[soulofmischief]

I had a collegiate reading level at age 5 and still struggled to read many kinds of fiction books which were rooted in familiarity with the human experience. I could get through the books, but I didn't really comprehend them well until I'd read and watched enough media to piece together a more robust model of the world.

[bombela]

I read every books in the house as soon as I could read adult books (by age 5). Some books even multiple times. I was offered a lots of fiction books growing up.

Age 7, I would read the dictionary at night, one word definition at a time, out of sheer curiosity.

By age 14 I stopped reading books. I could never relate to any of the human emotions. I did learn that money, fame, and sex was a big deal perhaps. But you don't need books to learn that if you have a social life instead of reading books all day.

All this made me appear smart for my age, but that doesn't mean I was. I merely appeared smart.

Hitting the plateau was rough.

[soulofmischief]

Can definitely relate to the dictionary thing. I enjoyed that exercise.

Age 14 is when I transitioned from primarily fiction books to almost exclusively non-fiction material, including history, news, biographies, STEM etc.

Fiction really stopped clicking for me, I appreciate the genre but it just no longer captivated my interest. Games and some visual media entirely consumed that need for fantasy. There's just so much more to nerd about with those formats.

Lots of little details that come from such massive collaborative efforts, whereas with fiction books I started to feel like I was encountering the same tropes over and over again.

> All this made me appear smart for my age, but that doesn't mean I was. I merely appeared smart.

I feel like I'm having the opposite effect. I'm looking backward at how intelligent I was during school and wondering where it all went. I think becoming jaded and traumatized from sheer stress and emotional pain really blunted my mind. I still consume lots of reading material but something just feels different.

[cpursley]

This is odd. One of the ways kids learn to read early is by starting off being expiated to fairytales and other fiction then later learning to read those same stories. That useless sets them up to enjoy fiction.

[soulofmischief]

Fairytales didn't do anything for me. I was more interested in books by authors such as Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, etc. as the focus was more on the manipulation of language itself. The substance mattered very little at the time, it was the form which entranced me. Which is funny, because with visual art I prefer substance over form.