Me?! Tired of Reading?!

[jujubea]

I didn't think this was going to happen until much later.

I just.

can't.

read.

another.

page.

I sit down to read and I get through maybe a few lines before my brain goes elsewhere, or my eyes are like STOP. JUST STOP READING. And they get all gritty and heavy so fast. My brain is tired of it. It feels like I've been overfed but I am still trying to eat more -- LOTS more, every day.

My courseload is not that rough this term but for some reason I haven't been able to read very well.  I am supposed to be reading 3-4 books a week but can only get through about two, barely. This is with reading for several hours a day!

Part of it is that the material is SO BORING to me.

Part of it is some minor personal stuff going on in the background.

But otherwise, I really have it pretty easy this term. What the heck is going on?

Any advice on how to get through reader's block like this?? This has been going on for about three weeks now, worse every week. I've resorted to some skimming, which I begrudge having to do. 

[PoliticalOrder]

On 10/26/2016 at 6:07 PM, jujubea said:

Part of it is that the material is SO BORING to me.

This is probably most of it to be honest. Unless you have other personal problems going on at the moment that are not allowing you to concentrate. 

[TakeruK]

On 10/26/2016 at 4:07 PM, jujubea said:

Part of it is that the material is SO BORING to me.

I also think this is the reason. It's fine though, most of the material I have to read is also super boring to me. I just accept the truth: academic writing is boring!

I motivate myself to read by treating it like work. Every job I've had in the past had a crappy part that I hated so it's not like I expect grad school to be 100% rainbows and unicorns. I set aside a time to read each day and it's a chore. But it's a chore I have to do so that I can do all the other parts of my job that I really love doing

Other ways to motivate yourself to read are to form a reading group with your peers and discuss papers together. If you find a good group, you might end up only having to read 1/4 of the papers and just learn from the summary notes of the other group members. Or, you can sign yourself up for a journal club type thing where you have to present an analysis of the paper---sometimes pressure just makes you get things done. (Note: in this paragraph, I'm not talking about required/assigned reading for coursework but just reading the literature as background for your research or to keep up with your field).

[Need Coffee in an IV]

I also find my readings to be boring. What I do is write down notes as I go along and questions/points that I think of while I'm reading. This way I actually have something to say in class.

[rising_star]

If the readings are boring to you, it probably means they aren't super relevant to your research plans, right? In that case, I'd be gutting the books, reading the introduction, conclusion, table of contents, and maybe small parts of each of the chapters, along with 2-3 book reviews. If they're books you're going to need for your comps, then you may have to suffer through them.

[Neist]

I like most of what I read, or at least most of what I read as long as it's good writing. I am only barely tolerant of bad writing.

I am getting a bit overwhelmed, though. I read a lot, but I'm reading so much that I'm beginning to doubt if I can articulate anything that I'm reading; it's all starting to blur.

I remember things that I've read this semester, but I'd have to really try to figure out what any specific thing was in any specific reading.

[MichaelMiller]

Reading one book is like doing a workout of a single exercise (e.g. Grace – 30 reps, Clean & Jerk @135lbs), so when you have 5-6 hours to dedicate to reading, switching between different books every hour or so will help keep you moving.

Edited November 2, 2016 by MichaelMiller

[jujubea]

On 11/2/2016 at 8:30 AM, MichaelMiller said:

Reading one book is like doing a workout of a single exercise (e.g. Grace – 30 reps, Clean & Jerk @135lbs), so when you have 5-6 hours to dedicate to reading, switching between different books every hour or so will help keep you moving.

Whoa!!!

This is really interesting advice! I'm going to try it!