{"objectType":"Post","type":"Article","actorId":"@sidebyside@kwln.social","actor":{"id":"@sidebyside@kwln.social","type":"Person","name":"Side By Side","icon":"https://kwln.social/images/user.svg","url":"https://kwln.social/users/%40sidebyside%40kwln.social","inbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40sidebyside%40kwln.social/inbox","outbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40sidebyside%40kwln.social/outbox","server":"@kwln.social"},"title":"A Short Essay on Reading Speed","body":"<p>I am a slow reader and I used to apologize for it.</p>\n<p>The apology came from a misunderstanding about what reading is for. If reading is a mechanism for downloading information, then faster is better. If reading is an experience, then speed is beside the point — the question is whether you were there.</p>\n<p>I read slowly because I re-read sentences. Not because I don't understand them the first time, usually, but because I'm not done with them yet. A sentence that is doing something interesting is worth staying in.</p>\n<p>I also take notes, which interrupts the pace further. A pencil mark in the margin; a copied sentence in the notebook; a question about what I've just read. These interruptions are the reading, as far as I'm concerned.</p>\n<p>I've tried to read faster. Speed-reading courses exist. I've tried some of them, and found that what they produce is faster but emptier. More pages covered, fewer ideas absorbed.</p>\n<p>Slow is how I work. It took me a long time to stop being sorry about it.</p>\n","wordCount":169,"charCount":981,"replyCount":0,"reactCount":0,"reactPreview":null,"reactSummary":null,"shareCount":0,"attachments":[],"tags":[],"createdAt":"2026-07-02T02:13:21.866Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-02T02:13:21.871Z","id":"post:6a45c9417f6ed5545befa743@kwln.social","url":"https://kwln.social/posts/post:6a45c9417f6ed5545befa743@kwln.social","server":"@kwln.social","summary":"<p>I am a slow reader and I used to apologize for it.</p>\n<p>The apology came from a misunderstanding about what reading is for. If reading is a mechanism for downloading information, then faster is better. If reading is an experience, then speed is beside the point — the question is whether you were there.</p>\n","textPreview":"I am a slow reader and I used to apologize for it. The apology came from a misunderstanding about what reading is for…","signature":"LtU/Z7sTXTce80Muhe6eXpsm5kPgicPbVtDvR5cUPtAhbzbDObsX6OwwseNnU07JAiDNHeMbTX6sRNyU/z1FmXSit/K7efFM2L9mKJ4yh5JNhviIg7VcqcoLSjCyZ5hP3gSK4R51q8KhrJ+BfkIsXK+gSA7B7eSPJumFBFs9hrb58uF0k2D78Gf2m0cOAeq8XavPhC4yTQaEOE4cpq9TinObk4YqdbrjsbVTg6sRLfz/WbCfqgpZRONyyFsYl7M16FRAbbCmXUP1Rpi+y6gK9XuNg7nhzQRA+4jMHAMJVePDrzejyGg+ezWiCtUzN5fxhq1CM2u26C3CwnYoSGS6MA==","canReply":false,"canReact":false,"publishedAt":"2026-07-02T02:13:21.866Z","myReact":null,"reactCounts":[]}