[hartator]

What is wrong in reading slowly?

If you enjoy it and get a better and deeper comprehension, I would even say read slower. Re-read the same sentence a couple of times, Google the definitions of words you are unsure about, and pause to let your mind wander about what you just read. It is what reading is about.

I remember meeting someone at a party who told me they read like 357 books that year. I can’t helped to think they were either lying or didn’t get any understanding of what they are reading. I am sure they thought saying something like that will make look super smart but it didn’t.

[PartiallyTyped]

The problem is onism, which often transforms into existential angst, or an obsession. It's something that I have been struggling with a lot lately. There are just so many things that I will never get to experience, and books are one of them. I need to absorb as much knowledge as possible, to experience as many different patterns of thought as possible. Acquiring knowledge for its own sake.

> onism - n. the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time, which is like standing in front of the departures screen at an airport, flickering over with strange place names like other people's passwords, each representing one more thing you'll never get to see before you die-and all because, as the arrow on the map helpfully points out, you are here. dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com

[hartator]

Wouldn’t onism push you to read even slower? To not miss out on any subtlelity or deeper meanings?

[PartiallyTyped]

Good point, I hadn't thought of it as i tend to be rather pragmatic and don't have enough experience with text analysis to be able to grasp subtleties.

I mostly read scientific, mathematical and pop sci works.

[okdood64]

It’s a problem when your work requires a lot of reading.

[Tagbert]

then you should focus on techniques to enhance retention. Simply reading faster is more likely to get you to the end with much less understanding of what you just read.

[hartator]

> It’s a problem when your work requires a lot of reading.

Well, it's more a silly management issue than a productivity issue.