Reading For Quality vs Quantity
One of my favorite authors, Robertson Davies, like many writers, was a voracious reader. He devoured books like a hungry man at a Baptist church supper. His reading was slow and deliberate, savoring every word. He never skimmed a book, but then he never read online, and did not use a computer.
Those of us who read online, particularly BLOGs, do not read, we skim. Studies indicate the average online reader spends mere seconds on an entire page, then moves on. If he sees something of interest, he may actually stay and read it. But even then he will read very fast, a slower form of skimming.
I deliberately separate book reading from online reading . I read a lot of books, but never online - in fact I try to read every day. If you are not a lover of books you may not understand that. If you are, no further explanation is necessary.
Online, skimming is without a doubt, a necessity. There is too much material out there to waste time reading until we are sure its worth the effort. The same can be said for printed magazines, newspapers, or other periodicals. It is more efficient to skim articles to see if they are worth your time to actually read.
Problems may occur if you allow skimming to roll over into reading books printed on paper. If all you do is skim through a book, the book is not worth reading, and you should move on to one that is.
To sum it up:
Skim online articles, and printed material to see if they deliver what you need. This may apply to technical books in certain cases.
Read books for the pure pleasure of reading. Like a job, if its worth doing, its worth doing well. Read about 100 pages, and if you don’t make friends with the book, drop it and move on.
A classic book about reading is “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler. This is not light reading, and written for serious book readers. A very good overview of the book can be seen in this article.
