Reading Technical Material

[Shemsu Hov]

How the fuck do you do it? I am trying to read some book called inside the machine, trying to clear a chapter a day. I spend like 4 hours only to retain nothing. I'm on the 6th out of 12 chapters and usually takes 2 days to clear a chapter. And I still feel like I have retained nothing. Even worse is my stalling. I try to read it and make it three paragraphs before I zone out so bad I can clear another 3 before I realise I've just been reading words, not a book. I have tried an hour of reading, then an hour break but I zone out badly before the half hour mark. I learned speed reading so that I could make progress quicker but retain nothing of this book despite picking up the skill and applying it to novels and articles with ease. Those of you who had to deal with all of this shit in your education: how did you do it? I don't have a goal that I am being pushed towards, like for example, read this, learn it, or you fail this course and your $5,000 to education goes to waste.

[Garnier Fructis]

Unless you're already familiar with the subject, you can't really read a technical book like you would any other book. Speed reading is definitely out of the question.

Your only option is to read as slow as you need to understand it. Sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to read a single page of a philosophy text for an assignment, and sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to "read" a page out of a math text. I've even spent an hour stuck on a single damn page out of a physics text before.

Too many people try to read technical material the same way they would read Tarzan and suffer greatly for it.

[Deleted]

I'm not exactly sure of the phrase, but you often require at least a few hours prior knowledge before you can make headway on your own; Essentially a crash course for dummies.

I'd recommend watching basic youtube videos regarding the subject at hand, so you can get a somewhat solid foundation to build upon and to at least understand basic concepts revolving around the aforementioned subject and the terminology utilized.

Unless of course you're already acquainted with the subject, and merely lack the ability to focus on it; Which is a possibility i guess, albeit one i've never experienced personally.

Just checked, is it this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Machi.../dp/1593271042

Looking through it, it seems fairly straightforward, you should set realistic goals and take notes to look over if you struggle to get past a chapter a day.

Spend today for example, an hour reading a chapter then taking notes, rinse repeat; Summarize what you've learned, and file it away to read when you're at a wall.

And obviously, bust out wikifuckingpedia to gather knowledge on certain things you don't manage to get straight away.

[Shemsu Hov]

Yes, that book is the right one. I was having a miserable time learning programming(Aspergers FTW....) so I was suggested it among others because it's suggested to have a fundamental understanding of computers before learning programming.

[drwelfare]

Have nothing else to do. I worked nights alone and when it was slow I had nothing to do except read that shelf of books.

[Shemsu Hov]

What sort of technical material? The only thing that forces me to slow down if I'm familiar with all of the terminology being used is philosophy, but that's because of the way I read and the need for precision with that type of material.

Computer related stuff. It's misery and I'm sure it gets worse.

[Cirque]

It's like our shampoo guy said - such books or texts do not work with speedreading or skimming or anything else that can be applied to regular texts.

For my education I have had to read a myriad of texts that were hard to grasp and understand, especially at the start of my studies where all the fields were totally new for me and I had no idea of the terminology or authors referenced. Some articles or books are better written than others, others will take twice the time it would have taken you had anyone else written it.

Comprehensive reading, as we call it, is a skill like any other that you can acquire only through persistence and practice. Spending half an hour on a single page is entirely possible. Furthermore, especially if the topic is complicated or new to you, reading too much at once will just force your brain to shut down because of new-information-overload. Forcing yourself through an entire chapter a day, for example, as you found out, just won't work.

With this out of the way, here's some practical tips from me, maybe they can help you.

