本の読み方 スロー・リーディングの実践

A challenge

The book talks about the technique of reading slowly. In the first chapter, the author describes the benefits of slow reading in comparison to speed reading. In the second chapter, he delves into the technique itself, about what is beneficial and what not:

Good:

• reread the page multiple times until you understand everything
• underline and highlight sections of interest or ambiguous ones
• ask yourself the 4W1H questions (Who, What, Where, When, and How). For example, who is speaking? What are they talking about, etc
• think about the intention of the author and reflect upon details such as usage of adverbs, adjectives, etc
• reflect on the context of the book it was written in (society, history, biography of the author)

Not so good:

• Skim through the book (speedreading) or rely on summaries
• read books only once
• copy the books content in a notebook word by word

In the final chapter, the author demonstrates the technique with excerpts from classical literature, e.g こころ by 夏目漱石 or Bridge by Kafka. They highlight nuances in the excerpts and possible multiple interpretations.

Language learning: Learning about the technique of slow reading itself is useful to enhance understanding one’s skills and be more mindful about reading. The first language the author themselves use is pretty well understandable - I don’t think you need to be N1 to get through 2/3 of the book easily. The challenging part is the last part with the classical excerpts which are challenging to read and understand. The kind of books I have difficulties with even in my native language. I read the first 3 excerpts and the explanation which I found super interesting. However, the fourth excerpt, 金閣寺, was too challenging for me and I stopped the book after that. I will revisit that once my Japanese language level is there as I had a hard time to even understand the language, without the deeper meaning.