The Facets of Voluntary Slow Reading III: What it is Not, What it is
- The Facets of Voluntary Slow Reading I: The Voluntary Aspect
- The Facets of Voluntary Slow Reading II: The Meaning of Slow
- The Facets of Voluntary Slow Reading III: What it is Not, What it is
- The Facets of Voluntary Slow Reading IV: 10 Reading Techniques
A well-bounded definition of a concept should say both what it is, and what it is not, i.e., disambiguation. I have made this statement about Library 2.0. The same applies to my definition of Voluntary Slow Reading (VSR).
What Voluntary Slow Reading is Not
VSR may be clearly contrasted with concepts such as speed-reading and skimming. Wikipedia provides a good first cut at some of these concepts. Skimming is one type of speed-reading and “involves visually searching the sentences of a page for clues to meaning”; it results in lower comprehension. Speed-reading refers to a collection of methods, with “trade-offs between measures of speed and comprehension”. Note too, that speed-reading is in many cases the preferable choice for quickly reviewing information; I use it every day to read RSS feeds. Scanning is a machine operation.
Other concepts will require more careful distinction along the way. VSR may be distinguished from voluntary efforts to acquire literacy where the slowness is involuntary, as with adult learners; admirable as that pursuit is, it is not the meaning of VSR. Although proof-reading is a careful approach to text, it is intended to find errors, not comprehend it; comprehension is an important dimension of VSR.
VSR may be distinguished from close reading and from other usages of the phrase “slow reading” that refer to disciplined methodologies, involving the application or rules, often by professionals, to achieve certain results. Take for example the New Criticism which values the practice of close reading. “Studying a passage of prose or poetry in New Critical style requires careful, exacting scrutiny of the passage itself.” Jim Murdoch’s article on close reading discusses the many steps that may be involved. In religious disciplines, I notice a similar exacting methodology, as for example in the book I recently reviewed, How to Read Slowly: A Christian Guide to Reading with the Mind. These are worthy pursuits, and are all examples of slow reading. However, the disciplined, results-oriented nature of these methodologies seems to vary from the voluntary aspect I am after.
A Positive Definition
It seems timely then to attempt a positive definition …
Voluntary Slow Reading (VSR) refers to practice of deliberately reducing the rate of reading to increase pleasure or comprehension, on a sustained basis or for selected passages. VSR is often associated with attention to the aesthetics of the reading experience, such as setting and format. It is also associated with the practice of reading regional authors and content for personal interest and to encourage local literary growth. VSR is often used as one technique for Close Reading.
It’s a start. All of this is bound to change as I get into the actual literature review.
every day. The whole point of the exercise was to slow down his reading and re-enforce his understanding because he would be looking at, speaking and also listening to the words on the page. [Read the rest of the comment and its accompanying posthere
I noticed the link to How to Read Slowly: A Christian Guide to Reading with the Mind and this reminded me of Joshua 1:8:
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
“Meditate” is really a poor translation. The literal translation is “read in an undertone day and night”. The story as I was told is that every new king was expected to physically make a personal copy of the Law in his own hand and read it out loud, but not in a loud voice, every day. The whole point of the exercise was to slow down his reading and re-enforce his understanding because he would be looking at, speaking and also listening to the words on the page.
Does the ‘voluntary’ bit exist to distinguish this form of slow reading from slow reading enforced by e.g. neurological issues and the type of slow reading mandated by the disciplines outlined in the article.
The story fo the writing of the Law is, as I understand it, a relatively late one associated with 7th/6th century reforms in Judah. But the basic idea is right, and applies ( I would say) to the tephillim- the presence of the text, the reminder of the Law, and the command to think on it every day. You see a simliar idea in the Muslim notion of the hafiz and in Sikh readings of the Guru Granth Sahib.
In the Wikipedia entry, I wrote that the earliest reference to slow reading appears to be in Nietzsche’s (1887) preface to Daybreak. While the Joshua verse does not use the phrase “slow reading” it could have; clearly, it predates Nietzsche.
Pete, the voluntary bit came up early on when I began looking at the research on slow reading, and saw the large volume of material on slow reading as a problem, especially for children. Also, on the web you see many references to slow reading as a problem that can be “cured” by taking a course in speed-reading. For a time, I used Google and Technorati alerts to watch whenever a new reference to “slow reading” came up on the web; many of these references were people blogging and complaining about their slow reading speed. Something was needed to distinguish the positive sense of slow reading, and “voluntary” seemed the best choice; it still does.
For present purposes, I plan to touch on the disciplined methods, but focus more deeply on the voluntary/free-form methods (these will be in the next post). The disciplined methods deserve treatment on their own, perhaps a part-two someday.
[...] [Read the rest of the comment and its accompanying post here.] [...]
As someone who teaches speed reading, I think that the biggest problem that new speed readers face is that they use their technique without regard to what they’re reading. Sometimes you should slow down, take your time, and enjoy the process.
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