0YaKnow t1_jebkvdw wrote on March 30, 2023 at 8:39 PM

Reply to comment by breadguy69325 in Do you skip or skim when reading fiction? by GraniteGeekNH

Appropriate skimming makes reading more enjoyable. I’m reading for fun, not because I’m going to be tested in some random detail later. Stephan King taught me to be a good skimmer. I love his stories, but I do not care about a tree he’s going to describe for 10 mins. If I feel like I missed something I can go back and reread.

I’m not going to judge anyone for actively reading fiction and you would read a textbook, but for me that level of work takes reading from enjoyable to work. I also do a lot of technical and academic reading for work so I wonder if that may be a key difference between skimmers and non skimmers

Sumtimesagr8notion t1_jec6s5a wrote on March 30, 2023 at 11:07 PM

I don't care what other people do, but I would never skim. I mostly read to enjoy good prose and cool ideas, so just getting the gist of the plot isn't really beneficial

0YaKnow t1_jec7lbw wrote on March 30, 2023 at 11:13 PM

I get that. I would never skip in a fiction book I don’t think.

Alizorae t1_jedxm2a wrote on March 31, 2023 at 9:23 AM

You just gave the example of Stephen King?

0YaKnow t1_jeeh5y4 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:56 PM

Of skipping? I skim Stephan King but it’s don’t straight up skip

k_albasi t1_jeboze8 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 9:05 PM

I have the opposite take. I'd skim a textbook because I only need the most relevant information but wouldn't skim fiction because it's enjoyable and I want the full experience. If an author describes a tree for several pages I'd just stop reading it entirely.

0YaKnow t1_jebs075 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 9:25 PM

In high school and undergrad I’d read the whole text book. Grad school killed that quick. 500 pages per class multiple nights a week plus journal articles for independent research. If you’re reading every word in grad school you’ll never survive.

Penguinwolf4 t1_jee77a5 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 11:25 AM

Books are not just written for some plot that you may 'miss things' on. The writing of a tree is apart of the book and the prose, which is the book. More than just a plot, otherwise you would read a wiki synopsis

0YaKnow t1_jeehkrm wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:59 PM

If I’m reading for enjoyment I’m going to read in a way that’s enjoyable to me. I guess the reading police might arrest me but that’s a risk I’ll take