Reading fiction and non-fiction (I assume this is what you mean by 'hard) are effectively different activities.

Reading fiction is about getting caught up in an imagined world. The stakes are lower and the expectations are lower. This makes it easier. If you miss the paragraph where a character is described as having a beard, you won’t feel the need to go back to reread when you find out they do four chapters later when they scratch said beard.

Reading non-fiction is about building new conceptual structures in your mind. It requires more attention. If you fail to understand Nietzsche’s ressentiment in ‘Geneology of Morals,’ you are unlikely to be able to understand the later concept of the ‘priestly’ morality. You will not be able to fully construct the conceptual structures the book attempts to generate.

Because of this, reading non-fiction is a process of doing whatever is necessary to get all the parts and relations into one’s mind in order to produce a mental tool and then, hopefully, learn to use it. If notes help, write them. Rubber ducking can help. Simple repetition can help. Slowing down can help. Talking to other readers (as in a study group (shoutout to @DGQC on YT)) can help. Concept mapping can help. Sleeping on it can help. Highlighting can help. Cross referencing can help.

It’s study. What helped you learn in school? Do that.

Audio books when making breakfast, lunch, dinner, and when walking to the store.

Recently finished The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt. It’s important historically, but I can’t say I’d recommend it.

Nonfiction:

First pass: Slow, deliberate, digest each word. A simple annotation system. ! for passages that are thought provoking. Arrow for major details and connections to other details. ? for… Take a guess.

Immediately after the chapter/section: jot down what u recall (thesis, conclusion, details, dates, names). Summarize. ~10 minutes

Day or two later: Flip thru your annotations, look thru your notes. Fill in the gaps.

Repeat if desired! Our neural pathways must be well-trodden, but it can be optimized! Open to revisions 😤

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Imo, mandatory reading. Incredibly informative, enraging, and educational. Very “readable.”

I read mainly in bed (with my kobo) but finding it tricky and I am turning into a hunchback

I do the same but it’s not uncomfortable or causes me to strain my back, I lay on my side and prop the ereader up with pillows

• I usually sit on the couch sideways with two pillows in my back. I have a reading light now that I face towards the book. That made a big difference since I no longer have to stretch my neck to see the page.
  Back in university I had to read two books a week, that was tough. To stay concentrated I would sit at a desk or table with bright lights on.
• I mostly read at night now, after my boyfriend has gone to sleep. He’s sweet and all, but can be very loud and distracting, so reading is practically impossible if he’s around. It sucks, but hey.
• I rarely take notes, but if I do it’s in my note app on my phone. Which is kinda annoying, and might be why I don’t take many notes…
• I don’t have a recommendation, but what I noticed myself about reading difficult material is that I sometimes lack some prerequisite knowledge. The book itself usually doesn’t make this explicit of course, but it can help to read a summary of the book first or a Wikipedia page about the topic before going in.

I usually start by opening them and looking at the words on the pages, personally.

Like so many others, I read constantly as a kid. Then I got older and had more to do, and then I got the internet on my phone and that was that.

Then I got a Kobo a few years back, because I really wanted to pick it back up again. It’s easily favourite device. Literally all it does is show me books. No distractions.

I tried cracking in to some longer, tougher reads, but found myself really struggling, so I decided to read a few young adult books instead, which helped enormously. Turns out that reasonably short books with relatively light plots are perfect for dialing the brain back in.

I’m not sure what you mean by hard books? I read a lot, but more for entertainment, books written at different levels but none are schoolbooks, not dry and hard to read in that way.

AFA setup, I n the couch with a cat on my lap and music in the air is my favorite way to read. Runner up is reading on the back deck with a big glass of ice water and a cocktail or glass of wine. I don’t read in bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn22UlVdpw0

I just found out that, just like with music, I absolutely hate most stuff associated with people similar to me

So I just spend a large amount of time on finding books that I actually like and read those

Most of my reading is done via audiobooks these days, simply because I can listen while doing other tasks. I can wash the dishes, vacuum the house, etc, and those things would normally prevent me from reading. But with audiobooks, that isn’t a concern. Once I started listening to audiobooks, my annual book count went from ~12 to +60. Simply because I don’t have enough time to dedicate just to sitting in one spot staring at pages.

For visual reading, I tend to use my kobo. I got particularly lazy about bed-reading though. I got a gooseneck mount. It attaches to my headboard, and holds my kobo wherever I want. Combine that with a Bluetooth page-turn remote, and I can comfortably lay in bed and read without even needing to keep my hands on the ereader. In terms of comfort, the mount and remote are the two single greatest investments I ever made, and they fundamentally changed the way I think about reading in bed.

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I also used to read a lot as a kid then stopped for a long while. I have gotten back into it by reading before bed. I try to get to bed at least 30min early on most days—sometimes much earlier if I am having a lazy day or otherwise feeling like I don’t want to stay up—then I get a bunch of reading before bed. As a bonus reading makes me sleepy so I always nod right off when I put the book down (or sometimes have to put the book down because I am falling asleep and can’t keep my eyes open) I’ve managed to finish a good number of books already this year.

But I think the moral of the story is just find some time that works for you, reserve a bit of time in your day and try to make a bit of a habit out of it.

So far, it has been just one book. It’s a physical book, a Portuguese translation of an originally anglophone book/grimoire. This book has been the only book I ever read from cover to cover.

Back when I read this book, I used to take it to this public place which I’d describe as a mall of pubs surrounded by a green park. I used to prowl around until I found a place to sit down, be it a public cement bench or some table from an empty pub, preferably the latter, and preferably away from people. I’d then open the page I last read, sometimes going back a few pages earlier so to re-read something, then I’d spend the rest of the night, or until I had the urge to leave, reading several pages of it. I rarely consumed beverages as I’d prefer reading while fasting, but when I did, it was often a beverage with vodka and redberry, or a malzbier.

Sometimes I’d also take it to the subway, but I’d be less likely to afford a nice reading as I’d rarely find available seats. Or I’d take it to the shopping mall, preferably somewhere in the terrace or somewhere as devoid of people as possible.

A few times I’d also take it to a cemetery; I’d sit in a bench, or a random tomb if no benches were available… but, then, it wouldn’t take long before I’d get up, wander somewhere else in the cemetery to carve Her sigil/seal somewhere in a dirt patch and light up a incense stick and a red candle I’d bring to the cemetery.

I rarely read it when I was home. And yet, when I got to myself, I realized I managed to read it all. Almost 200 pages in total. Yeah, it’s quite short, but it’s very deep. It’s the only book I keep visible, in my altar. Sometimes I catch myself reading it again to seek specific information.

I bought other books (e.g. Kybalion), but I’m yet to find a book which I’d read as obsessively as this one. Sometimes I guess my next book, a physical book, would be either Liber Al Vel Legis or whatever book She points me.

While I do hoard and read some e-books randomly (but not as cover-to-cover as I did), I prefer physical versions because, well, physical books have no batteries, no telemetry, and they can literally outlive me. The only thing I miss from physical books is having a Ctrl+F to search for a specific word/phrase.

!nostupidquestions@lemmy.world