Speed and Comprehension

The topic of reading speed came up in a conversation I had at church when there was a discussion about how many books people can read in a year.

I confess that there are many books I listen to rather quickly just to get through it; however, most of the time, I do want to savour what I'm reading or listening to. With physical books, it's a little harder for me to speed through, and if I start skimming quite heavily, I'll know that it's not the book for me.

I've also realized that while I enjoy listening to Christian non-fiction when I'm doing chores, I don't necessarily retain every detail. My comprehension is strongest when I'm doing things that don't require much thought, but the moment I start multi-tasking, something will usually give. It's getting to the point where I've observed that it's hard for me to pay attention to people talking to me for long periods of time as my brain goes into auto-pilot as if they're an audiobook!

To combat this, I am trying to limit audiobooks to when I really want them to keep me company on mundane tasks. Otherwise, I'm going back to reading more print and e-books where I can. There are a few exceptions I'll make, though, which include:

• Work-related books: I would much rather just listen to the material at a faster speed so that my time is reserved for books outside of work
• Culturally-themed fiction: I have a soft spot for listening to Asian authors write about Asian experiences as I love hearing certain words pronounced the way they are meant to be spoken (most of the time, it's more understandable for me to hear it as opposed to reading it on the page). As most of these books tend to be secular, I'd rather just hear the book.
• Instructional or technical books: I enjoy listening to books on topics like organization, productivity, finances, leadership, and more as part of personal development and growth, so getting to hear these helps me feel even more productive when I'm doing things around the house 😄
• Christian fiction rereads: Being a visual learner, I get so much more out of reading a story than listening to it. However, if I've already read the book, and the audiobook promises to be quite the performance, I'm happy to listen to it since I know how the story will go. For new Christian fiction though, it's not a preferred method as I continually wonder what details I've missed (and it's harder to go back to them!).

I still love audiobooks and appreciate that I can listen to them at rather fast speeds; if I'm not doing anything else that requires brain activity, I can comprehend up to 3.5x speed. But, since I am not always in that situation, I think I do lose a lot of comprehension. It's interesting to note the possible correlations between both, but at the end of the day, I want to focus on quality more than quantity. Though I've read lots of books earlier this year, I might slow down for the spring and summer and really take the time to absorb what I'm reading. I think I'm ready for less speed and more comprehension, especially as I want the Christian non-fiction books I read to have a tangible and longer-lasting impact on me.

This is one of the reasons why I don't set reading goals on Goodreads, as I don't input all of the books I read on there (my account is primarily just Christian books as I truly am all over the place). Though I have an idea of how many books I'd like to get through in a year, I know that it's not always possible, so I've found that this has relieved some of the pressure. Admittedly, I have had some good reading months, so I'm thankful that I was able to knock some books off my TBR and ARC piles while I had the time!