My reading process BEFORE I read The Norton Field Guide

My reading process:

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and I especially love to read at Starbucks because of the smell of cookies and coffee. The background noise of people and espresso makers is soothing while I read. I’ve always loved to read all kind of books, newspapers, comics and especially magazines.  I adore reading history books. It gives me the ability to understand other cultures, the viewpoint of different generations and why things are the way they are today. It is not hard to stay focused when the book is interesting.  I believe that it is a good habit and necessary for me to be successful.

The first thing that I do before I start reading is to see if there are any pictures in the book or magazine. I really enjoy taking the time to look for them and playing with my imagination when I see a picture that could inspire a story. I find it exciting to anticipate what the book or story will be like. If I see a graphic representation, I am often able to remember it better. It is the tension of a book which gives me the joy in reading it. The joy to read it is sometimes so intense that I read as fast as I can because I am so excited to know the end of the story. In general I really don’t like to stop reading when I am in the middle of a story.

I believe that knowledge is power. When I start reading I am looking for powerful words with lots of meaning and words which I sometimes don’t know or don’t understand. I am almost always searching words in the internet. I love using technology and it fascinates me how quickly it improves. Being able to save so much time by using technology is very helpful. This gives me the incentive and motivation to read the whole book because I love to expand my vocabulary. If I don’t know a word I search for it. I like to have control over what I learn. I really like to know at least a little bit about a subject before I read more in depth. I enjoy getting the gist of a story.

I have two different ways that I read. One of them is to read the text very fast and skim over it. I am doing it only to understand the basics of what the story is.  When I am done with this, I read and review the text at a normal speed. Because of my previous knowledge from skimming it is easier for me to be focused on the important details and their connections and associations.

The other way that I read is to read the text slowly, make notes in the book and highlight the text. This lets me concentrate efficiently on the facts and main points of the text. I also enjoy writing post-it notes and sticking them in the book to mark important passages. That’s a good way to save time.  It is important for me to absorb as much important information as possible.