SLOW DOWN | The Mental Benefits of Reading Slowly

Since making this video, I've split my manga content and book content in two different channels. Feel free to follow my book channel if you like: youtube.com/@merphynapierreviews

Great video. I'm a rather slow reader because I try to take in every detail and visualize everything while reading. Also, if I've finished a good book, I need a few days to let it all sink in, mull it over again in my head, "mourn" the end of the story or the death of beloved characters etc. So when I heard someone (a booktuber) talk about how they read 5 to 10 books per week, my jaw hit the ground. I would NEVER be able to do that, not even if reading was my full time job. But then again, I don't really want to. My books are my friends and I just like to sit with them a bit longer. I think that's okay.

No joke: I actually did a YouTube search on this topic last year while incubating ideas for the “Why Read?” Discussion series. Some books do read more quickly for me than others, but overall, I am a far slower-than-average reader, and it’s something I’ve always felt self-conscious about. Loved hearing your experience and discussion of this topic!

Love this. I’ve felt for a few years that reading has become too competitive. It’s the latest stage of the gamification of everything. Each book has a natural speed for each reader, and that’s the best speed to read it and enjoy it, which is surely the whole point of reading fiction.

I'm an old man for whom reading has been a life-long passion. Over the last few years it has been harder for me to concentrate to read, which is thoroughly frustrating. Last year I decided to try reading out loud - I remember my maternal grandmother quietly mouthing words to herself while reading - and found that it not only slowed me down, but helped my comprehension and retention. No more having to reread paragraphs because I missed something. I also remember the actor Christopher Plummer talking about how his family read aloud to each other after dinner when he was growing up and how helpful it was to him. Love your channel, which I only just discovered.

I'm a fairly fast reader, and I have a friend who's the opposite; he tends to slowly take his time with books so that he can analyze and think about the book(this also applies to shows as well; he's currently going through Naruto and he is taking his time). I find that, as you'd probably expect, there are pros and cons to each. He will often have a deeper understanding of some more complex themes and foreshadowing than I would. He's often noted some small detail's significance that I can barely remember. And I am jealous of that, at times. The flipside of this is that, his reading pace is glacial. I don't have exact numbers but I get through way more books and media in general than he does. So while I do envy his deeper understanding, I can't regret that I'm a voracious reader, as it were. I have certainly missed some small details or deeper meanings often enough as I tear through books. But I've been to so many more worlds than he has. I've experienced so much vicariously through various protagonists while he's mostly just focused on one or two. I'm not saying that my way is better but it's certainly better for me. I love having experienced so many different worlds, and part of that has to be credited to the pace at which I get through books.

I've noticed that my reading speed naturally picks up as I make progress with a book. It takes some time for me to get familiar with the characters, the tone, or the style of writing. Once I've fully immersed myself, I just naturally start reading faster without even trying. And it makes reading all the more enjoyable. I dnf-ed so many books in the past just because I didn't have enough patience to give them some time to pull me in... Now that I know this, I find myself more patient and less frustrated with my naturally slow pace of reading at the beginning.

I have the same issue that I tend to accelerate my reading speed because I want to get to every book that sparks my interest...every shiny object. One of the reasons I appreciate booktube (and your channel) so much is that I feel its impotant to read slowly and thoughtfully...let it immerse you. As such, I know I can't read everything that interests me. Booktube helps me narrow it down to the experiences that are really really worth it.

I am a big believer in people reading in whatever pace they naturally do. I am a very fast reader and I have tried to slow down and it just makes me not retain any of the information I am reading because I get distracted and hazy cuz I am forcing myself to read at a pace that isn't mine. I viscerally hate how people get shamed for reading too slow, it's just the way someone's brain works and any way people read is valid (including audiobooks)

I read an average of 4 to 5 hours a day. Just discovered your channel while binge watching reading videos on YouTube. Two of my biggest forms of escape is binging YouTube and reading ebooks and regular books. ❤❤❤

I had a friend who was a speed reader and he would read a harry potter book, in school, between classes in a single day. But I've always found it much mroe enjoyable to read at conversation length. Sometimes in action scenes I increase the pace with the story and its great, but I read a conversation at a much slower pace. This allows me to take a break, step back and really take in things better. Its similar to when I used to binge a TV show season in a day and I would forget nearly everything shortly after. If I watched a couple of eps and take a few day break, I really think about the subject and I get so much more out of it. Plus you get something to look forward to.

Discussions are my very favorite part of BookTube too! 😄I tend to be a slow reader for several reasons. One is that I often stop to admire a well phrased sentence. Like you, I'm a visual and immersive reader, and I enjoy the scenery along the way. I also find that I remember a book much better when I read it slowly, which is much more conducive to discussing the book with friends. Finally, I don't even count how many books I read, so I never feel like I'm in a competition. Hooray for the tortoises of BookTube! 🐢Thank you for the video, Merphy!

I've been thinking about this for some time so thanks for the video. As a 52 year old man with a variety of health conditions is that I'm hyper aware of my mortality and the limited time I've got left for reading (which is probably the thing - after Doctor Who - I love the most. And possibly Dairy Milk chocolate.) Although that hasn't seemed to have stopped me from an almost masochistic refusal to DNF books. I do read different types of books at different speeds, but there's no set genre where I read faster or slower, although non-fiction is usually slower than fiction. I will fly through books I love in the 'can't put it down sense'. Many is the night where I've read through to the 2/3/4am because I can't put a book down. I also tend to have multiple books on the go. I annotate and make notes more than I used to, which does slow you down a little. But I'm bad at then taking a deep breath, gathering my thoughts and notes together. Although I write a review of every book I read on my Goodreads page. Sorry this has gone on far too long.

Wonderful! I was feeling awful about borrowing five books from the library, devouring one of them the next day and hardly touching the rest since then. Every time I saw them I was stabbed with guilt. You've reminded me not every book is a fast one, and THAT'S OK! Just keep reading and discover new worlds, fast ones and slow ones. The difference is the delight.

I've always been a binge reader, simply because I NEED to know what happens next when I am engaged by a book. I used to be proud of that, because, reading is a healthy activity, right? But I recently realized that if it consumes me, if all I do is read for a couple of days it is not good for me, plus, yeah, I don't know if I enjoy details as much, I brush over a lot . So now for the first time I am reading book slowly and it's wonderful

I am french and read most books in english (well, not french books obviously) and that has, understandably, impacted my reading speed. This is especially true for big adult fantasy books and it sometimes frustrates me that I CAN'T read faster... especially since I have so many booktube friends who read a lot more. I have to remember your video in the future to remind myself that it's perfectly fine <3

"I love stories and I want to read them all." Very much this statement. I'm working on not beating myself up for not reading too fast so I can actually retain the stories that I delve into, but that statement sits there in the back of my mind always.

I started slowing down recently. I really felt it with A Day of Fallen Night. I took my time so I could just revel in the world.

Yesssss! I'm also a slow reader by nature. I started reading Mistborn since a few days ago and the only time that I find time to is before I go to bed and while I felt a little bit disappointed cause I was only at the 100 pages mark yesterday, I know that I'm in this (Cosmere) for the long run and it'll take me quite some time to go through all of it but there's nothing like the first time you're going through a series so I'm happy to go slow :)

What you said about having this desire to read quickly not because of some sort of competitions or numbers games but because there are just SO MANY books that you want to read is something I can really relate to :') and lately I've actually been working on purposefully slowing down my reading so that I can really immerse myself and savour what I'm reading so how timely that you've made a video about it