Monday, October 17, 2011

How do you read?

I blog I read occassionally had these insightful questions:

      How do you read?
      I don’t mean how do you comprehend words on a page. I ask in a much more practical manner:   
      How do you actually go about the act of reading a book? There is a great deal of diversity in  
      how people read these days.
    • Do you speed read?
    • Do you have to have complete silence or can you read in a crowded, noisy room?
    • Do you use an e-reader or are you a dyed-in-the-wool paper-and-ink person?
    • Do you skim or thoroughly comb through each word of each sentence of each paragraph?
    • Do you read with a pen in hand, marking up the book as you go?
    • Do you prefer reading in large chunks of several hours at a time or do you read ‘on the fly’ with a few minutes here and there?
    • Do you take notes?
    • Do you go back and re-read books months and years later if its good enough or is one time sufficient?
    • Do you have to read a book a few times before you retain the information or can you grasp it pretty quickly the first time around?
In the times of e-readers and such, this is an interesting question. Here are my answers

  1. Do you speed read?
I do not speed read. I do, however, do a lot of skim reading. Especially with the books I review

     2.  Do you have to have complete silence or can you read in a crowded, noisy room?

I can read in noisy spaces unless they are full of people I know. If they are, then I have a hard time reading when there are people I could be spending time with. For instance, I read a good chunk of a book on preaching lately waiting for doctors appointments.

     3.  Do you use an e-reader or are you a dyed-in-the-wool paper-and-ink person?

I  am a dyed-in-the-wool paper-and-ink person. If I ever use an ereader, it will be for different kinds of material than paper and ink,

    4.   Do you skim or thoroughly comb through each word of each sentence of each 
          paragraph?

Both. Depends on the book and my purpose for reading it. I skim some review books, and sometimes I skim research books while looking for what I need. Books I am more passionate about I read cover to cover

    5.  Do you read with a pen in hand, marking up the book as you go?

Always. Books are tools to be used not items to be worshipped.

    6.  Do you prefer reading in large chunks of several hours at a time or do you read ‘on the 
         fly' with a few minutes here and there?

Both

     7.  Do you take notes?

Yes. It is the only way I can remember what I read years later. Otherwise I am like..."I read somewhere that......."

      8.  Do you go back and re-read books months and years later if its good enough or is one
           time sufficient?

I reread about one book a year. Most often when I am teaching on some material presented in it.

        9.  Do you have to read a book a few times before you retain the information or can you
             grasp it pretty quickly the first time around?

I reread sections, but not usually whole books.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHAT WOULD YOUR ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS BE? WHAT HABITS IN READING DO YOU BELIEVE MAKE GOOD READERS?


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