I adore books and the act of reading. So when I signed on to Medium and saw a section called ‘Reading’, I hurried on over and was disappointed by some of the articles I saw there. In particular treating reading as something to be achieved as opposed to enjoyed and techniques to condense the whole reading experience. Articles that show how to read a couple of hundred pages in a few hours are missing the point of reading, especially when it comes to literature. This is obviously a highly subjective matter.
There are obviously exceptions to this
There are plenty of pieces written about how to read a book in a day, speed read or just generally shorten the process. There are also websites and apps that summarize books for you. I am not against them per se. If you need knowledge quickly, I suppose this is a decent option. I understand there are reasons why this might be tempting:
- The book is poorly written and full of filler with the odd nugget of insight.
- It is non-fiction and some it can be unimportant or opinions that have nothing to do with the facts you are seeking.
- If fiction, then it is something you dislike but have to read and have run out of time — for example a school report or to impress someone.
- Something is too complicated or lexically dense and you just want an overview.
- It is part of a series and you read the previous one a year or two ago and just need a recap.
So I admit there are times when all you want are the briefest versions of the book. But for all other circumstances, read the book. It is so much better.
