"I often find that a novel, even a well-written and compelling novel, can become a blur to me soon after I've finished reading it. I recollect perfectly the feeling of reading it, the mood I occupied, but I am less sure about the narrative details. It is almost as if the book were, as Wittgenstein said of his propositions, a ladder to be climbed and then discarded after it has served its purpose."
— Sven Birkerts
One of my favourite notions from college was brought to my attention again this week, the idea of slow reading. Our culture has grown to appreciate speed in so many things and consumption has become central to our way of life. But, just as the slow food movement aims to reclaim our taste buds, the slow reading movement aims to increase the meaning and pleasure we get from the books we read.
After the printing press was invented people read "horizontally"; they read and re-read books, soaking up their meaning; they read aloud as if bringing the words to life. Such was their appreciation of the few books they had they often committed them to memory. Today we tend to read "vertically"; skimming over the text, grabbing the meaning and moving on. And we are always conscious of the myriad of other books waiting to be read, information to be gathered.
Nietzsche asks, in the preface to his book Daybreak, of the reader: “read slowly, deeply looking cautiously before and aft, with reservations, with doors left open, with delicate eyes and fingers…My patient friends, this book desires for itself only perfect readers and philologists: learn to read me well!”
You can read more here. Or skim through these articles to see if they interest you. How long will they keep your attention... or have I lost you already...
The case for slow reading
Slow reading: an antidote for a fast world?
Technology and society: what is the internet's effect on deep reading?
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