- Avoid passive reading when you're studying a text. While scientific studies has shown that marking really does not help your learning, it helps with keeping you focused on what you're reading and why, and it helps to keep your body moving, which warns you in time when you're dozing off and prevents it.
- Better yet, pen and paper, or just Word. Write down what you read, in your own words and in your own understanding (add page numbers). Yes, this is time consuming, but without this I'd never have passed several highly intensive courses. This forces you to read AND comprehend, and avoids (subconcious) lazy reading.
- Realistic goals. Again, a chapter a day is realistic for Harry Potter or Narnia, but it's not realistic when it comes to microchips, physics or Chinese history (I know, trust me). I don't know why you're reading this or if there's a deadline, but if there is, make a realistic planning and stick to it. Systematically go through it. This prevents time related stress and allows you to actually focus on your book.
- Positive note. Always end on that. Don't push yourself to the absolute max of your limit, or that's all you will remember instead of what you actually read and it will be twice as hard to start your next session. So, stop when you're still fresh and optimistic.
- Don't hate yourself if you have to re-read. Better scholars than you need to re-read stuff several times to understand WTF is going on. On that note, at the start of each reading session, make it a point to quickly skim to what you read on your previous, so you're like "right, that's what it was about".

Hope I helped somewhat. Good luck!

[Milchshake]

It's ironic; You're speed reading a book that is subtitled as "An Illustrated Introduction to Microprocessors".

[Shemsu Hov]

I'd say about college level, it's definitely not high school material. It seems like a "quick start guide" but is also often praised for filling in the gaps that other books had left.

- - - Updated - - -

It's ironic; You're speed reading a book that is subtitled as "An Illustrated Introduction to Microprocessors".

Every 2 or 3 pages, there's a diagram, usually displaying data flow. And I'm not speed reading it, I was trying to apply speed reading to it.

[Milchshake]

Though, making a collage is an excellent way to learn new things. Everything I know about Thanksgiving was from a collage i did.

[Shemsu Hov]

It's like our shampoo guy said - such books or texts do not work with speedreading or skimming or anything else that can be applied to regular texts.

For my education I have had to read a myriad of texts that were hard to grasp and understand, especially at the start of my studies where all the fields were totally new for me and I had no idea of the terminology or authors referenced. Some articles or books are better written than others, others will take twice the time it would have taken you had anyone else written it.

Comprehensive reading, as we call it, is a skill like any other that you can acquire only through persistence and practice. Spending half an hour on a single page is entirely possible. Furthermore, especially if the topic is complicated or new to you, reading too much at once will just force your brain to shut down because of new-information-overload. Forcing yourself through an entire chapter a day, for example, as you found out, just won't work.

With this out of the way, here's some practical tips from me, maybe they can help you.

- Avoid passive reading when you're studying a text. While scientific studies has shown that marking really does not help your learning, it helps with keeping you focused on what you're reading and why, and it helps to keep your body moving, which warns you in time when you're dozing off and prevents it.
- Better yet, pen and paper, or just Word. Write down what you read, in your own words and in your own understanding (add page numbers). Yes, this is time consuming, but without this I'd never have passed several highly intensive courses. This forces you to read AND comprehend, and avoids (subconcious) lazy reading.
- Realistic goals. Again, a chapter a day is realistic for Harry Potter or Narnia, but it's not realistic when it comes to microchips, physics or Chinese history (I know, trust me). I don't know why you're reading this or if there's a deadline, but if there is, make a realistic planning and stick to it. Systematically go through it. This prevents time related stress and allows you to actually focus on your book.
- Positive note. Always end on that. Don't push yourself to the absolute max of your limit, or that's all you will remember instead of what you actually read and it will be twice as hard to start your next session. So, stop when you're still fresh and optimistic.
- Don't hate yourself if you have to re-read. Better scholars than you need to re-read stuff several times to understand WTF is going on. On that note, at the start of each reading session, make it a point to quickly skim to what you read on your previous, so you're like "right, that's what it was about".

Hope I helped somewhat. Good luck!

Right, right, I should say thank you to you, lol. These tips will help me a lot and I am already motivated to get back to working on it, with more precision this time. I have been taking notes and all the information I can recall off the top of my head was what is written in my notes.

[Badpaladin]

You have to go back to reference and re-read all the time. No other way around it. I haven't met anyone who can read a technical text which is "at the their level" and fully understand the content in one pass.