Slow Reading in a Hurried Age by David Mikics was like a sandwich, the kind that you want to throw out the bread and just eat the filling. The top piece of bread in this sandwich consists of two chapters; one on the horrors of the digital age and the other on the glories of slow reading and why one would want to do it.
You will already be familiar with the horrors — short attention span, blah blah blah. To Mikics’ credit though (unlike anything I have come across from Nicholas Carr) he recognizes that
Each of us has the choice to read as he or she wants to; the new technology may stand in the way, but we still have the ability to take control of our reading experience.
In the companion chapter Mikics provides us with a history of slow reading, determining that the idea has been around since at least 200 CE when rabbis and commentators argued over the Bible and its stories. Its current incarnation, however, came about sixty years ago in a Harvard class taught by Reuben Brower on close reading.
Mikics then moves to the sandwich filling. His rules that are not rules but guidelines, techniques. He says it might seem weird to think that reading well requires any kind of technique but if you want to get the most out of a book, technique is required, just like writers need technique to produce good writing. So here are Mikics’ fourteen “rules.”
- Be Patient. To be a good reader, one must cultivate patience. This means not allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by the book’s difficulties, allowing yourself time to be confused and time to overcome that confusion. It also means patiently looking at the details of a book and rereading.
- Ask the Right Questions. Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues, Mikics suggests. A good detective will figure out which questions will move the investigation forward and which will go nowhere. A good question might be, how does the title comment on the work it introduces?
- Identify the Voice. Who is speaking and what does that voice sound like? Is it the narrator or a character or the author in disguise? There might be more than one voice in a work, figuring out who they are and how they play off each other is important.
- Get a Sense of Style. Style is related to voice but style is the author’s unique signature, his way of thinking and being, and where he might confess important secrets.
- Notice Beginnings and Endings. When looked at together one can learn much about the book and might even find the book’s whole argument there, but you won’t know it until you have read both the beginning and the ending.
- Identify Signposts. These are key words, images, sentences, passages. Mikics encourages us think of reading as a kind of travel and signposts help us map out the territory.
- Use the Dictionary. Preferably the OED or the American Heritage. Don’t use the dictionary just for words you don’t know the meaning of, use it to discover etymology and word nuances that throw new light onto what is going on in your reading.
- Track Key Words. Key words in addition to sometimes being signposts, will help you trace the argument of the book.
- Find the Author’s Basic Thought. This is the fundamental question guiding the author in the text, what the book is really “about” deep down.
- Be Suspicious. Be suspicious of characters in the book. Don’t jump to conclusions about who you like and who you don’t, who is good and who is bad, you could be cheating yourself out of discovering something important because you already decided Mr. Dick was a weak minded crazy man.
- Find the Parts. In other words, figure out the structure of what you are reading and how it works and why.
- Write it Down. Take notes! You can do it in the margins of the book or in a notebook. Jot down your impressions, questions, signposts, key words, etc.
- Explore Different Paths. Use this to consider why the author went one direction instead of another. What if the book had ended differently? What if this character and that character never met?
- Find Another Book. Books talk to one another and you might find that a history of Europe is answered by a Kafka novel.
There are the “rules.” Pretty good aren’t they? I should note that Mikics discusses each one in detail, their enumeration takes up the entire middle of the book. And even more helpfully he shows us how to use each rule to analyze a text. It is really well done.
Once we have eaten up the delicious sandwich filling, we are left with another sad piece of bread. This bread is meant to be sturdy and show us how to bring together all the rules in reading different genres: short stories, novels, poetry, drama, essays. The chapter on short stories is excellent. Mikics regularly points out what rules to use and why and how it all works. But then as the chapters progress he forgets himself and goes into lecture mode and manages to mention a rule and how to apply it only now and then. In the chapter on poetry he totally blows it and spends several pages talking about scansion without bothering to explain why anyone should know anything about feet and metre. Very disappointing. I got so frustrated with Mikics losing his way after that I must admit I went from slow and careful reading to skimming.
