I think I’m going to keep my current strategy, which is to slip the book jacket of Infinite Jest over whatever Stephen King book I’m reading.

1. Use audiobooks at 1.5 speed while reading to improve focus and comprehension. 2. Highlight important concepts, but don't dwell on them for too long. 3. Review highlights and generate summary notes after reading a certain amount.

This technique( audio+ reading a book) is how I read Shakespeare. Being a non-native speaker,the prose of the plays being quite dramatic and 16th century English made it quite challenging for me to read. But once I read/listened to the plays, it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience! I must admit there were times while doing that I felt like I was cheating or something, but personally I feel that the technique definitely helped me appreciate the plays better than if I had only read or listened to it. However I did listen to it at regular speed though 😅

Read-along is a good idea. Just be ready to pause if you find yourself drifting. Significantly better than the audiobook alone and had some advantages over just reading for some people. Note, the faster you read something, the less you take in. Find your pace. I take notes separately. My thoughts on reading big books without an audiobook: Do it when you are not sleepy, turn off your phone, and take notes. The taking-notes bit really helps if the work is challenging: example, Moby Dick. Also. Lingering. If you find a passage that is beautiful, spend some time with it. Great literature is a work of art and not just an information dump. Appreciate it. because

I've been trying to finish my copy of The Iliad + The Odyssey for months (I'm only on page 65), so I'll be trying out this technique! Love your videos, keep up the good work!

I haven't watch the video yet but to read faster you have to limit sub-vocalizing, which is when you say words in your head while reading them. My favorite way to do this is say 1 2 3 in my head as I read each line. Beginning section of the line is 1, middle is 2, end 3. So instead of saying words in your head you say those numbers and it allows you to scan text much quicker, especially if you use a pen or pencil as a guide. Jim Kwik and Tim Ferris are my sources for all this advice and it has helped me immensely! Good luck my fellow readers, read something you enjoy :)

The audiobook strategy is the only way I kept from drowning in my Dickens classes! Additional tip: if your text is too obscure to have an audiobook, try reading it out loud to yourself (works better with more theatrical novels but might make Heidegger a little more exciting)

I've used that technique for language learning, to get me going, seeing the words and connecting them to the audio. It works great. :) Also, thank you for the tip. The only problem now is to find a) unabridged versions of whatever is to be read and b) the same translation.

In the memory and retention pyramid🔺, is higher in hierarchy than simply or .. so we get better reading speed and then better retention too. This is why i love this method to get the most out of a book. plus its easier to make notes and highlights than just listening on audible. Im an auditory learner too but this method will work for everyone, some of my friends have tried and were very happy with the results.. well now this sounds like an info-commercial too hahaha.😄

I’m currently reading the Count of Monte Cristo (which is about 1300 pages) so I think this video will help me a lot! Thanks!

Just bought 3 massive books yesterday(David Copperfield,War and Peace,Brothers Karamazov) and im ngl I was definitely looking for this video thanks😭

I Always Always Always physically read and listen to an audiobook of the same book together on 1.5x. I have a very Traumatic Brain Injury so this helps me to comprehend exactly what I am reading and how to better annotate and note take in my books as well. I also used to use the books on tape and even books on vinyl as well when I was alot younger

You’re a genius! I recently begun to get back into reading and realised I just can’t focus! I fell in love with philosophy since having it last year, at school, and now that I’m reading those great works,slowly, to really take it in, my attention keeps dispersing. I’ll definitely try to read in shorter periods if time and more quickly!

Thank you for telling me about being and time. I am so happy about finding this book on your channel. One of the greatest channels on KZfaq. I am so grateful for your channel. Truly life changing. Quite honestly. Very grateful right now.

Robin: I'm a philosophy professor and I'm thinking of sending my students to this channel and particularly, this video, as I think you touch on something important. Our students experience a lot of pressure from the world in general (the capitalist equation of time with money) to resort to quick fixes: cliff notes, summaries, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (which is lovely, but only a starting point, it is no substitution for engagement with the texts). And so, they resort to these fixes and don't take the time anymore. But the actual immersion with the texts is so rewarding, so deep and so wonderful that I am hoping to coax my student to make some space in their lives to do it. Ultimately, the motivation has to come from within, but these videos remind me that the will is there, now only the implementation!

