That was one of the things I always thought was weird about me. All my friends always showed off how quickly they read books. And it took me ages - I would keep re-reading lines and paragraphs that I liked.

Now, I can just say, "Did you know PG does that too?".

There are dozens of us!

(We need a name for it.)

Normal?

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested" ~Francis Bacon.

And more than once.

What's the slowest book you've read?

There are several different types of reading slowly.

Math is slow because you have to work things out as you read it.

Books written very long ago are slow because I read them like a detective, looking not just at what the author means to say, but also at what he's saying implicitly about how things were at the time.

Other books I read slowly because they're so good I don't want them to end. I used to have to make a conscious effort to make Patrick O'Brian novels last, and I stopped reading them at about number 12, to save the rest for later. (I worry though that I wouldn't like them so much now.)

If I could do it over, I'd read O'Brian's novels with several months to a year between each one (perhaps one every winter and summer solstice). There's really something to be said about savoring such an authentically detailed, nuanced, and intellectual universe.

As it is, I find my recollections of the Aubrey-Maturin adventures muddled and vague, since I burned through the first 20 at an addict's pace. Not recommended.

They keep going with the same level of quality until the very end. Even the three draft chapters of the unfinished 21st volume left me wanting more.

Agreed. I read them as slowly as I could manage over the course of about five years. Even 21 was a great read. I was blown away that I was still maintaining the same enjoyment 15, 16 books in. I just assumed the quality would have had to deteriorate. Although O'Brian does get a lot of reuse out of Stephen's joke about the dog watch being cur-tailed.

I wish I still had eight and a half more to go!

There has to be a distinction between technical and non-technical books here. Otherwise (excluding purely academic books), I'd say 'On Lisp' - even though that's probably because I was not ready for it yet. In fact, I've had to read it multiple times. Same goes for SICP.

GEB

So true. For certain books that I found insightful, I have found myself re-reading some parts later and discover nuances that I missed the first time.

I read a lot, but only on internet, blogs, tech docs, passionate ideas. It has been like this way for years, It seems that I do not have time for big books that worth reading slowly. I am not sure if this is healthy.

When I was younger, I read a little Confucius with a lot of time, that's very different life.

Out of interest, what are you favourite books? I will read them slowly.

Why? If you're reading for leisure, sure, but if you're reading for information or experience, it makes sense you'd want to read as many books as possible, hence as quickly as possible.

If you're trying to gain information and experience then it is silly to try to optimise for "How many pages have I looked at?"

You need to come to terms with what the author is claiming, critically evaluate the argument used to support those claims, and then decide the relevance of this new perspective on the world (eg, how will you implement it in your life?)

This all takes time.

+1