How do I gain such power

  • tithonis [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    4 days ago

    There’s a couple of effective strats for reading 10 books a month:

    • manic phase
    • grad student time crunch
    • picture books
    • read words but don’t bother comprehending them (great for doorstops/abstruse texts: this is how I read gravity’s rainbow, house of leaves, and infinite jest all in 1 week)
    • make shit up for the internet
    • ai blockchain technology reads them for you
    • hot chip, twerk, be bisexual, lie

    Hope this helps! Happy reading!

      • tombruzzo [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        3 days ago

        I had a notebook when I read Gravity’s Rainbow and even drew up my own flowchart of the characters to keep track of things. At times I’d only get through 5 pages in a lunch break. Reading one of these books that fast would do a shit in my brain

        • tithonis [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          I wish I still had my notes from Gravity’s Rainbow. A friend’s dad still had his legal pad with his notes from when he read it in a file somewhere and he trusted me with it. I cribbed his flowcharts for myself. Something that dense you take all the help you can get. And like you said, 5 pages a day was an achievement.

          Infinite Jest I got halfway through before I decided I had enough. Enjoyed it, not invested enough in the story to finish it. I only know House of Leaves by reputation.

          • chgxvjh [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            2 days ago

            Infinite Jest I got halfway through before I decided I had enough

            Same. Gravity’s Rainbow too but I eventually listened to the absurdly well produced abridged German audio play.

      • tithonis [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        3 days ago

        The only way you could actually do this is to loosen up your definition of “reading” wide enough that it becomes meaningless.

        I read Gravity’s Rainbow a long time ago. I had to take notes to keep track of what was happening.

        At some point you trade speed for comprehension. Other comrades have given sincere (and thoughtful!) answers to OP’s question. I’m giving wrong answers. There is an upper limit to how much information one can meaningfully assimilate in any given amount of time and if you’re breezing through dense prose you’re probably missing something in the process.