I despise audiobooks. They bring back bad memories of being stuck in traffic commuting to work and back for decades. I prefer to write (take notes) as I read. I don’t want to be hurried along, I would rather take my time and read at my own pace and go down any rabbit holes that spring up.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever received from a friend: I commented that he was a big reader and asked if he preferred to read to get information. His response was “I’m not a huge reader but there’s things that if you want to learn them you’ll just have to read it”

Hello Robin, I hope you're doing good. Whenever I start reading a brick, I'm starting by analyzing the structure of the book. Looking at the chapters. If I get bored of how slow pace I read. I listen to the audiobook 1,5x speed whilst reading. So I knew these techniques, thank you for confirming I was doing the right thing. Very good video!

Love that you bring this up. I started using this for the purpose of language learning after I recalled that we did this in High School for group readings. I think the technique is loosely called immersive reading, but there are studies showing that it boosts overall reading comprehension. It is a bit annoying though if the audiobook you end up finding is slightly off from your version of the book, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. Also, I think this is better than practicing speed reading because it naturally brings you up to a faster reading pace without compromising reading comprehension.

THE FIRST 30 SECONDS ALREADY HIT ME PERSONALLY... that aside, your whole "On Reading" playlist is a tremendous help. I am taking 3 modules this fall that covers 3 major literature period and the pre-reading and the required reading list is starting to beat me up!!! Thank you so much for all the tips. They are so helpful (man... even the word helpful is underestimation!!!). Good luck for your future endeavours!

Hey Robin. I watched this video a few weeks ago and immediately decided to give it a try. A few years ago ,when I was in high school, I found it so easy to go through so many books , I really enjoyed reading. But since I've left high school, my attention span had begun dwindling and I lost my love and motivation for reading. I tried over and over again to pick up a book but I always struggled finishing it. It wasn't until I came across this particular video that I finished a book. It literally changed my life. I'm falling back in love with reading again all thanks to you. I read a 12 week year and now I'm reading Grit by Angela Duckworth. I literally had to pause from reading it just to come and say thank you, I'm so appreciative. ❤❤❤

I have been using this method for a while now, even though I get a physical copies of the books that I read, I look for the best audiobook version available for the book before starting reading, and it came with so many benefits! Thanks for reassuring!

what an absolute BANGER of a channel just discovered it and it's deeply motivating me to read and in the mean time comforting me by adressing issues I had while reading tks keep going love it

I've been learning a lot from you, Robin. Thanks so much!

I’ve been using this strategy from a long time and I approve it’s really beneficial when you don’t have much time in your day, reading a book at 2x makes it easier to finish a giant book in a week. Also try to sometime don’t use audiobook for some chapters that you feel are complicated. Don’t just rush at 2x to skip all the useful parts of the book.

I’ve been doing this for the last couple of years and it’s so immersive! I use 2x speed but sometimes my brain wants to slow it down and sometimes it wants faster

I’m grateful 🙏🏻 So clear.

I used this strategy during my BA literature classes and it was so productive for me! It really cuts down the time you spend reading if you find yourself reading the same sentence over and over.

I loved the advice on reading while listening to the audiobook. Focusing on what you read can be very difficult, especially since we are surrounded by distractions. I even have a hard time watching a tv show without looking at my phone, so using two senses to absorb the same information seems like a very effective aproach

I like silence. I learn better just reading and discovering the content "alone", through the conversation with the autor. Until now, I have not read a lot of books of philosophy, but I realized this about me.

Prepping for some dense law school reading next year, trying to get my reading stamina up. Thanks for the tips!

Another helpful tip. Thanks, R.C.

I’ve just finished reading Anna Karenina - I’ve read the book but also had the audiobook whilst doing things that allowed headspace for the story (I don’t like to speed up the audio though). It’s interesting to read and listen at the same time (specially when English isn’t the first language) but only the audio is also great.

you're the first person Ive ever heard speak about the fast paced, constant influx of information stimulation in the modern era in a positive way. even tho it was a side comment on a different topic, i somehow feel that line about how amazingly our brains process all the racing info around us was the most important part of your vid. thanks for the insight!

Love the content and humorous approach. You always make me giggle a few time🔥

I actually hadn’t thought about this before! I’m definitely trying it out because I’m tired of needing a month or more to get through some heavy books

Great video, Robin. I'll experiment with this approach.

