Slow Reader? Learn Why It Happens and What to Do About It

If you’re a slow reader, you might be pulling your hair out with frustration.

Whereas others seem to gobble down entire books in an afternoon, you take a week (or longer). 

And you might have heard about “speed reading,” and gotten very excited by those techniques. 

But you quickly crashed and burned.

Why?

Because all speed reading programs usually teach are pseudo-scientific eye exercises and bizarre methods of “suppressing” subvocalization. 

But the truth I’ve learned as a professor who has taught reading at three universities in three countries is this:

You can increase your reading speed. Without hokey “speed reading” gimmicks.

But you do not have to read faster in order to read well.

In fact, Peter Burke ends his excellent book The Polymath with the statement that we now live in an era where there should be courses in reading slower.

And more than one hundred years ago, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was already arguing that readers need to take more time.

I agree with both of these thinkers. And that’s why on this page, I’ll help you dismiss many of the myths around why other people appear to read fast. 

That way, even if you don’t want to use the tips I’ll share with you today, you’ll be able to stop the deadly “game of comparisons” that make you feel bad. 

Chances are, your reading speed is just fine. And if Nietzsche and Burke are right, your reading speed needs to be much slower.

Ready to get started reading this post at whatever pace is right for you?

Let’s go!

Why You’re a Slow Reader (And Why That’s Not Always a Problem)

There are many reasons why some people fail to read at a rapid clip. 

But not all of them are problems. 

Some of the things we’ll discuss are entirely circumstantial.

In other words, they have nothing to do with you. When you understand these points as I explain them below, your potential for making positive changes go way up.

That’s because, believe it or not, some books are so badly written, they can literally ruin your ability to read.

I’m not joking either. There’s a condition called cognitive deskilling, and by exposing yourself to hard to read books and then blaming yourself for not understanding them, negative thoughts about yourself can arise.

When that happens, as discussed by Andy Clark in The Experience Machine, you start predicting that the next book you read will also be a poor experience.

This “predictive processing,” as scientists call it, winds up making future books harder to read.

Let’s stop that from happening to you by going through these reasons. All you have to do after that is put my suggestions into action and perhaps go through my list of books on learning for more suggestions like The Experience Machine.

One: Your Vocabulary Needs Boosting

A lot of people read at a decent pace, but they have to keep stopping to look words up. 

This is probably one of the biggest issues readers who want to improve their reading speed face. 

Why?

Because vocabulary ability is directly related to reading comprehension. 

So how do you fix it? 

Imagine if you could add 260 words to your vocabulary over the next 30 days?

Do you think that would speed up your reading?

I’m confident that it would. And that’s why I created this tutorial on how to memorize vocabulary. 

Two: You’re In A Distraction Zone

A lot of people think they’re reading slowly, when in fact they’re pushing through the molasses of distraction. 

Maybe you’re in a cafe and the background music is too busy.

Or you’re in a room where someone is watching TV.

If that’s the case, you’re forcing your brain to filter out too much noise.

Although it is true that the famous polymath John von Neumann loved studying with loud music and other distractions, creating such obstacles is not a very common polymathic personality trait.

In addition to exposing yourself to noise, it could also be that you’re sitting incorrectly. What feels comfortable isn’t necessarily conducive to reading well. 

Consider where you read and experiment with different locations.

When you find places that help you focus on your reading with greater intensity, rotate between them.

In other words, read in one location for a certain amount of time.

Then move to another location to read some more.

A small amount of walking between your reading sessions will focus your brain and promote better health.

I believe that moving between libraries helped my memory and understanding tremendously while studying at York University.

I would constantly travel between libraries across Toronto, sometimes up to five in a single day. While walking or riding my bike between them, the ideas would percolate and I still remember many of them decades later.

Three: The Book Is Poorly Written

A lot of slow readers blame themselves when it’s actually the book that deserves the criticism. 

Some of the best thinkers on the planet are downright horrible authors. In fact, there are some intelligent people who also can’t explain themselves in spoken words either. 

