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here’s some reading science in a dancing metaphor
There’s a small central pit of closely packed cones in the back of our eyes near the center of the retina. It’s called “fovea”, and it’s responsible for the sharp central vision (or the “foveal vision”). When you fixate your gaze on a single point, the thing you see most clearly and sharp is what you see with your foveal vision. Whatever is outside, a bit blurred perhaps, but still visible and somehow readable is called “peripheral vision”. Both foveal and peripheral visions are essential for many human skills, specially reading. But you know what? When we read, those visions work together more like dancers in between special movements of…
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read this if you want to build a better reading habit
You read more than you think. You’re reading this, for example. You read signs in the street while you’re driving, you read subtitles in movies and series. And you read e-mails all day if you’re doomed with modern life enough. But listen… With all these slack uses of daily reading, it’s a bit odd, but you find it hard to sit and read a book, don’t you? And you might be right. You do those kinds of reading every day because it’s part of your automated life. Maybe reading a book is not. It’s not in your planned schedule, so you treat it more like a thing you COULD do…
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What We See When We Read
Dear reader, You know, it’s like the pictures were projected on the pages, and the scenes and characters and worlds suddenly become clear in my head. Everything around me just disappears, and before I realize, I’m flying over the story. The words, I mean the ink and lines, they just fade out, and I hear the narrative and dialogues, I see through the paper, and it’s like I’m over a hill, or I’m a fly on a scene, I’m inside a mirror, I’m a lamp, or the button of a shirt. You know what I mean? There’s this book called What We See When We Read, by Peter Mendelsund. You…
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How to create reading projects and finish them
You know, as mechanical and unnatural as a project may sound if you forget that projects are associated with work and study and that work and study are usually associated with a corrosive anxiety caused by bad bosses and bad teachers or even bad choices we’ve made, it can be helpful. Now, the definition of “project” without the bag of crap we inflict on it through bad associations is a piece of planned work or an activity that is finished over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular purpose. Planned activity. Finished over a period of time. To achieve a particular purpose. Let’s clear this out. A…
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How to find the best moment to make time for reading
One hint: I’m not gonna talk you into waking up at five in the morning every day. But I can’t say that it wouldn’t be one of the ways you could start reading more if you tried it. I won’t lie. You might know The Miracle Morning rituals or any variation of that concept. The early-rising army of outliers is all over the internet, forcing you to believe in the 5 AM miracle. Hal Elrod, the author of the book about it, The Miracle Morning, encouraged his readers with his personal story to use six steps every morning to start living the life of their dreams: silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise,…
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Why would you read a book like an editor?
I had this idea the other day. To read like an editor. If editors work with writers to help their stories and ideas work out, they should have developed this capacity of reading manuscripts and drafts critically and analytically and transform them into what we get when we buy the book. They look for flaws and ways to improve the writer’s work. Good editors respect and understand the writer’s style, but they also help the writer make sense of their style. Reading like an editor after the book is published and when a real editor has done their job is an interesting exercise and a pretty good way to learn.…
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How to read more than a book at the same time
It’s inevitable. Good readers rarely feel satisfied with just one book at a time. We have to read a bit of this and a bit of that. I’m currently reading three books and I wanted to share how I do it and how I believe most people do it. But first, you may ask why would you like to read more than a book at the same time. Because life is short and there are more books in the world than your lifespan? Not exactly. You want to read more books at a time because you’re an avid reader and you might want to have different experiences on a same…
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Read out loud for better concentration
Read this if you want to improve your concentration and focus while reading.
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Five benefits of reading you can enjoy for free and right now
At this very moment, your brain is accomplishing an amazing feat—reading. Your eyes scan the page in short spasmodic movements. Four or five times per second, your gaze stops just long enough to recognize one or two words. You are, of course, unaware of this jerky intake of information. Only the sounds and meanings of the words reach your conscious mind. — Stanislas Dehaene, in Reading in the Brain We don’t have to be aware of the science behind reading to understand what it does to us. Yesterday, I asked people on the bearded gram what benefits they found in reading. I’m gonna use their answers and some extra info…
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How to get rid of a reading slump
Read this if you want to get rid of your reading slump. I’m gonna give you a hint: it has to do a thorough thought on “get rid of” and “reading slump”.
