[mrtranscendence]

For what it’s worth, I’ve never met a successful academic or PhD who takes such a laborious approach to reading and taking notes for research papers. There’s not enough time in the world to spend four hours on one article, unless perhaps you’re a student ... and even then.

I had one professor whose advice (specifically for occasions when someone was visiting to present a paper) was to read until you had a question to ask, and then stop.

[mcbishop]

I've spent so much time reading articles and books, and I can only recall / share a tiny tiny fraction of the insights. I'm at a point where I'd rather spend four hours on one valuable article and really absorb / remember it (plus extra time for spaced repetition over the following weeks / months) — vs. normally reading however many articles that quickly fade from memory.

[TomSwirly]

My experience with academics has been different.

The joke was that if you had ten papers to read, you'd spend ten minutes on all but one - and that one would take ten hours.

[Breza]

This was my experience as an RA in grad school. I could churn out paper summaries until I hit one that really challenged what I thought I knew about the topic and then I'd spend forever on it.