Specific problems can include:

• Archaic vocabulary
• Obtuse phrasing
• Obscure references
• Poor introduction skills
• Lack of reflective thinking about the topic matter that helps you connect the dots

So the next time you find yourself reading slowly, look at the text. It might not be you. 

Four: You’re Bored

Just as some books are written poorly, many publications are legitimately boring.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can always avoid reading them. Many people have to read tedious books in order to excel in their professions, myself included.

That’s why I created this tutorial on how to deal with boring topics.

Other ways to make what you read more engaging include elaborative encoding memory exercises.

Basically, if you get bored, you make things exciting for yourself by using the pegword method or the Major System. These are two highly immersive memory techniques that can make even the driest topics interesting and exciting.

Five: Your Mind Wanders While You Read

Ever get distracted by your thoughts? 

When I ask myself, “Why do I read slow?” distracting thoughts are usually the issue I face.

Luckily, I found a way to eliminate the problem on demand. 

Fire off those two simple questions when you find your mind wandering, and you’ll have focus on demand. 

Six: You’re Intimidated 

Some books are very long. They can also be incredibly complex.

It’s normal to be a bit nervous.

When I decided to learn about computational consciousness, I felt that way too for a short while. 

But when I decided to just get started, I found everything was easier than I thought. 

And I realized that in the case of one book in particular, I’d been afraid for nothing.

You see, in Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach, there’s a complicated section near the beginning where he gives you a puzzle to solve.

When I initially read the book, I gave up because I couldn’t solve the puzzle.

If I’d just kept on reading, I would have realized that he was playing a trick on the reader. It’s unsolvable and he puts it there to make a point.

In reality, all books are puzzles and they all contain elements that are unsolvable. That’s why I’ve made it a policy to just keep reading, even when I’m confused and don’t understand. 

I keep reading so that I might understand. And I recommend you do the same too.

For more nuance on this, here are some tips for reading the memory books of Giordano Bruno, who is even trickier to grasp than Hofstadter.

Seven: It’s Your Job

Did you know that some people are paid to read slowly?

They’re called copy editors. 

The best will always work from a printout and then go through the process again on a screen. 

Of course, even the best still make mistakes.

For example, I’ve counted up to seven typos in a single Stephen King book.

If his editorial team can’t catch them all, then such errors are either perfectly human. Or those people need to find ways to read even more slowly in the future.

In any case, if you need to copy edit and still want to speed up the process, try this:

Most computers these days have text-to-audio features. 

Sometimes when I’m copy editing my books or this blog, I just highlight the text, press option + esc and let the machine read it back to me.

Although the pronunciations are often awkward, it keeps me focused on my own writing and things go much faster. 

Eight: You Need More Brain Exercise

If you’re not in a profession where you would benefit from reading slowly, some solid brain exercise might be just the ticket.

A simple brain exercise that can help you read faster is to read every other word out loud.

Although it might sound like a strange activity, it’s inspired by Harry Kahne’s Multiple Mentality course.

After completing his exercises, which involve reciting the alphabet backwards and skipping letters, I found that my mind was more sharper.

You’ll give up some comprehension by completing this kind of exercise. But it will get you in the zone and you only need to do it for a few minutes to get the benefits. 

If you’d like more brain exercises, here’s a list of my all-time favorite.

Speed Reading Vs Slow Reading

A lot of marketers talk about speed reading vs slow reading and then give you “magic” techniques to try.

For example, they’ll talk about:

• How to “suppress” subvocalization
• How to skim and scan
• Using a pointer
• Breaking the pages into three columns
• Reducing “back skipping”
• Counting while reading

The problem is, these marketers rarely focus on a visualization reading strategy that can truly help you.

By following their advice, you risk the trap of rote learning because their suggested techniques distract you. Then you have to go back and read everything again. 

Even some of the best speed reading books lead you into this trap, so read them with caution.

The truth about learning how to read faster is simple:

You need to focus on thoroughness and seek to ground all reading projects inside of a well-formed context. 

That’s where the next tip comes in very handy.