Slow Reading in a Hurried Age is a good book though. I very much enjoyed it. For all of the work slow reading entails, Mikics forever insists that first and foremost reading should be fun. But he also insists that slow reading is part of what can make reading so very pleasurable.
Curiously, he addresses the book to people who don’t read much; the person who reads a book or two a year but perhaps wants to improve her reading abilities as well as read more. This is fine, but I can’t imagine someone who only reads a book a year being the one to pick up Slow Reading. The people most likely to pick up this book are already avid readers like you and me. But that’s fine because I think even avid readers enjoy being reminded about how to read well.
I read slowly, very slowly. That’s why I read so few books each year. I like it that way. If I come across something interesting, I’ll stop to underline or mark the passage in some way and then I’ll read it once or twice, think about for a moment and the make note of the page number in the back of the book. In a really good book, I mark a great many passages and so the same thing over again. It takes me forever to finish such a book. When I’m done, I go back to each of the marked passages, recorded at the end of the book, copy each one and add them to my commonplace book, a recording of truths of one sort or another. Some people save jewels or money or even rare books. I save the words in my commonplace book. Costs nothing, doesn’t get stolen, or clutter up my closet.
LikeLike
Richard, I loved your reply and was very pleased to read about your suggestions. I am currently reading a very long and detailed non fiction book about espionage and history and I plan to start a note taking plan with regards to this book. I have just introduced myself to your website and I am looking forward to reading it on a daily basis. Continued good reading to you.
LikeLike
Sidon: Thank you. Just a note: When I copy the passages I have saved, I do that by typing them in a Word document on my computer. Thus, I have a digital record of all the entries in my commonplace book. If you type fast, it is ever so much more efficient. If you prefer to copy them by hand, it will take you forever, at least, it would take me forever and most of them would be illegible anyway.
LikeLike
Richard, you are a good, careful reader we could all take lessons from. Do you ever feel like rushing through a book because you know there is a really good one waiting for you after the present one and you are very excited to read it? And if you ever have that feeling, how do you counter it?
LikeLike
Yes, I do sometimes rush through a book, not to get to the next one, a better one, but because I’m not getting much out of it or I don’t like it. Rather, I simply want to get it over with. I just finished one: The Affairs of Others by Amy Grace Loyd and perhaps I’ll say a word about it one day but not much more, if that. But if a book is a really good one, I never want to finish it.
LikeLike
These days I tend to quit books I am not enjoying but sometimes I keep going especially if it is for a book group so I understand rushing through those! Sorry to hear your latest wasn’t a good one. Ah yes, the feeling of not wanting the book to end. It’s a good feeling. I must cultivate that more 🙂
LikeLike
I don’t think I read fast but after reading this article I know I’m definitely not practicing slow reading! I try to take note of books for books that I plan to discuss with my reading group but that doesn’t always happen either. Same with looking up words in a dictionary.
LikeLike
Iliana, heh, I know what you mean. I think of myself as a slow reader too but clearly I am not reading slowly enough a good deal of the time!
LikeLiked by 1 person
As a slow reader, I have no choice but to read slow. And I’m often frustrated at my lack of speed, for most of the time, I’ve several books waiting for me to go through. I think only those who can read fast should heed the virtue of slow reading, not the slow reader, albeit the middle of the sandwich does looks delicious for every reader. Thanks for sharing this.
LikeLike
Arti, the middle of the sandwich is very tasty and was a good reminder on how to get the most out of a book. I am rather negligent sometimes especially when I get caught up in the story!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Anakalian Whims and commented:
Wonderful.