Thanks for the advice. We hope you continue to read more. God bless you.

I am a lifelong, curious, learner in my 80th year. Your lessons on lifelong learning, curiosity, communications, conversation & reading are awesome! Keep up the good work! Thank you

i’ve been thinking about reading AND listening for some time. now you’ve convinced me!! also it’s a good way to learn languages, ‘cause now I’m reading in english too (my mother tongue is russian tbh) so while listening i can actually remember the pronunciation too…! now i just need to find an audiobook haha. thank you for another cool video!❤

Love your vids and your work!!

Gonna try this. Thanks for the tip!

I have done things similar to this for years...the audiobook is helpful for that super important re-reading.

I've had some mental health issues in the past years and being on mood stabilisers has somehow reduced my cognitive intake while just reading. So listening to audiobooks along with reading the text was sth I stumbled upon 4 years back while reading tomes, but it has slowly become a necessity for me for reading most types of books. I feel like we should let go of the notions we had and try to incorporate new stuff in our lives. If it's making our lives easier, why not? As you said, maybe we learn differently. Even for me, being a life long reader, it was difficult to come to terms with this, that I need this "assistance," but honestly, it makes such a huge difference and I'm so much more focused doing this! Great video!

Thanks for this practical advice.

I absolutely agree with listening to the audio book while reading the hardcopy. I've just never thought of listening at 1.5x speed. I'll give that a go and let you know how it works!

Great idea. Particularly the getting over oneself in regards to audio books. When you don't have an audio book, and I don't know where I first heard it, but a technique that works for thick technical manuals, text books and engineering tomes, others too.. but particularly with those, is to go to the end of the chapter and read the summary then go back and read the chapter, a lot of the time you can go to the end of the book first read the last chapter then work chapter by chapter that way. If you can see the point(s) they think are important (usually saved for the TADA at the end of the chapter or the book) you can focus in on those and keep your mind on track as you see the details or lead up.

Definitely going to try this with books I don't enjoy reading but have to read for class

The audiobook method for me is so good for slow parts of any book in general where the momentum dips a little. I was really struggling with the last quarter of 1984, and when I finally chose an audiobook to try while reading it, the author was so good at acting and creating soundscapes that it pulled me right back into finishing it.

Just superb brother.

I’d only add: if you by any chance read for a living, of have many reading to get through for university (ex. Literature/English university or any Writing Academy really) try matching these wonderful advices from Robin with what is often called “book dating” and “book planning”, set a date for each book when you want to be done -I advice leaving some rest and thoughts-filled days before the next book takes on- and plan some dates every week, hours that will go specifically for you to spend with the books -this can even be cute, if you choose a café or a nice café-library-. I love reading so much I’m starting to work into the process as well, at first I would only do this for the books I had and exam or classes on, but nowadays -even though with way less pressure- I do it for my own personal readings as well, it helps me reading more which I always want to. (Also English is not my first language at all and I apologize for any awful grammar error, have a nice day!)

I've been doing this for over a year and I can guarantee that it really works! This method makes you focused on the text and attract you to go forward. I turn the audiobook reading speed to 1.5 or 1.75 because I realised this is the actual reading speed in my brain; and as you exactly said, audiobooks are not designed for such a thing.

Wonderful, I’m gonna try this out 🙂

Heyy Robin GREAT advice, and im definitely a new fan here. KEEP IT UP!!

I finished reading Being and Time last year. And it was literally the audiobook and that helped me read through the physical copy.

This is how my mom entertained me when I was in preschool. Since I constantly wanted to be read too, my mom taught me how to use the cassette tape player on my radio and got the "books-on-tape" kits from the library. (Side note: because of this the first words I learned to read were "ON" and "OFF" on the radio) I am in my twenties and still remember laying on the floor of my bedroom reading along to books for hours on end. My reading comprehension was years ahead of my peers through school for many different reasons, but I primarily attribute this to an early interest in reading and the early support of audio books.

Thank you! 🎉

i actually learned this tip from booktube, but from an entirely different perspective and approach! i learned to listen along to books with audio when i was reading a lot more plays! ive done it with bits and pieces of classics too! all around it's a great method for focusing on reading in general too, and i can imagine it would be great for philosophy and dense reading.

