[photochemsyn]

The problem with fast consumption is it's shallow, and the only way around it I've found is the 1:3 rule. For every ten minutes of information consumption, you'll need at least another thirty minutes of tinkering about with your hands, keyboard, pencil and paper, etc. to have any chance of really absorbing and understanding that information.

However, this is much harder and more demanding of your concentration and focus than just passively absorbing some interesting online content, particularly if the content relies on some background knowledge that you're missing, in which case it may take much, much longer to get up to speed on it.

Note that LLMs are an incredible aid to grasping new material. Ask any decent LLM "what are the necessary background prerequisites for understanding this statement: <HN comment on arcane math or tech>" and it will usually point you in the right direction.

[skydhash]

Reflection is key. Books consumption (mostly digital) for me is always done in three phases. The first is just reading, no note, with only slight highlighting. Then after reflecting (or trying to explain) the ideas, I go back and try to do a summary. The third part is connecting those ideas to others from different books, or using them practically.

Consumption without reflection or doing is mostly entertainment, like you would do with a novel or a movie.

[TheRealQueequeg]

>Consumption without reflection or doing is mostly entertainment, like you would do with a novel or a movie.

Maybe you do do this and were making a sweeping claim-understandble. But if not, try inspecting the themes and topics brought up by the novels you read and movies you watch?

Almost all media has something of value to dissect and discuss if you are willing to do so.

Your last sentence reminds me of when I shat on the first Transformers movies as a teenager thinking they were nothing more than trite Hollywood cash grabs but, my professor nudged me to think about the movie again beyond my assumptions and ego.

[skydhash]

Key word is "without". I'm an avid fiction reader myself from "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" to wuxia novels. Most times, I'm only engaging with the plot with no further reflection on meaning. But sometimes, I find myself doing some "what if" or going back on some ideas and interactions in the books. But that is not my default reading mode for novels. It is for non-fiction and technical books.