Thread 24616164

I read a lot but my reading speed is pretty slow so I cant read many books. I want to read more and retain more but I don't know how to. I tried not subvocalizing but I keep slipping back into it and even when I managed to do it I can't remember shit afterwards. Should I just accept I'm retarded and move on?

Just read out loud. Reading speed is a grift

>>24616172
but then I can't read as many books as I'd like to!

>>24616164 (OP)
hit the meditation mat lil nigga your mind is blunt .

>>24616240
I tried meditation but I can't stand still longer than 5 minutes

>>24616164 (OP)
I had the same question and everybody roasted me. I understand your predicament. To read faster use your finger or a pen to track which word you are on and move faster than you normally read. To help retain what you read, visualize everything as you read it. I find reading this way actually gets me more involved into the story since reading becomes an actual engaging exercise instead of just lazily saying the words in my head but not paying attention.

Note: Getting rid of subvocalization seems like a meme to me or maybe it is useful but only for the top 1% of the top 1% in terms of achieving speed.

>>24616267
Then work on it nigga.

Reading speed doesn't matter as much a consistent reading. Speed will come after repetition

Just quit your job and read slowly, but for long hours

>>24616267
So sit still for 5 minutes until it becomes easy, then go up to 7 minutes, then to 10, etc.

>>24616286
>To help retain what you read, visualize everything as you read it. I find reading this way actually gets me more involved into the story since reading becomes an actual engaging exercise instead of just lazily saying the words in my head but not paying attention.
I've had this same experience, but as an addendum for OP: this is likely to rapidly fatigue your mind when you first start doing it. Do it until concentration becomes difficult, and just like with meditation, gradually increase the amount. If you take long breaks from reading, you will lose the mental endurance that enables this, so like this anon says >>24616289 consistency is important, speed will come.

Read in phrases not words. Keep reading until you can scan a whole sentence at a glance.

>>24616164 (OP)
Speed and comprehension are inverse.
I'd say keep them in balance and if you're reading fiction, then actively try to visualize in your mind eye the words that are on the page however vague visuals you may get.
It's much more fun to read like that but you'll definitely lose speed.
So choose your books wisely and stop if you don't feel the book after 50-ish pages.

>>24616267
What happens after 5 minutes? I genuinely don't get it, is the urge to stop meditating just unbearable?

>>24616164 (OP)
I think this is an insecurity of the new and inexperienced reader. Read consistently for a year, even half of one, and you'll see how much easier it becomes to go from seeing words to seeing sentences to scanning over entire sentiments without losing track of the ideas.

That said, I don't value skimming or skipping over words, but you'll get faster without fail by practice. Trust in the process and inspect how much you read vs. how much you rot your mind by thoughtless consumption.

>>24616267
that's exactly the proof that your concentration and poise is weak. sit five minutes and sit another minute more each day for fifteen days. it's a small investment of sowing for unimaginable quantities of reaping

>>24616164 (OP)
>guys how do I speed up the movie in mpv? watching shit at 1x speed is just so fucking slow, I want to watch more movies
Reading speed only matters when reading non-fiction for practical purposes. For fiction you want to enjoy the moment, let the words linger, feel the sentences slither in your head. Read primarily for pleasure, feel free to reread pleasant passages and make sure to relish the present.
>When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight oclock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather’s and when Father gave it to me he said, Quentin, I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excrutiating-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it.

>>24616289
>>24616446
>you'll naturally get faster with the more you read
this is cope of you're not a literal child. this is like saying "just keep running and eventually you'll become an olympic sprinter!" if you want speed then you have to push yourself to be be faster then where you are comfortable.

>>24616467
>more speed = less enjoyment
this is also cope. if I read a book or watch a video at half speed then I don't enjoy it more or somehow retain more info, if anything it's the opposite, I'm so bored out of my mind that it's easy to get distracted.

>>24616289
>>24616446
>you'll naturally get faster with the more you read
this is cope if you're not a literal child. this is like saying "just keep running and eventually you'll become an olympic sprinter!" if you want speed then you have to push yourself to be be faster than where you are comfortable.

