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Am I stupid if I need to read a summary after I finish a book or an anime/tv show/movie? I just finished neuromancer as an introduction to cyberpunk, and I needed to read a summary because there were certain parts that were blurry to me, does it happen to you lainons or it is just that I need to read more?

>>8024 You have concentration/memory problems Read slower or reread passages you feel fuzzy on, I have the same thing sometimes Do you have ADHD/autism or are you taking any drugs? Computer games and internet stuff like short youtube videos etc. also seem to mine worse, anything that bombards your brain with lots of hyper stimulating stuff really quickly probably isn't great for memory development. Funny though I just reread neuromancer and I think part of your problem might just be the dense as fuarrrk stylised way Gibson writes, he likes descriptions and metaphors that you have to stop over and work through to understand which makes the book really fun to read but makes it a bit hard to parse at points. The cyberspace bits especially are kind of hard to follow if you don't read them slowly and carefully

>>8025 *also seem to make mine worse

Nah it's perfectly normal. I think. I don't write any summary but I can't recall every detail, even for somewhat important stuff. The brain really just retains what it considers the most relevant info from any media. No matter what book you read, fiction or non-fiction. Reading takes more effort than other kinds of media. For one, processing speech is harder for the brain than more immediate visual information. You also need to put your powers of visualization to work. Finally, a novel takes a lot longer to read than a movie. Maybe serialized shows can compete on this front. Also depends on how attentively you read. If I stopped to read carefully every page it'd take me at least twice as long to read a book.

>>8024 You're probably not stupid, and, as you predicted, do in fact need to read more. I know someone older, but still internet-savvy, who talks about this phenomenon regarding the new generation. The issue is that people have this mistaken idea that, after reading something once, that at no point should they ever encounter something that doesn't make sense. So, they break their reading flow, stop reading, and keep re-reading that particular passage. They read the whole book and because they didn't get everything flawlessly, they think there's a problem, despite the fact that this really isn't how reading is, the majority of the time, and never has been either. Mulling over the correct interpretation of certain parts of a book, after several reads, is normal. Re-reading a whole book several times just to fully get it, spending weeks, or even months with it, is normal, reader behaviour. Finishing a book isn't an achievement, it's part of a way of life and reading should be part of your way of life. Think of it this way: If you read a book, and you perfectly understood it, on your very first read, doesn't that basically guarantee that it never introduced you to anything new? How do you get out of your comfort zone, without getting uncomfortable? (you can't)

>>8024 Additional: Breaking the reading flow is a huge thing to avoid doing. The writer wrote the book, in its entirety, to flow in a certain way. Re-reading previous passages should be avoided as maximally as possible. You should read continuously. What doesn't make sense at first, may make sense later, due to information gained later. What didn't make sense later, may make sense, because of your insights about what happens earlier. Don't break reading flow, or you break the intended experience, which ends up inhibiting your ability to comprehend what was intended anyway.

>>8024 It doesn't happen to me, but when I read something to actually remember like a technical book, I always take notes. The process of taking notes forces me to actually understand what I'm reading so I can identify the key points because I'm not going to copy the whole book. Once I had forgotten what one book was about and read my notes instead of having to read it, that was pretty cool, I saved a lot of time. I do have lots of "experience" reading, and more than that, lots of experience skimming. "Reading" would be reading all the words one by one in the order that they appear. "Skimming" is flowing over the text very fast, skipping words, sentences, or even whole paragraphs, and knowing when to slow down because you're not understanding enough, and when to speed up because you're reading redundant information. >>8028 The thing that makes reading take more effort than other media is that reading is active, while most other media are passive. A video plays by default. Music plays by default. A book doesn't do anything by default, you have to be the one putting things in movement.

>>8029 >If you read a book, and you perfectly understood it, on your very first read, doesn't that basically guarantee that it never introduced you to anything new? It could also mean that the reader did not understand it, or only took in a surface level comprehension .

