With all the focus on forgetful reading in these recent article reads...there is something to be said of reading in the Present Moment. Even as or if I am reading a book or two or three from cover to cover...one of my favorite things is just to pick up a book from the shelf and open to read a paragraph or page aloud at random.
There are sooo very many ways to read. We should not be discouraged or disheartened that we forget...we should be encouraged and radiant in the illumination of the first read or re-read or infinite read of the Now and how to Connect the read within the Greater Narrative At Work/Play.
I adore Drop-In reading without the psychological pressure of having to totally remember. In some ways it is better because then re-reading our favorites becomes a re-visit of reading for the first time.
I also especially Love when a new read takes me back to the feeling of reading an old Classic.
Reading Where The Crawdads Sing took me back to reading Harper Lee for the first time.
Reading The Overstory now takes me back to reading John Steinbeck novels for the first time.
With all the focus on forgetful reading in these recent article reads...there is something to be said of reading in the Present Moment.
That is exactly right. There is something to be said. To be a student of reading is a lot like being a student of meditation or yoga. Mastery means sinking deeper into being a true beginner for life. There is no perfect way to read just as there is no perfect way to live. The trick is to enjoy it (and be in it) as often as possible.
I've found myself re-reading a book only to have it seem vaguely familiar at first, then, further in, realizing that I'd read it before. I'm glad that this is not unique to me! I'd never been concerned about forgetting parts, or nearly all of a book, but now I'm wondering why that's so.
I’m of the mind that consideration of the subconscious mind is the best way to look at reading or listening. We’re not able to un-read or un-hear anything we are exposed to so what I believe is that all this information is assimilated into the subconscious and returns to our awareness as a personal world view. Chose what you read, but choose wisely.
Writing a review of a book helps in remembering its content, it’s mood and your attitudes and reactions to it. Speaking about it aloud or sharing the main ideas with a friend can also help in consolidating that memory.
I find myself constantly forgetting key details from books, including names of main characters and places; however can normally hold on to my feelings and ideas of the purpose of the novel and the main attitude that it has driven into my understanding of it.
Reading has many facets, one of which might be the rather indescribable, and naturally fleeting, mix of thought and emotion and sensory manipulations that happen in the moment and then fade. How much of reading, then, is just a kind of narcissism—a marker of who you were and what you were thinking when you encountered a text? Perhaps thinking of that book later, a trace of whatever admixture moved you while reading it will spark out of the brain’s dark places.
With all the focus on forgetful reading in these recent article reads...there is something to be said of reading in the Present Moment. Even as or if I am reading a book or two or three from cover to cover...one of my favorite things is just to pick up a book from the shelf and open to read a paragraph or page aloud at random.
There are sooo very many ways to read. We should not be discouraged or disheartened that we forget...we should be encouraged and radiant in the illumination of the first read or re-read or infinite read of the Now and how to Connect the read within the Greater Narrative At Work/Play.
I adore Drop-In reading without the psychological pressure of having to totally remember. In some ways it is better because then re-reading our favorites becomes a re-visit of reading for the first time.
I also especially Love when a new read takes me back to the feeling of reading an old Classic.
Reading Where The Crawdads Sing took me back to reading Harper Lee for the first time.
Reading The Overstory now takes me back to reading John Steinbeck novels for the first time.
🥰
Great (true, beautiful) comment. This is perfect:
That is exactly right. There is something to be said. To be a student of reading is a lot like being a student of meditation or yoga. Mastery means sinking deeper into being a true beginner for life. There is no perfect way to read just as there is no perfect way to live. The trick is to enjoy it (and be in it) as often as possible.
Ha. Story of my life
🤣🤣
I've found myself re-reading a book only to have it seem vaguely familiar at first, then, further in, realizing that I'd read it before. I'm glad that this is not unique to me! I'd never been concerned about forgetting parts, or nearly all of a book, but now I'm wondering why that's so.
I’m of the mind that consideration of the subconscious mind is the best way to look at reading or listening. We’re not able to un-read or un-hear anything we are exposed to so what I believe is that all this information is assimilated into the subconscious and returns to our awareness as a personal world view. Chose what you read, but choose wisely.
Writing a review of a book helps in remembering its content, it’s mood and your attitudes and reactions to it. Speaking about it aloud or sharing the main ideas with a friend can also help in consolidating that memory.
I find myself constantly forgetting key details from books, including names of main characters and places; however can normally hold on to my feelings and ideas of the purpose of the novel and the main attitude that it has driven into my understanding of it.