then, while I'm reading the book I keep thinking to myself "Okay, this is important so I gotta make sure I remember this" and I end up not absorbing the material contained in the book. However, if I'm reading something I don't label as important like posts on a sports internet forum I'm a member or some junk magazine article I feel zero anxiety and I'm able to remember 100% of the details of what I read.

This only happens when I'm reading books I've labelled important.

Thanks for any help!

First of all don't go into a book with that state of mind. As someone who has used books all her life to learn from because I was denied a real education due my mother's former mental issues. You open the book and ask to yourself "What can I learn from this that can be applied to my own life?" Also just because someone says a book is very important and will help you doesn't mean it really is. I remember almost 16 years ago when I got married I got bombarded from everyone with books on marriage. People told me you have to read and do what these books say. I think I read two before I put them all away because they didn't apply to me.

Go into the book confident that you can take from it what is needed and write down or highlight like others have said what you want to remember. Take it slow. Non Fiction isn't meant to be read fast. Read it and then use it as a reference guide. When reading non fiction I keep my another tablet or laptop near by to stop and google things to get a better mental image of what I am reading. Sometimes I find better articles on the internet that help me learn better than some "How To" book.

Not every book will be a good fit for you and for every book that isn't there always one out there to replace it. So don't fret or worry just relax and take your time, making highlights and notes along the way knowing you can always go back later to reabsorb it.

[FatGuy]

Thanks a lot for the replies! I'm still reading them now.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Don't think of them as important. Just treat them like your other reading. Take notes too.

Now are these books important as in college/job related or just books someone else thinks would be important in your life.

If the first: take notes. If the second: just read the book and don't worry about the "important" part.
The more you stress the less you will retain.

Thanks! Some are college related, but some are just 'educational' books that are highly recommended to me and when it comes to actually reading the book I get a tonne of anxiety. How can I reduce the anxiety I feel and be able to read the books?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

Thanks a lot for the replies! I'm still reading them now.



Thanks! Some are college related, but some are just 'educational' books that are highly recommended to me and when it comes to actually reading the book I get a tonne of anxiety. How can I reduce the anxiety I feel and be able to read the books?

Ok the college books I get the anxiety.
The highly recommended books why get anxious?
Think of it this way, do you have to give someone all your money if you don't remember everything in this highly recommended book? Will they throw you in jail over this book? Will they throw you out of your house?
Will you starve if you don't remember this book?

On the college books, yes they are vaguely important to your future. That being the next 16 weeks or so. Just take copious notes on them.

On the other books, they don't mean a darn thing to your future. I mean if you read it and get something out of it great, if not, you haven't lost anything. So quit worrying about what others think of a book and just read it for pleasure if you want to read it. If you don't want to read it, say thanks for the suggestion and go on.
Heck I could tell you that Dale Carnegie is highly recommended. (How to win friends and influence people.) Personally, I never could get into that book. Or Steven Covey's the 7 habits of highly effective people. Personally didn't get much out of that one either.
Heck I get more out of a Chicken Soup for the Soul book.

So hun, if a non-college related book is making you anxious, just don't read it.