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
Very very interesting! But here’s the thing – what if you are not fundamentally a slow reader? Many of us who started reading at young age read very fast and while we have developed our reading techniques (some in common like being suspicious of characters! Recognize voice and take notes), the fact that is bemusing to me is does slow reading make better reading? I am not sure – I mean we all have our own reading styles and standards, but a compulsive reader like me would often lose the thread in attempting to slow read…I agree with your last point though – for readers and I wonder if I can call them readers – for people who read 1 or 2 books, I somehow do not see them picking this one up! It’s only “consummate readers” who will charter into its territory. But it’s a thought provoking book – think will pick it up! 🙂
LikeLike
cirtnecce, good questions! It isn’t just about reading more slowly, it is also about reading more carefully. To read carefully and practice the guidelines Mikics proposes, it naturally leads to one reading more slowly. It is pretty impossible to speed read your way through a book and look up words in the dictionary and take notes and look for signposts and think about what you are reading and mark out key words and, etc, etc. Mikics also makes the assumption we will be reading books like Madame Bovary or Salughterhouse-Five and not Dan Brown or John Grisham. Not that there is anything wrong with Brown or Grisham, only that their books aren’t meant to be read slowly. I think most books are pretty good at telling a reader the best way to read them, it’s up to us to listen.
LikeLike
I looked for this after you mentioned it in a post a couple of weeks back but none of our local libraries have so far ordered a copy and it’s mighty expensive in the UK at the moment. I think I’ll wait and see if a paperback edition comes out because thanks to you I at least have some idea of what the guidelines are and how to put them into practice. Thank you.
LikeLike
Alex, that’s too bad. Hopefully it will get published in the UK soon and/or it will turn up in your library eventually. But at least you have the “rules” if not the complete explanation that goes along with them, but you’re a smart cookie and I have no doubt you will be able to use the guidelines anyway 🙂
LikeLike
I love these rules … Partly because they pretty much mirror my practice! Cirtnecce, I was a fast reader when I was young, but as I fell in love with literature, if that doesn’t sound pompous, I began reading more slowly, looking for clues about what the author was really doing. I guess the story is low priority for me … I look for other things. I’ve heard speed readers say that they can read fast and have good comprehension and I’m sure that’s right but I think I look for more. I want to hear the words, feel them in my mouth even at times.
My reading group discussed a book last night. It is all told from the point of view of one character but it changed frequently from third person to first person. I think only one other person of the 9 noticed … Several hadn’t noticed an almost throwaway line and waited half the book to find out why the character was in jail when we’d been told quite early that “I almost killed a man”. I like slow reading BUT am frustrated at how few books I get through as a result!
LikeLike
whisperinggums, they are good rules, aren’t they? Even though I was an English major at university, I still like being reminded about good reading practices. It’s easy to forget or become lazy when there is no grade being given for your work, no one to hold your feet to the fire and make you accountable. I know you having consistently good reading practices because it is reflected in your blog posts especially when you talk about structure! Too bad about so many being inattentive in your book group. it kind of drags down the discussion a bit probably. I am with you, I like slow reading so very much but I too get frustrated by how few books I get through. I am forever swerving between knowing a few books really well or knowing many books passingly well and I can;t make up my mind where I want to land!
LikeLike
Somehow, Stefanie, those gaps in people’s reading of the book didn’t really drag down the discussion. It was very lively. But it worried me that it may have affected people’s assessment of the book. That’s to me the main concern … If you read too fast and don’t see what is going on you can express negative views that aren’t really supported.
LikeLike
Interesting. Yes, I can see how it can lead to some big misinterpretations!
LikeLike
Ah, I love reading about reading. I think you’re right, we avid readers are the real target audience for this book. I do find myself hurrying a lot of the time. I think a big part of it is the “So many books” syndrome identified by a certain blog I enjoy reading. I do also think Carr has a point about how we read online, and have noticed that too much time online makes me more hurried and less patient with long passages. We do live in a hurried age. This is why I avoid many of the book blogging world’s challenges and read-alongs, etc. For me that just adds pressure to consume large quantities of books, rather than savouring each one. I’d love to read like Richard Katzev. Might even buy a new notebook and give it a try.
LikeLike
Haha, Andrew, you are so right about the hurried world. Like you too much time online has made me less patient with long passages. And, like you, I don’t take part in challenges and read-alongs for the same reason (with one exception, the Australian Women Writers Challenge, because it is not a challenge for me – the highest level is less than I would read anyhow).
LikeLike
Andrew, I too love reading about reading. I suppose it is only natural to enjoy reading about the thing we like to do most. Heh, yup that “so many books” syndrome, I struggle with it constantly! 🙂 I concede that Carr makes some good points about how reading online can affect our willingness to be patient (Mikics’ rule #1). But I also believe like Mikics that we have a choice in how we read and what read and are ultimately responsible for the quality of our reading experience. I tend to get a little frantic when bloggers put up their end of year stats and I see some people have read over 100, 150, and sometimes 200+ books. It makes my 60 or so seem so small and leaves me feeling inadequate. Thankfully that feeling doesn’t last so very long. Richard does have the right idea with his reading. We could probably all take a page from his notebook 🙂
LikeLike
I am neither a remarkably fast, nor a slow, reader, I am, however, a reader with stamina. I can spend hours a day with a book. Most novels, I read at a higher speed, but I definitely slow down with nonfiction or novels that make me pause and think.
The rules are excellent. Some of them, I already practice, but others inspire me to make some changes in my reading habits.
LikeLike
Jenclair, LOL, yes, a reader with stamina! I believe we are similar in that respect. Same here with the rules. I do some of them pretty regularly but ignore others. They are good suggestions though and I too would like to see if I can’t add a few new ones into my reading habits. Happy reading!
LikeLike
Pingback: More on Slow Reading | So Many Books
How I wish I’d had these guidelines (i refuse to call them rules!) all the time I was studying literature. In three years at university not once was there any discussion on how to read. Wonder whether that has changed??
LikeLike
When I really get excited by a book I know that I gobble at it – and not only with crime fiction and the like. I do quite like to consult a dictionary, especially with something like the Merriam Webster Collegiate or Shorter Oxford where the definitions are chronologically ordered. The guidelines are all good and following them would improve anyone’s reading.
LikeLike
Ian, I totally do the same, can’t help myself! I suppose those books would be prime suspects for rereading but I am am not very good at rereading, too many new books to investigate!
LikeLike
BookerTalk, they are good and very useful, aren’t they? I know what you mean about no one ever discussing how to read at university. I had the same experience. You either figured it out or you didn’t and if you didn’t well then, perhaps English is not what you should be majoring in. Rather brutal all things considered!
LikeLike
Those are most excellent guidelines and I think I might even have to print this post out and paste it into my notebook–this year I am keeping a notebook and keeping notes on the books I read–so a very good suggestion from him–and it really does help to keep those details in mind. I need to work on the patience ‘rule’ though–I am reading slow this year (whether I want to or not), though maybe not in exactly the way the author means here. I never have a problem finding another book and very often I find one book leads to another and makes the reading experience for both really good! Sounds like a good book despite the sandwich being more Wonder Bread than a good hearty wheat! 🙂
LikeLike
Danielle, they are pretty good guidelines. Glad to hear your notebook is working out so well for you. I have to work on patience too. I wonder if our multiple books on the go has something to do with not being patient? Nah. 🙂
LikeLike
I am SO glad you read this so I don’t have to. I like a lot of his rules, but some of the dull ones like tracking key words would get up my nose. I think the only thing you have to have to be a good reader is openness – let the book guide you, rather than wish it into being things it isn’t. But I can see where he’s coming with the rest!
LikeLike
Litlove, glad to help you out on this one! Under his patience guideline he does talk about letting the book tell you how to read it. He doesn’t quite say it like that but he gets there.
LikeLike
Pingback: Weekly Paper (20) | Paper Breathers
Pingback: Life is Short, Read Fast | So Many Books
Pingback: The Top 10 Blog Posts That Caught My Eye In March 2014 | Still Unfinished