I have actually tried using audiobook while reading the bell jar.. it was really helpful because it helped me complete the book. But then it also feels like someone is doing the hard work for you. But then again that's how we get used to reading and absorbing more with time

Thanks😊

Just found your channel, really thoroughly enjoyed it; thank you for the tips ~ Mila🌸

Enjoy the first pass. Don’t go back to try and understand. Get the book into your bones first. If it’s good you’ll naturally want to re read. If you don’t you don’t. Just enjoy it.

My personal strategy is terrifyingly similar to yours. When I started my reading habit at 17, I started with audiobooks to read along with while I was reading the book I was reading at that time. It was a very nice way to feel like when I had group readings with my class back in school. (Congrats for 300k by the way)

This seems like it would be a game changer. I noticed I couldn't seem to focus when reading - either an audiobook or paperback. My mind would constantly drift until one day when I was doing the dishes while listening to an audiobook. I was laser focused on what I was listening to. I didn't have enough bandwidth for my mind to drift since I was actively doing the dishes while listening. An amazing discovery! It makes sense that listening and reading at the same time would lend itself to greater focus since you're engaging more that one sense on the same task.

I agree with this 100%. I also use a good pdf reader called “Voice Dream” to help follow along with books that aren’t audio books.

Interesting. Thanks.

I thought I was the only one being extra and listening to the audiobook of ‘Sapiens’ while reading the book. Now I’m ecstatic that I’m not the only one! Thank you Rob!

Gonna try the audiobook technique with Fahrenheit 451! I def think hearing and seeing the words at the same time will help me absorb the story more.

Recommendations that are a little against the video: don’t try going quickly through large books or series’s, if you mess up your own flow reading and burn yourself out, you will not make it especially if you like to not mark your books. Also on auditory learning, try the audio book whilst reading the same book, I’ve heard it doubles the amount of the same information so you can remember it better but could just be a myth I heard. Notes can help too, specifically post-it-notes, sticky notes and bookmarks, they can help categorise chapters, pages and quotes, really effective in conjunction with scribbling. Lastly, short story books to read with the larger book or having breaks in between reading, doing chores, hobbies, playing games. Generally stopping or doing another, fresher, newer activity while reading can be the difference between burn out and reading an entire book in one sitting. Nice video! I think more people should be writing notes in their books, it’s not good to neglect important ways to remember our books fully, their lessons are important! I told myself when watching this video knowing I would try and not scribble😅

Thanks ❤️

I’m not in school anymore & I’m trying to consume tons of material as quickly as possible. Nah, man! I’m from the old school. A few good books slowly and deeply read & deeply enjoyed & re-read over & over is good enough for me. I have my special books.

Since I've got back into reading this past year (never was a huge reader before) I've been training myself to use audiobooks (reading along with physical or Kindle books) at a higher speed, which now I can read comfortably for the most part at x2.5 or x3 speed. It's helped me finish a bunch (for me) of books this year, whereas otherwise I wouldn't have probably finish more than a couple.

Great video.

I discovered this back in 2020!

Audiobook really helps for me ☺️

The technique you mentioned helps people who get distracted all the time. Listening alongside reading helps me not focus on my "thoughts", it fills my brain with the author's thoughts instead if it makes sense. Also, if I need to understand the book deeper for my studies, I like to write small notes besides important paragraphs to summarize it or make it easier to remember the main points.

I've long used the audiobook "hack" for getting through long books. Sometimes I read alongside the audiobook and sometimes I just listen. (And I always listen at 1.25 or 1.5 speed)

Great vid. very well explained. I learn a lot trough documentaries and you tube vids (the good ones) tip: put your YT vids also on 1.5 speed. helps enourmous and you hear it just as well. . So you where on 1.5 speed and still made sense !!☺😉

Reading + Listening to the audiobook is something that I actually do as well. I find it difficult to focus on reading with all the distraction around (socmed, mobile phone, people, etc) this actually helps…a lot. What’s difficult though is finding a free copy of the audiobook of the book with the same translation e.g. The Count of Monte Cristo which is long… the book I have is not available in librivox.

😂 subtle sense of humor. New sub earned ✅

I tried this combination of listening to a Audiobook and reading simultaneously for Atomic habits. It was an interesting experience. And also tried it other Wai where I listened to the audiobook version and the read the books. Surprisingle I have Retained more information.

