Essay

S-l-o-w r-e-a-d-i-n-g

By Michael Pronko

In this day and age of easy access digital reading, people might be reading more, but are they reading better? In answer, a new movement has sprung up urging people to not zip through the newspaper, email or books. The new slow reading movement is instead encouraging people to read calmly, thoughtfully and much more slowly.

The slow reading movement is the latest of many movements that started with the slow food movement. Slow food was a response to the spread of fast food, especially international chain food restaurants. Slow food supporters say fast food was ruining people's ability to appreciate local cuisine and enjoy spending time with people over a meal. Like the slow food movement, the slow reading movement encourages people to not hurry through one of the most satisfying and important experiences in life.

The slow reading movement is a reaction against the avalanche of blogs, text messages and exams with time limits that pressure us to read fast. They argue that the ease of hopping on the Internet, downloading a book or sending a note to a friend decreases the time spent sinking into a great book. The slow reading movement encourages us to resist the pressure of the digital age to read faster and faster and more and more, and instead read with deeper concentration.

Slow reading, then, involves a different attitude to reading. Instead of just grabbing the main point or picking up information, a slow reader approaches reading with a reflective, thoughtful attitude. Slow reading makes it easier to reconsider one's opinion and ponder new and different ideas while reading. Slow reading is a very different type of experience.

In the past, people who read too slowly were considered weak or behind, so speed reading classes sprang up to help people whip through books at a lightning pace. Of course, reading too closely for overly small details and tiny little points without ever getting the big picture is a little dull. The slow reading movement, though, suggests that reading too fast can also be boring and meaningless.

Fast reading is certainly helpful sometimes, and in the modern age, it's almost unavoidable. But reading at a slower pace makes it easier for a close bond to develop between the reader and the book, so the reader can delight in the interesting parts and experience what the writer truly meant. For slow readers, focusing carefully on words and sentences expands the reading experience.

To read slowly is not so hard. Try it! Take a big breath and read this essay again -- slowly! Then, try reading it fast. Changing the speed seems to change the meanings and what you understand. The slow reading movement may not be for everyone, or for every kind of material, but it is a fresh way of thinking about one of life's greatest experiences.

Shukan ST: MAY 25, 2012

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