Details, S.M. Stirling — How Do You Do It?
- Thread starter RealityBYTES
- Start date
The only book i ever read quickly(during the course of 8 hrs) was Eric Flint's 1632.
Mostly takes about 5 days or so to read a novel. Never could understand speed reading, my view is that a book is entertainment and why blaze through it? You're supposed to enjoy it. Unless it's a really good damn book that you can't put down.
Mostly takes about 5 days or so to read a novel. Never could understand speed reading, my view is that a book is entertainment and why blaze through it? You're supposed to enjoy it. Unless it's a really good damn book that you can't put down.
Psychomeltdown said:
The fastest I read a book was David Weber's On Basilik Station. I read about half of it, so about 200 pages, in a day.
Psychomeltdown said:Mostly takes about 5 days or so to read a novel. Never could understand speed reading, my view is that a book is entertainment and why blaze through it? You're supposed to enjoy it. Unless it's a really good damn book that you can't put down.
I'm not a speed reader. I like to enjoy books, and I don't want to read something before the weekend because then I'll get bored in study hall. I was forced to read People once. I forced myself not to vomit.
NapoleonXIV
Banned
Psychomeltdown said:The only book i ever read quickly(during the course of 8 hrs) was Eric Flint's 1632.
Mostly takes about 5 days or so to read a novel. Never could understand speed reading, my view is that a book is entertainment and why blaze through it? You're supposed to enjoy it. Unless it's a really good damn book that you can't put down.
The advertised benefit is that it gives you "impact".
I used to read all my assigned texts three times through in the week before exams. I had a guy accuse me of cheating because I once quoted several paras from the text verbatim in the exam, until I did it verbally while talking to him.
I never speed read as such, though, just got into the reading and kept going. I've had professional reading instructors say that speed reading is actually just reading with full concentration, since the technique focuses the mind on the subject at hand.
I think the fastest I ever read a book was getting through one of John Norman's GOR series (450 pages) in three quarters of an hour. Mind you, this was only possible because I started skipping everytime I came across a passage involving rape, bondage, whipping, or how women like to be subjugated.
Well, now I know what it feels like to be inferior, at least when it comes to the size of my library and reading speed.
I have a couple hundred books in my library, and I'm lucky if a quarter of them are non-fiction. WRT my reading speed ... well, let's just say I "soak up" the information. Of course, it depends on the material — some of it takes longer to "soak up" than other tomes might.
RealityBYTES
I have a couple hundred books in my library, and I'm lucky if a quarter of them are non-fiction. WRT my reading speed ... well, let's just say I "soak up" the information. Of course, it depends on the material — some of it takes longer to "soak up" than other tomes might.
RealityBYTES
Hum...my wife says that I eat books , referring to my reading speed. It should be comparable to Ian's figures.
However, my private collection is not that large. A couple of hundred books on naval history and novels with a naval background, plus several hundred SF and Fantasy titles, of course with a lot of AH, are at the core. And of course, some 3,000 pulp novels (mainly Perry Rhodan and a German naval series set in the 16th century).
, referring to my reading speed. It should be comparable to Ian's figures.However, my private collection is not that large. A couple of hundred books on naval history and novels with a naval background, plus several hundred SF and Fantasy titles, of course with a lot of AH, are at the core. And of course, some 3,000 pulp novels (mainly Perry Rhodan and a German naval series set in the 16th century).
Max Sinister
Banned
I can read quite fast too (more than two and a half decades training help a lot...), like the other speed readers here (exception are scientific works with many mathematical formulas or f.e. very philosophical works), and I don't think we miss that much. I don't have many books at home, because I only buy books I want to read several times.
I read pretty damn fast myself, usually. I started and finished Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears, all 912 pages, in a single day. Some times it's slower, though- that was my all time best. For example, I started reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea again today at around 8 o'clock, and I'm about halfway through- while only reading it a few minutes at a time during school.
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
Diamond said:
-- I just read fast; it's my default speed. As far as I can recall, I've always read that way.