With the amount of reading that is required for my degree, I don't think I'd be able to get through it all as quickly if it weren't for this technique. Also being able to measure how long it will take to finish a required text is priceless. As long as I make time to contemplate over sections of the text and annotate, I don't think that this method takes away from my ability to comprehend what I'm reading. Plus, I can get 8 hours of sleep! It's a philologist's dream!

Been stuck reading midnight sun, what a coincidence for this video to drop 👍

I majored in English language and literature… these are some solid tips for when you’re reading a brick of a book that’s so mundane. I despise when I can’t locate an audiobook, though.

I'm listening to this audiobook and most of the comments under it were about how fast the reading is and why that is a problem while for me it was one of the few readings that kept me entertained and focused.

Oooo just adding to your debate around audiobooks and the validity of auditory learning vs visual learning - The ancients passed on information through lectures, it wasn’t until later years or after their passing that their students compiled their notes and attributed them to the lecturer or scholar sooo passing on information has historically always been an oral exercise! This just made me connect dots too lol

This is how I learned to read as a child with Harry Potter. Also this is great for people with disabilities. I set the pace with the audio book and I won’t get stuck on a sentence or anything.

excellent tip with the audiobooks us naturally fast readers have a hard time getting into audiobooks with their abysmal wpm. I am getting into the literary world lately after spending a couple decades with wikipedia and television. my first books I have been reading are infinite jest and 3000 page bibles. harold bloom is right about secondhand illiteracy I am seeing misspellings on the covers of best sellers. it's weird getting into the physical book as the world is phasing them out. lots of changes going on right now.

It’s interesting to hear your thoughts about how to focus and how people can’t focus like we used to in previous times. They have shown that focus is a skill and so you can absolutely train your mind to focus for long periods of time and read books as people used to. But I can also understand that a lot of people would rather find techniques that work for them in their current state than try to train their brains to focus haha.

hello robin! i am a grad student studying psychology. i enjoy your channel! i have to mention that psychologists have looked, and there is no robust evidence for learning styles (auditory vs. visual vs. etc.) There is evidence for learning preferences (as measured by what people like) but not for learning styles (as measured by differences in comprehension tests). however, i do think you should do what you enjoy (because it is good to do what you like!) thank you for your videos!

The adobe can do the reading now. it's a big relief.listening can be speeded up and features such as morse code.

congrats for 300k in advance (:

This solves a HUGE problem with annotation that I have... I end up writing down how my thinking process evolves over the span of a chapter, rather than succinctly putting down my final/solidified thoughts-not to mention that I start and stop right in the middle of the juiciest parts!

I had a book to read for school last year, and I found it so difficult to do, it was a bit boring! So then I decided to listen to the audiobook while reading at the same time… it took a while but I finished it that night. Then I finished another book the day after. This is QUALITY advice!

You changed my whole life in 10 minutes

I need tips on how to give myself time to enjoy reading while in college. Also I read my first philosophy book and need book number 2 ideas for a beginner. My philosophy class last spring was interesting and I loved how it challenged my way of thinking.

Very interesting. I agree about increasing the speed. In fact, I listened to this video at 1.5 speed😅

I read Infinite Jest in 50 days and loved it a lot. There was bad days when I just wanted to read something else, but I stick through and started to love it and now it is my favourite book of all time. In between reading it, I read two other books just to trick my brain thinking, “YES! I finished a book, DOPMAINE!!!”

A good tip that i got in college from a friend is that: "You should play dirty". At first glance i thought he was telling me to cheat but actually what he said made sense. At many moments we feel like we "suppose" to learn in a certain way. Memorize in a single sitting. Just read stuff until we are bored. Etc. BUT we are not supposed to do anything. That friend of mine, for example, had to memorize a single formula that was very hard. He put on his cellphone an alarm for every hour on the hour and when it went off he would slap his face (in his view it made him more alert) did 15 pushups (same reason) and would recite the formula. A complete madman. 100 percent free from the boundaries of we are "supposed" to do when it comes to learning.

The only thing I can say is read about topics that fascinate you or interest you. Get in the habit of reading. Just start. Slowly you will develop tricks and strategies to getting better. But the first thing is start reading something. Make an attempt, then develop new tactics.