>>24616467
>more speed = less enjoyment
this is also cope. if I read a book or watch a video at half speed then I don't enjoy it more or somehow retain more info, if anything it's the opposite, I'm so bored out of my mind that it's easy to get distracted.

Struggling with it too, but for other presumable reasons. Doped my youth away, brazenly and relentlessly and now I find myself an oligophrenic who trudges through most books at a geological pace.

Reading used to be one of the few things I genuinely enjoyed in life. This is unfair, /lit/sisters.

>>24616545
Good books have a certain rhythm, just like good films. Watching it at 0.5x sucks but a normal person should enjoy it at 1x.
No need to train like an olympic sprinter when you just need to read at a normal pace.

>>24616545
Try reading the following sentence and tell me it's the kind of sentence you'd want to read at 300+ WPM.
>There are some strange summer mornings in the country, when he who is but a sojourner from the city shall early walk forth into the fields, and be wonder-smitten with the trance-like aspect of the green and golden world. Not a flower stirs; the trees forget to wave; the grass itself seems to have ceased to grow; and all Nature, as if suddenly become conscious of her own profound mystery, and feeling no refuge from it but silence, sinks into this wonderful and indescribable repose.

>>24616590
nta but disgusting, insincere, saccharine prose. type of thing a pedophile would read to a young boy before destroying his life.

>>24616578
>>24616590
Just because you can speed read doesn't mean you have to but I definitely want the option. I wouldn't watch a dense lecture at 2x speed but I definitely would for Youtube slop or 1.5x for a slow movie/series. Consider this, maybe people with a "short attention-span" are actually just faster at processing stimuli and therefore don't need to "slow down and focus" but rather speed up to stay focused.

And yes I would read that at 300wpm, that shit plays like a movie in my head, reading that slowly would feel like putting too much emphasis on the words the author wrote and not enough emphasis on the scene they are trying to paint.

>>24616625
>people with short attention span are actually processing more information
Holy shit. You are the most retarded person I've seen on /lit/ today. Congratulations.

>>24616625
>maybe people with a "short attention-span" are actually just faster at processing stimuli
Uhhhhh...

>>24616630
Yes.

>>24616164 (OP)
Yes, just accept you are retarded. I am retarded too. Subvocalizing is just more enjoyable for me. Most people here probably want to kill me because of that opinion.
But the degree of subvocalization, visualizing and the reading speed just depends on what you are reading.

Bernhard is very lyrical and thus slower reading and more subvocalization.
Arno Schmidt is slower reading and more visualizing.
Houellebecq is faster reading and little visualizing.

So it may depend on what you are reading. Concentration comes with time. Maybe remember to keep your body relatively healthy. If I am consuming a lot of artificial sugar I can concentrate less for the next 3 hours. Maybe increase caffeine intake and then slowly decrease it. Have more daily activity. it may be that it is also caused by stress. If you are as retarded as me, you can try help a little with alcohol. A certain (little) amount helps to think less about tomorrow and you may focus more on the moment (the reading).

>>24616267
Thats your problem lol. 5 minute meditation is absolutely nothing, you need to work on that. Challenge yourself to meditate 10, 15, 20 minutes, etc.

>>24616164 (OP)
More dense/imagery/allusion = less reading speed. No one subvocalizes when reading this sentence because there's no depth: there's nothing to get that isn't stated obviously, which a fiction author will avoid doing (except maybe Brandon Sanderson)

>>24616599
Why is it saccharine? How would a writer express reverence for nature without it seeming insincere, in your view?

>>24616267
It takes a long time and is made worse by the modern world and how we were raised on stuff like tv and vidya. I have been practicing it since i was around 15 and even then it took a long time, probably about when i was 20-25 before i managed to actually get into it to the degree i could do it every day. The mind is like any muscle, it requires continual training or it whithers

>>24616237
Just read the synopsies on wikipedia then. Much better use of time than being a speedreading retard.