I haven't read the book in question, but oftentimes writers are expecting you to finish the book and have some sense of curiosity and questions about certain parts. Part of writing an engaging universe is making it so that there are parts of it the reader can wonder and ponder about. A lot of writers also value rereading value so they'll write in such a way that a later read will reveal more info. Looking up a summary is also nice because you'll get another person's perspective and they may have noticed things that you didn't, like allusions to media you're unaware of, world building details that are easy to miss on first read, or quotes from the early pages of the book that you've since forgotten but are much more impactful in the context of the ending. This goes for all media, too, not just books.

>>8024 Neuromancer is a bit of a crapfest in terms of structure. Gibson was commissioned to write it, felt he was doing a soykaf job, and rewrote the first half like a dozen times. it reads like a beautifully frantic trip a lot of the time I don't know if this is a part of a bigger problem for you or not, but missing parts of Neuromancer is probably not your fault

let me be frank: what you described is defo a telltale of a low iq i say that just cause ive dated hella empty-headed bitches that had the same problem u do. it annoyed the soykaf outta me to be honest lmao. but it could be something else, like a physical or mental issue. i, for one, have convergence insufficiency so sometimes ill be reading a book and realize that i have no idea what was written on the last 20 pages. plus the other lainons are saying that this book is kinda hard anyways, so thats prolly affectin ur retention

It's not being stupid, is just FOMO Fear of not spotting an interesting detail right after watching so you can process it right now instead of waiting until you forget and have to watch again My suggestion would be giving it more time to the reading if you feel parts are blurry, so you can enjoy it without having to feel like you need the summary afterwards

I often read summaries and reviews after watching s movie just to understand how other people interpreted it.

Re-read the book. Take the time to cogitate on what you are reading. Develop a mental model of the events, the characters, and their setting. What are the order of events of the narrative and it's participants. Use cues in setting and all above to consider what might be happening around said events. What of origins, motives, aspirations. The most interesting character might be Molly Millions, little is said of her past or motives, and that makes her sooo interesting!

I do think it is being dumb. Not mentally retarded dumb, but lazy dumb. Basically the "normal person" condition where you need to be told what to think. If you didn't understand something: THINK ABOUT IT. It reminds me of all those youtube videos with titles such as "X ending EXPLOONED" and whatnot. If there were things about the book that were obscure, vague, or difficult, you should think about whether the author may have intended it that way, or what about the whole work hints as to the meaning of such obscure parts. Also understanding oesn't necessarily come right away. At least in my case, it can take me days before I let it sink and I can confidently come up with a critique myself. Remember, it is always better to discuss with others than to have somebody dump THEIR interpretation on you. I guess it's fine you're looking for some input to consider some relevant or important questions and make your own mind, my post is about not actually digesting the content yourself and looking for a chewed opinion.

I sometimes read critiques or interpretations in introductions or summaries to see if there is any context or things I've missed. Maybe there is some historical context to certain parts or maybe the author has a specific theme or style seen in other books. If the problem is having a good understanding of a book then reading slower and taking in what's happening is probably the best thing to do.

Gibson likes to write in weird metaphors and riddles for descriptions. I'm pretty good at reading (at least I do it a lot) and I had to read that book at least twice before I really understood what was going on.

>Am I stupid? Nah it's fine. Not every autist can be expected to retain (Hell, forget understanding, even.) everything in a single read. Also, with the reports of how Gibson wrote Neuromancer, now I'm intrigued and I'll have a read for myself.

There's nothing wrong with reading a summary of the text after you read it. If the concern is over having your opinion polluted by another interpretation then perhaps you could write a summary as you read. You could also try taking notes, I have ADD and extensive note-taking has always been helpful for retaining what I'd read.

a summary or review or "explanation" of a book or movie or artwork is just somebody else's retarded, often highly pretentious, idea of what it was about, usually no better than your own.

I watched a documentary where a famous artist listened to a fan telling him what one of his works meant. Then the fan left and the artist said, "How does he know what it's about. I don't even know what it's about."

You might just be hungry or tired or distracted. Try setting up a nice little space that is comfortable for your body. Become hyperaware of your surroundings and the lighting of the room. You might realize there are things bothering you that keep you from concentrating. Maybe make a nice cup of chamomile tea before reading (: