[Briar King]

Deleted

This post has been edited by .-‘: 06 October 2021 - 02:44 PM

[worry]

I haven't spoken aloud since I joined this board, if that counts.

[Baco Xtath]

worrywort, on 14 January 2013 - 03:03 AM, said:

I haven't spoken aloud since I joined this board, if that counts.

S'called balance.

[worry]

Don't have very good balance either, but that's more since I read Ethan Frome.

[Defiance]

Beyond unavoidable things like taking care of the kid and doing classwork, when a good book sinks its hooks into me I set everything else aside. TV, movies, video games, and friends are all insignificant when placed against immersion in a wonderful book.

It doesn't help that I'm a terribly slow reader, either. I soak in every detail, and I basically read each word aloud in my head. I can read things a lot quicker and still take away a lot, but it's never as enjoyable because I always end up wondering just how many things are going right over my head. Sure, in the case of Malazan and many other books there are always forums to visit where other people catch what you miss, but it's always more satisfying to discover it yourself.

[Macros]

I get sucked into a book very easily.

some books took me in first time though, like up to 4am in the bed when I've work/school early in the morning job.

first tiem through the Empire series by feist/wurts
first time through Lord of the Ribgs
first time through Deadhouse gates
and
first time through my first Sharpe book.

[Abyss]

My sleep cycle is fucked when i'm into an especially good book, basically a dresdencrack fix, any new Malazan, Richard Morgan, Matt Stover, and of course AMOL right now.

I have no problem going through the day doing everything i'm supposed to, interacting with other humans, washing and feeding and exercising and all... then bedtime rolls around and four hours later it's 'just one more chapter'.... after a few days it gets pretty brutal. i usually have to crash hard after a particularly long book.

[T77]

The only thing effected by reading has been TV and movies. Books are much better than most TV and movies IMO and I therefore watch much less TV. I barely use my DVR anymore to the point where i might cancel it. My job requires a lot of thinking, so if I don't have enough sleep I can't do my job, so I need to stop reading by about 12:30.

I also do a lot of audiobooks so I can get a lot of books finished when I'm driving, doing work around the house, etc. The only thing that has effected is that my wife hates when I listen to audiobooks, so I have to hide it from her. She also hates when I read at night, but she will have to live with it.

[Baco Xtath]

T77, on 14 January 2013 - 04:03 PM, said:

I also do a lot of audiobooks so I can get a lot of books finished when I'm driving, doing work around the house, etc. The only thing that has effected is that my wife hates when I listen to audiobooks, so I have to hide it from her. She also hates when I read at night, but she will have to live with it.

Yeah, I discovered audiobooks about two years ago and average about two a month now. i did a remodel and had to paint the entire interior and exterior of a house - basically two weeks of mindless brushing. I listened to Dan Simmon's the Terror and three Dark Tower books. From then on, I was hooked. Every time I go to the store, mow, workout, drive.......whatever, I'm listening to a book. My wife doesn't care if I listen to them as she'll just talk to me anyway and expect me to respond - I usually make a big deal of pulling out my sansa, unlocking it, pausing it, taking out my earbuds, and then asking her to repeat herself - oddly, this doesn't deter her in the slightest.

[Assail]

Speed reader here. I feel bad for you guys. I finished AMOL in 4 hours God it feels good to contribute nothing but a little gloating to a thread haha

But on topic... I usually read incredibly quickly depending on my ardor for the book, but at the same time I don't let myself be distracted by anything. I tend to shut the world out. Not really a problem because when I pick the book I usually have a significant amount of free time.

[Illuyankas]

Bullshit. Assuming the book was only 300,000 words long - and it is most certainly longer - you'd have to be reading it at around 1250 words a minute, which is in the range of the fastest speed readers in the world and they only have roughly 50% comprehension on that. So either you are one of the fastest readers in the world and you still only comprehended half the book, or you're a fibbing fibber who fibs. My money is on the latter.

e: some quick calculations and last time I read Memories of Ice I did it at about 600 wpm, which is both cool and 400 under the lowest you'd normally get in the world's best of speed reading. So ego satisfying AND something to bring my overly excitable friend who thinks I have a 'savant' reading speed back down to earth. (I read the Reality Dysfunction around then two and that was 500wpm so Malazan bias is marginal)

This post has been edited by Illuyankas: 04 February 2013 - 03:12 AM

[Assail]

Illuyankas, on 04 February 2013 - 03:05 AM, said:

Bullshit. Assuming the book was only 300,000 words long - and it is most certainly longer - you'd have to be reading it at around 1250 words a minute, which is in the range of the fastest speed readers in the world and they only have roughly 50% comprehension on that. So either you are one of the fastest readers in the world and you still only comprehended half the book, or you're a fibbing fibber who fibs. My money is on the latter.

e: some quick calculations and last time I read Memories of Ice I did it at about 600 wpm, which is both cool and 400 under the lowest you'd normally get in the world's best of speed reading. So ego satisfying AND something to bring my overly excitable friend who thinks I have a 'savant' reading speed back down to earth. (I read the Reality Dysfunction around then two and that was 500wpm so Malazan bias is marginal)

I have no way to statistically judge my comprehension, only that by the end of the read... a little over four hours, I had a good understanding of the series of events. Granted, I re-read the book since I finished it. I mean feel free to go and call bullshit, but it was just over four hours total reading time.