Constantinople
Banned
The fastest I ever read a book was Ring by Stephen Baxter. It is like 600pgs, and I read it in one day for 10 hours or something.
Or maybye that gigantic Harry Potter book in 3 days, I dunno.
Or maybye that gigantic Harry Potter book in 3 days, I dunno.
The biggest frustration I have is - too many books, not enough time.
I've never tried to count up my books, but at a rough guessstimate the fiigure for non-fiction is probably c. 2,000 (most of which I have so far done no more than browse through) with a select few hundred novels, mostly SF - nearly all read, and the survivors of an occasional drastic culling process. I read a typical novel at 70 pages per hour (I hate the modern tendency to print novels in a very small font), non-fiction too variable to count.
As I took early retirement last year you might think I have oodles of time, but it doesn't work out that way. I am part-way through my second novel, have been contracted to write two more military non-fiction books, spend a couple of days a week on editing Jane's Ammunition Handbook, more on editing the European Cartridge Research Association's bulletin, and I try to maintain my website. I also write articles from time to time. My reading interests are pretty wide, which doesn't help my focus. And I have a wife who doesn't like to be ignored all of the time (hence we're just about to go away for a few day's holiday!).
On the subject of background information, I found writing my first novel (The Foresight War) took loads of research. Not so much on the technical military stuff - I pretty much knew that backwards - but on the detailed history, places, events and people of WW2. Checking out the 'alternate' bits took time as well. For my 1943 D-day, I first checked out the tides to find the small selection of suitable dates, then went to a local library which had microfilm records of British daily papers from that period, one of which had daily reports of the weather in the Channel. So, in case you were wondering, the weather I described before, during and after my 1943 D-day is historically accurate. Probably completely unnecessary for 99.99% of readers, but I like to get things right if possible!
Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
I've never tried to count up my books, but at a rough guessstimate the fiigure for non-fiction is probably c. 2,000 (most of which I have so far done no more than browse through) with a select few hundred novels, mostly SF - nearly all read, and the survivors of an occasional drastic culling process. I read a typical novel at 70 pages per hour (I hate the modern tendency to print novels in a very small font), non-fiction too variable to count.
As I took early retirement last year you might think I have oodles of time, but it doesn't work out that way. I am part-way through my second novel, have been contracted to write two more military non-fiction books, spend a couple of days a week on editing Jane's Ammunition Handbook, more on editing the European Cartridge Research Association's bulletin, and I try to maintain my website. I also write articles from time to time. My reading interests are pretty wide, which doesn't help my focus. And I have a wife who doesn't like to be ignored all of the time (hence we're just about to go away for a few day's holiday!).
On the subject of background information, I found writing my first novel (The Foresight War) took loads of research. Not so much on the technical military stuff - I pretty much knew that backwards - but on the detailed history, places, events and people of WW2. Checking out the 'alternate' bits took time as well. For my 1943 D-day, I first checked out the tides to find the small selection of suitable dates, then went to a local library which had microfilm records of British daily papers from that period, one of which had daily reports of the weather in the Channel. So, in case you were wondering, the weather I described before, during and after my 1943 D-day is historically accurate. Probably completely unnecessary for 99.99% of readers, but I like to get things right if possible!
Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
Never heard of this Foresight War...Wow its quite like a minor TL I had thought of independatly. There really should be some sort of AH list on here, thats 2 today I was unaware of just came to my attention...
Fastest I've read- I remember reading Green Mars really fast as I went onto it straight from red and had gotten into it.
I also read the first 3 Potter's rather fast but with fonts that big I'd probally need shooting if it did take me the same amount of time as others.
I haven't managed it for over a year but if I really get into a book then I do read pretty damn fast and have to make myself take my time.
Fastest I've read- I remember reading Green Mars really fast as I went onto it straight from red and had gotten into it.
I also read the first 3 Potter's rather fast but with fonts that big I'd probally need shooting if it did take me the same amount of time as others.
I haven't managed it for over a year but if I really get into a book then I do read pretty damn fast and have to make myself take my time.