With puzzles or mysteries, there's a big benefit to consuming ones that are just on the edge of what you can work out.
But what it took me a while to realise was that the same applied to a lot of stories (and maybe real life as well). Like stretching your comfort zone, stretching your understanding by reading things you can follow but only if you work at it, is useful because it gives you practice at understanding things, and *feels* good because it feels like you worked things out.
Not all the time! It's good to read things you can follow easily, for various reasons, and to read things that are beyond you occasionally to see what you can get out of them. Lots of book-loving or precocious children are like these, hoovering up stories they only partly get, but getting a lot of out it.
But there's some particular techniques that rely on the same process, but because they can fail with too much understanding just as much as too little, they only work for some readers.
What Harry Potter Got Right
( Read more... )
But what it took me a while to realise was that the same applied to a lot of stories (and maybe real life as well). Like stretching your comfort zone, stretching your understanding by reading things you can follow but only if you work at it, is useful because it gives you practice at understanding things, and *feels* good because it feels like you worked things out.
Not all the time! It's good to read things you can follow easily, for various reasons, and to read things that are beyond you occasionally to see what you can get out of them. Lots of book-loving or precocious children are like these, hoovering up stories they only partly get, but getting a lot of out it.
But there's some particular techniques that rely on the same process, but because they can fail with too much understanding just as much as too little, they only work for some readers.
What Harry Potter Got Right
( Read more... )