Conversation

Aella
@Aella_Girl
As a kid/teen, I read a lot - and I mean a *lot*; for example I got through nearly 1 book from the Sword of Truth series *per day*. I built a contraption to let me read while showering; I read in the car, by the moonlight, I snuck books under the glass dining table at dinner. 1/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
I had at least 2 books on my person at all times just in case I finished one and needed another. I lined my bed with books and slept on top of them. At this level of excessive, near-constant reading I remember having a different experience of reading than I can achieve now. 2/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
of the paragraph with good comprehension. And my comprehension was good - reading tests clocked me at around 800 wpm with decent retention. What interests me about this is that I think I was doing some sort of data compression? Like, I read fewer total words than were there. 4/
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
I don't know how my brain managed to figure out which words to read and which ones not to at that significant a scale. I can't do this anymore; my reading speed has dropped a few hundred wpm. There's still some chunking, but it doesn't feel the same.
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The Boz
@BozTheAndroid
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
Had the exact same experience. Literally down to the very same books; reading one Sword of Truth per day. Have also lost the ability, and while my reading speed is still good, it's no longer blisteringly fast. HOWEVER, maybe I'm just ignoring the loss of detail?
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alth0u🤸
@alth0u
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
i do something like this but i'd describe it more like breadth first search with early stoppage if I think I feel like I'm not getting more information on subsequent passes
jet
@troofzero
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
yes and when the book gets really good i find myself super hungry for the plot and just absolutely racing through it, its like you learn how the author writes and how to disintegrate their narrative incredibly fast its weird and amazing