Commit Long Form Material To Memory

We’ve already talked about the value of memorizing vocabulary to boost your reading speed. 

Being able to “read inside your mind” is the next level. 

Did you know that you can commit entire paragraphs to memory?

The benefits are tremendous. 

For one thing, you can compare two passages at once from within your mind. This is a skill that transcends reading and will help you create new knowledge as you think faster. 

The only question remains… what to commit to memory first. 

I would suggest something that will make your life better as quickly as possible. For some people this would be quotes or ideas from philosophy. 

For other people, it might be scripture. You could even start with a mini-goal, like memorizing the Books of the Bible.

Whatever goal you choose, you’ll want to have the Memory Palace technique under your belt.

FAQ on Slow Reading & Improving Your Comprehension Speed

If you’re still wondering if being a slow reader is really a bad thing, I receive the following questions up all the time from my readers.

Is being a slow reader bad?

In my view, it depends. If you’re putting obstacles in your path by reading in distracting places, then yes.

But reading slowly and carefully is generally a very good thing.

People like Mortimer Adler suggested slowing down to consider different ways you can read books. His How to Read a Book is quite famous for suggesting four main ways to read:

• Elementary
• Inspectional
• Analytical
• Syntopical

Only elementary and inspectional reading was meant to be conducted at a faster pace.

Much more interesting to me than Adler is a book by I. A. Richards called How to Read a Page. I often recommend it to students in my courses.

Richards recommends that you spend more more time on individual words and their meanings and gives you excellent tools for doing so.

What’s a good reading speed?

I believe that it’s a waste of time to track and calculate reading speeds unless you’re genuinely curious or researching claims about speed reading.

Understanding is not a linear outcome. Many people, myself included, often experience multiple insights and connections over time.

What matters more than the speed of reading individual words is the consistency of your reading over long stretches of time.

Can I train myself to stop subvocalizing?

In my view, you should increase subvocalization, not reduce it.

I’m not the only one who things so, as you can read in this Mind Map Unleashed article.

When I’m struggling to understand something, reading it out loud is the first thing I do.

I have a PhD, two MAs and many accomplishments under my belt. Would that have happened if I wasted time trying to stop subvocalization that has been so helpful to me understanding challenging topics?

I don’t think so.

Why do people now recommend slow reading?

Information overload has created a situation in which people feel that ten minute videos are too long, let alone books that are hundreds of pages long.

Many people now long for the depth of understanding they had pre-Internet.

And it’s not just about knowing more.

It’s also about enjoying the time spent with long-form content. It’s much more immersive and not interrupted constantly by ads that fry your attention-span.

Should I re-read books?

I believe so and try to reread at least one book once a month.

I use a very specific re-reading strategy to make it happen.

Frankly, the answer ultimately depends on the nature of the book. But once you’ve read a book thoroughly, even just dipping in to reread certain passages will do you a lot of good.

The reason has to do with context-dependent memory. As you revisit something you’ve read before, large networks of connections in your brain receive nurturing.

It’s one reason I work on developing a physical library. It increases my rereading and my random visitation of passages from books I’ve read before.

Do memory techniques actually help with reading speed?

Yes, because increasing your vocabulary improves pattern recognition.

Memorizing entire phrases and passages also improves your target-scanning, which is how quickly you can find individual words on the page.

To learn how to memorize entire phrases, check out my tutorial on passage memorization.

Better still, register for my free course on using the Memory Palace technique so you can memorize while you read:

Reading Slowly Doesn’t Have To Be A Bad Thing

The two biggest takeaways for today are simple:

• Anyone can read faster
• There are times when reading slowing totally makes sense

And another thing to consider is that finishing books and articles at any pace is not meant to be the end of the learning process. 

Finishing something you’re reading is always just the beginning. 

Fast or slow, reading one book is a portal to the next thing you read.

And if you found today’s tutorial useful, why not let it be your portal to my ultimate list of reading strategies?

Go through it next and you’ll not only enjoy reading more, but you’ll remember your reading better too.