How Long to Read a Book?

I wrote a blog post some while ago outlining the length of time it took me to write a book. At the weekend I read this post on whether books should tell us how long it will take to read them.

Even before reading the article my first thought was how would we determine how long it would take someone to read a book? We all read at different speeds, and the speed I read at also varies depending on a number of things including: 

• Whether the book is fiction or non-fiction
• If non-fiction, am I learning how to do something new
• Style of writing
• How interested I am in the story (fiction)
• Beauty of prose

Being able to speed read depends on how well the book, report or article has been written and laid out.

If it’s well laid out non-fiction I should be able to skim through the table of contents and/or section headings to find the specific parts that I need without actually having to read the entire book. The same should apply to a report or article.

What about the style of writing? Is it very dense academic writing or a pop-science read that is enjoyable as well as informative? This will make a vast difference on the length of time it takes me to read. It will also affect the length of time I’m able to stay awake while reading!

If reading a thriller or mystery novel, I would expect to be taken on a wild ride that doesn’t include a lot of heavy prose, but if I’m reading a more literary type novel I often like to re-read paragraphs just to enjoy the sound and flow of the prose. I may read parts of a short story several times as there are often layers of meaning that take time to see.

Non-fiction reading is often done for a reason and therefore I may have a time limit. I might be reading to understand information that I need to turn into training material. If I’m reading fiction then I’m reading for pleasure, and to me turning that into a timed exercise negates the enjoyment. I don't care how long it takes me to read the book as long as I’ve enjoyed the journey.

What do you think?

Keep It Simple

The KISS principle seems to apply to everything.  If you do an internet search on those words there are dozens of topics to which it's been applied.

Although I don't talk about it much on this blog, the majority of my paid writing is non-fiction: technical writing and training materials, together with occasional articles.

I recall reading an article, years ago, on how to write articles and news-type features. It described them as pyramid shaped.  The title is the pointed part of the pyramid - short but effective, giving the reader an idea of what the article is about. The first paragraph is the middle of the pyramid, covering the main points - the who, what, where, when, why and how of the story.  The succeeding paragraphs contain the whole story in greater detail.

I read the article years ago, but in this age of information overload the principle applies even more.  I find myself doing exactly this whether I'm reading a newspaper, magazine or webpage.  A title or heading catches my attention.  I read the first paragraph, and that should let me know whether I'm interested enough to read the rest, or move on.

If you're reading a technical manual or training material, it's usually because you have to read it as you need the information.  But that doesn't mean the writer can get away with not making it interesting and easy to understand.  Non-fiction material should also have catchy, but useful chapter/heading titles, and the initial paragraph should give an overview of what is coming, before launching into the subject content.

For training materials, and actual training sessions or presentations I keep this in mind.

• Tell your audience what you're going to cover.
• Give them the information.
• Summarise what you've just told them.

The evening news is a good example of this.  The presenters start with the headlines. They then cover each of the items in more detail, which often involves on-the-ground reports from journalists.  Finally there is a roundup of the headlines.

Some of the best non-fiction books I've read start each chapter with a set of objectives - this is what you will know/understand/be able to do by the end of this chapter, and then finish the chapter with a summary of what the reader should have learned.

In between this I find it useful if the content is sprinkled with relevant examples, case studies or anecdotes.  People love stories.  We relate to stories and so remember them longer than just an isolated piece of information.

Simple!