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breadguy69325 t1_jebha6q wrote

if a book is bad enough that you don't even want to read it then just read something else. I can only imagine skipping or skimming in books I've already read

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chaseinger t1_jebjh6k wrote

if it's a book i otherwise enjoy, i'm invested in characters and story arch but i can't be arsed to read the third page-and-a-half landscape description i'll absolutely skip that.

it's not a hard either-or for me.

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0YaKnow t1_jebkvdw wrote

Appropriate skimming makes reading more enjoyable. I’m reading for fun, not because I’m going to be tested in some random detail later. Stephan King taught me to be a good skimmer. I love his stories, but I do not care about a tree he’s going to describe for 10 mins. If I feel like I missed something I can go back and reread.

I’m not going to judge anyone for actively reading fiction and you would read a textbook, but for me that level of work takes reading from enjoyable to work. I also do a lot of technical and academic reading for work so I wonder if that may be a key difference between skimmers and non skimmers

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Sumtimesagr8notion t1_jec6s5a wrote

I don't care what other people do, but I would never skim. I mostly read to enjoy good prose and cool ideas, so just getting the gist of the plot isn't really beneficial

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0YaKnow t1_jec7lbw wrote

I get that. I would never skip in a fiction book I don’t think.

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Alizorae t1_jedxm2a wrote

You just gave the example of Stephen King?

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0YaKnow t1_jeeh5y4 wrote

Of skipping? I skim Stephan King but it’s don’t straight up skip

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k_albasi t1_jeboze8 wrote

I have the opposite take. I'd skim a textbook because I only need the most relevant information but wouldn't skim fiction because it's enjoyable and I want the full experience. If an author describes a tree for several pages I'd just stop reading it entirely.

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0YaKnow t1_jebs075 wrote

In high school and undergrad I’d read the whole text book. Grad school killed that quick. 500 pages per class multiple nights a week plus journal articles for independent research. If you’re reading every word in grad school you’ll never survive.

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Penguinwolf4 t1_jee77a5 wrote

Books are not just written for some plot that you may 'miss things' on. The writing of a tree is apart of the book and the prose, which is the book. More than just a plot, otherwise you would read a wiki synopsis

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0YaKnow t1_jeehkrm wrote

If I’m reading for enjoyment I’m going to read in a way that’s enjoyable to me. I guess the reading police might arrest me but that’s a risk I’ll take

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lucia-pacciola t1_jeerwnm wrote

Haha no.

I'm reading a very enjoyable series right now. Each book is great, except for the industry-mandated sex scenes. So I skim those bits.

You should consider more than the all or nothing use case.

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breadguy69325 t1_jeeuust wrote

first part of my reply was in response to the first bit of the post (talking about skipping whole chapters). the second bit was giving my personal tendencies of skipping. I am a rampant DNFer (I have a huge tbr and not enough time to read everything) so I find myself only fully reading books where I trust the author to make any scene worth it even if they prove me wrong. I have considered many things, but I only find myself skipping or skimming when I already know I won't miss anything

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