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Ask HN: How Do You Read?

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Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#191

Post by rmetzler »

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #76
bnjemian wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the things I’ve come to feel is that so much of the reading I do on the web (news, etc.) is fundamentally ephemeral in it’s relevance to my life and goals. Put another way, 90% of it doesn’t actually contribute to my knowledge or personal growth — it won’t matter tomorrow or once I realize some immediate goal. Sure, I get entertainment out of it, but that’s mostly it. In my view, non-fiction books can be a goo…

on the contrary, I have found that reading stuff on the web is 90% of what contributes to my knowledge. I can say that whatever I am today (in terms of what I know), it is most probably because of the internet. Not just in terms of computers, but just daily life, directly or indirectly. I think it is just a matter of the source in your case, which may have led you to feel that 90% of what you read doesn't contribute…

I used to be the same and to a certain degree, information on the internet is better. There is simply more information and it updates regularly. A book will be out of date soon. And information on the internet is often free of charge.

The value that comes with a book is its structure and its limited size. You don't get all information, you'll get the important information. And it is structured in a way that helps you learning.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#192

Post by sureshjayaraman »

Scarbutt wrote: post #79
guidoism wrote: post #16

Great question! In my fourth decade of life I’m finally figuring out the optimal way to do this myself. I’ve forgotten so so many books over the years that I supposedly read. Read How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler. ( https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Classic-Intelligent/dp/... ) I’ve given this book to a bunch of people on my teams as it also helps with communicating id…

There is also a nice short guide http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtoread.pdf which looks similar in approach to the 500 page linked.

This gives a nice, quick summary of different techniques!

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#193

Post by natal590 »

1 to 3 books a week depending on their size. Last year went through about 80 of them.

Because of the vast amount of info after reading I create a summary diary so as to absorb the info a bit better.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#194

Post by peter303 »

95% of my books come from the Denver Public Library new book shelf. They have an excellent selection. I reserve items from them I read in online book reveals and see at the bookstore. I probably read several $1000s of books this way.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#195

Post by yipbub »

mkagenius wrote: post #47
stingraycharles wrote: post #9

I feel like I’m an outlier here on HN, but I read very slowly. My mind constantly switches back and forth between other stuff, and frequently have to repeat (sections of) a page just because I wasn’t paying enough attention. Needless to say, I don’t read a lot. Once in a while I find a book that interests me, and usually it takes me around a week or two to complete (when reading around 30 - 60 minutes a day).

> I wasn’t paying enough attention. This is a problem. For few weeks I am trying to conquer it by focusing eyes onto infinity while looking at the computer. It helps me wade off thoughts other than whats printed (and I just read) on the screen. So read a line, focus to infinity (and picturise what was said in the line), read next line. Experiment is on only for a few weeks now, but it surely helps in attention and wa…

Sounds a little unhealthy for your eyes. Why not just close them?

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#196

Post by kashyapc »

mbrock wrote: post #70
kashyapc wrote: post #20

Speaking of reading and retention, there was a controversial article titled: "Why books don't work"[1]. It was also recently discussed here on HN[2]. As a serious reader, I took "offense" at first the sweeping title. But when I completely read the article, the author's contention was largely with poorly written books and lectures work ... which wouldn't make for a sensational title. - - - As to the original question,…

The author was interviewed on EconTalk recently.

Yeah, I was listening to it (haven't finished it yet) where he did admit the title could've been more neutral.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#197

Post by robfitz »

dfc wrote: post #146
tspiteri wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automatic updates can be turned off. Under Manage Your Content and Devices , Preferences , there is an Automatic Book Updates item which you can turn off. Then if you want you can update books individually, or not.

I had no idea updates could erase highlights. I apologise for being lazy but do you know if all updates will erase highlights?

They do, yeah. As an author I'm desperate to get into a continuous deployment/iteration cycle for books, but the fact that kindle works this way really discourages it.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#198

Post by srirangr »

I read 20+ books a year. I don't finish most of them, re-read some chapters from the old books. I underline stuff and I go back to the underlined things at the end of reading a book. I prefer reading hard copies and at any point if I've to look at the page number, I realise that the content is not worth the time. I skim through. If I still don't find it interesting. I leave it. It's okay to leave a book in the middle. Most books have a single point to make and the entire book is about examples around that point. If you understood the point already, there's no need to dig in further.

It's human tendency to forget things. So re-reading stuff I find valuable helps me more than reading lots of new books.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Read?

#199

Post by martin-adams »

ingve wrote: post #124
escapecharacter wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this was my EXACT complaint. Hopefully there’s an audio book version, or a 1-800 number you can call to ask to have it explained to you.

There is an audio book version: How to Read a Book, narrated by Edward Holland [0] [0] https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Read-a-Book-Audiobook/B003...

Sadly not available in the UK
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