this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
57 points (98.3% liked)

askchapo

23217 readers
105 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net
replaceable@hexbear.net
VILenin@hexbear.net
SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net
khizuo@hexbear.net
Wakmrow@hexbear.net
57
How do I read? [Serious] (hexbear.net)
submitted 2 days ago by lobaa@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
48 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

OK the title is a joke but the question is serious. A bit of backstory:

My parents failed to make me love books, because they also introduced me to a PlayStation 2, and I decided that I like playing vidya games a lot more than reading stuff. School didn't make me love books either because the literature they force you to read in my curriculum, is, in my opinion, better suited for adult reading.

Fast forward to now, I am a freshman in a prestigious university, but it turns out that it requires me to read a lot of stuff, but I don't really have enough willpower to sit through academic literature for more than an hour a day. And the fact I'm noticeably behind my peers in amount of books read makes me feel like I don't belong.

So my question is how to learn to love reading books, get immersed or enter flow state or whatever, and also retain information? Is it some kind of talent or superpower? I know a few of my peers who don't stop reading books and seem to not distract themselves with tiktoks and video games, and attend optional lectures in their free time which is kind of insane to me, but I respect it a lot and want to become like them.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] JohnBrownsBawdy@hexbear.net 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Go read some books by Daniel Pinkwater. The Education of Robert Nifkin or the Snarkout Boys books or Borgle. They’re hilarious.

And look, one of the things about being a freshman at a good college is you get all nervous and compare yourself to the other dipshits that are there. I was a big reader as a kid, and came to absolutely hate the fancy college I went to because either I felt like I’d never catch up with all the books that I should’ve read or I was pissed off at my classmates because they didn’t freaking read anything.

Just be you and you’ll be fine. You’ve got a whole lifetime to read. But yeah work on it now.

Edit: also, academic writing almost universally sucks ass and is horrible to read. It’s part of the hazing that The Academy puts you through. If you don’t like reading that shit and are aware of it, you’re honestly ahead of many of your peers who spend their time convincing themselves that it’s good. (If you want some good academic writing check out linguist Ray Jackendoff [I know I know])