I'm not sure if you're assuming that I'm reading every single word. I've noticed that most of my reading is done either sentences or paragraphs at a time depending on how focused I am on it, or how much I'm enjoying it. Do you get some badass trophy if they can prove you're the worlds fasted speed reader? Because I want one.

Who is UoW, Briar?

Edit: I will give you this though Illy, there were quite a few minor plot points that I didn't pick up on, hence the re-read.

This post has been edited by Assail: 04 February 2013 - 04:44 AM

[Overactive Imagination]

How do you learn to speed read?

[worry]

You stand in front of the microwave running on High, eyes right up to the window. When you feel them vibrate, you're almost there.

[Assail]

worrywort, on 04 February 2013 - 05:04 AM, said:

You stand in front of the microwave running on High, eyes right up to the window. When you feel them vibrate, you're almost there.

worry speaks the truth. How did you learn the secret ways, worry? WHO TOLD YOU?!

[amphibian]

UoW is Use of Weapons, the dude with the weird robot as his avatar. Not Saltman-Z, that's the other weird robot dude.

So sayeth the weird frog dude.

Also, I once speed-read a Harry Potter book (maybe the Order of the Phoenix?) in about 5 hours because my brother was about to take it on a cross-planet trip. I didn't miss much by doing that and it worked out fine. I strongly suspect the Wheel of Time and most long-running series books are like that to the non-emotionally involved reader. Most of the descriptions get skipped and the actions focused on.

[Assail]

amphibian, on 04 February 2013 - 07:27 AM, said:

UoW is Use of Weapons, the dude with the weird robot as his avatar. Not Saltman-Z, that's the other weird robot dude.

So sayeth the weird frog dude.

Also, I once speed-read a Harry Potter book (maybe the Order of the Phoenix?) in about 5 hours because my brother was about to take it on a cross-planet trip. I didn't miss much by doing that and it worked out fine. I strongly suspect the Wheel of Time and most long-running series books are like that to the non-emotionally involved reader. Most of the descriptions get skipped and the actions focused on.

All these weird robot dudes are really fucking with my head man.

Well honestly I can get emotionally attached in the book, and the re-read was all about that. The first time through I was just extremely excited to know the ending. I'm sure that played into it. I'm not sure, I just know I usually read things quickly. Which was a giant problem when I was first reading through MBotF, as I was missing a lot of the tiny details, which took a lot away from the books.

Thanks though amphib

[Use Of Weapons]

I am the aforementioned UoW. I read AMoL in one day, after picking it up at 9am. I finished it around 1 in the morning, so about 15 hours I guess. And I skimmed much of the descriptive passages. I wouldn't call myself a speed-reader by any means. I actually thought I was kind of average, until people here started telling saying otherwise.

I can believe in a 4-hour read, but I doubt there was much read other than the dialogue and action scenes. Which, to be fair, are generally the best parts

[Salt-Man Z]

I'm the aforementioned Salt-Man Z, and I have little to add besides that fact that I can only recall ever reading two books in a single day (each). The first was the novelization of Star Trek VI, which I received as a gift--probably for Christmas--and that evening I went down to my room and, even though I was in the middle of another book at the time, I read STVI straight through that night.

The second time was Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness a few years ago when I was home sick and couldn't make it to the library to pick up the next book in the Star Wars series I was on. It was a struggle to finish it that day, even though it's only a couple hundred pages, partly because I didn't find it that engaging, and partly because I was sick, but I managed.

[Assail]

Use Of Weapons, on 04 February 2013 - 09:08 PM, said:

I am the aforementioned UoW. I read AMoL in one day, after picking it up at 9am. I finished it around 1 in the morning, so about 15 hours I guess. And I skimmed much of the descriptive passages. I wouldn't call myself a speed-reader by any means. I actually thought I was kind of average, until people here started telling saying otherwise.

I can believe in a 4-hour read, but I doubt there was much read other than the dialogue and action scenes. Which, to be fair, are generally the best parts

You have my sword...

Briar King, on 04 February 2013 - 10:55 PM, said:

Assail, on 04 February 2013 - 07:08 AM, said:

worrywort, on 04 February 2013 - 05:04 AM, said:

You stand in front of the microwave running on High, eyes right up to the window. When you feel them vibrate, you're almost there.

worry speaks the truth. How did you learn the secret ways, worry? WHO TOLD YOU?!

He's a fucking Time Traveller I swear!

Someone needs to put this abomination down...