Why Some Books Feel Slow to Read While Others Fly By?

Recently, I wanted to focus on reading non-fiction. I enjoyed different books, like The One Thing, Predictably Irrational, etc. But I started having a sense of discomfort. I realised that I was reading much slower than the previous month. I noticed a pattern: I breezed through three fiction books in two weeks but struggled to finish even one out of four non-fiction books I bought. Curious, I reached out to my peers to see if they experienced a similar difference, but the responses varied. Surprisingly, some even said that their pace was the complete opposite.

Now, my interest piqued. I wanted answers, and I started digging. During this, I came across this article screaming, “Here’s how I read 100 books a month.” Now, I started questioning my entire reading behaviour. Am I reading differently, or is the speed just different? Why do we respond to different books differently? Why do we buy books and not even take a glance at them?

I started with a simple check of my reading habits. I noted how I was reading and then dived into these “tips” people suggested for a few weeks. In the end, I found something funny. Most of these suggestions were tricks to skim the words, not what I exactly call “reading”. For me, reading a book is thinking along with the author. If it’s fiction, it’s venturing along with a few characters; if it’s non-fiction, then it’s understanding a thought from someone else. So, I understood that this wasn’t the issue. Then what else could be the issue?

I’ve noted everything down, from the things I can influence to those I can’t. In doing so, I found a direction to investigate. These are the six topics:

• Writing Style
• The time of day
• Length of the book
• Mental and Physical State
• The Topic of the book
• Reading Environment

Indeed, these things strike us first among the things that influence our reading. However, I couldn’t find any significant reasoning behind the different pacing from each factor.

Author’s writing style

I can directly rule out the writing style, as each author has a different style, and I’ve read all of them at similar times. From the complicated Journey to the West books to the simpler Harry Potter books, both took me relatively similar times to read. These two have contrasting writing styles, as Anthony C. Yu’s translation contains many technical terms and even poetry, while children can read Harry Potter. Of course, I’m excluding the edge cases here, as the question I had was more commonly observed than being restricted to a select few books.

The time of the day could be an issue, too!

This is both an easy problem and a complex problem. If one doesn’t have a fixed lifestyle, this is harder to evaluate. Luckily, society has given us a few roles that take up most of our time. I only find free time in the morning or evening as the day is filled with a job, and the night is filled with chores and sleep. So, I read all my books in the same general hours, and probably you guys do the same, too. So, we can confidently remove this from our list.

What if it’s just the length of the book?

Well, I don’t have any questions about this. Each book is of different lengths and can take different amounts of time to read. Robert Cialdini’s Influence is a 400-page book, while the classic As a Man Thinketh is just 80–90 pages; both can’t take 1–2 days of reading. But we can be sure that ideally, Influence should take roughly four times the time it takes for someone to read As A Man Thinketh. And we all can agree that that’s not the case. So, we can exclude this from the contributing factors.

Naturally, you’d read fiction faster than non-fiction; they are completely different topics.

Indeed, this can be a possible reason. However, that still does not satisfy many constraints. I can go on the examples, but I’d rather let you investigate this topic yourself. Why? I don’t believe you’d be convinced if you didn’t experience this.

What about your mental and physical state?

Well, most of the readers read after coming from work. It’s natural to assume that they would be exhausted. In such states, it’s natural to find that reading or watching something entertaining to forget would be easier than something realistic. However, I can give one simple scenario that strongly contradicts this. My Father (or mostly many) would almost always enjoy watching the news or reading the political news after coming home from a stressful workday. Sometimes, I preferred listening to a podcast instead of watching a game or comedy show. Maybe this is only me, or maybe you find yourself doing this. Share your experience on this in the comments.

What about the reading environment?

Well, I always read at my desk. Whether fiction or non-fiction, I only have a single desk to read. And I believe this is the same for most people. Since we are speaking about the problem with pace over a long period, this is also not a major roadblock, as it equally affects both your fiction and non-fiction reading. Of course, I sometimes read stories on my bed, too, but that’s rare.

The Real Reason

While these factors influence how we read, they don’t seem to fully explain why non-fiction drags while fiction flies. That’s where purpose comes in — a key ingredient that keeps us engaged and moving forward.

The funny thing about any fiction is that the purpose is almost always present: entertainment. The author builds the secondary purpose through progression. However, for non-fiction, we find it hard to push ourselves to read it unless we have a strong purpose. Don’t take this “purpose” lightly. Most of our struggles can be overcome if we have this in place.

In my experience, this even applies to reading scientific papers. I always wanted to read research papers over the weekend but found it hard. However, when I faced a problem with my code, I read through many papers without any struggle. Similarly, I finished “The Psychology of Money” or “Let’s Talk Money” when I was in a financial crunch and found the need to plan my finances better. I finished “Selling 101” only after struggling to sell my finance journal.

What can I do with this information?

You can indeed find a natural reason to start a book. It’s not like we need to get diagnosed with Cancer to read a book on it. However, that’s not possible for everything. You have to find a few hacks to do this. One way is to read the reviews and opinions from the community. Remember, you are almost always never the first person to read a bestseller. You can find other’s thoughts on it as easily as getting your morning coffee.

You can also form a mental skeleton of the book before reading it. I am speaking about the journey the author takes you through. It’s the classic adventure vs journey approach. For Fiction, the adventure approach helps as you have a predefined purpose. For non-fiction, it’s like finishing a journey in the shortest possible time. You have to plan the path and understand it.

One easy way of forming this skeleton is by reading book summaries. You can now use this information to (a.) solidify the purpose or (b.) avoid the book entirely. It can also save you some time and money. Medium is the best place for this, as many people who read different books share their experiences and thoughts on a book. You should also note that most Technical books are never written to be read from beginning to end. They are more suitable for referring back to specific topics.

So the next time you pick up a book, ask yourself — What can I get from reading this?

I’ve tried this for a few books, and it’s working. I hope it works for you, too. I’ve only used personal references and experiences for this article as they were the best-detailed understandings I could get. I would love to get more views on these topics to refine my understanding! So be sure to share your views and experiences in the comments!

Thanks for staying till the end. I hope you had a good time. Until the next time — happy reading.

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