For a while I thought I just sucked at reading. And to a certain extent I do have trouble (maybe dyslexia, maybe just really bad adhd), but I noticed that when I read older books it’s legitimately a workout compared to books from the last century or so.

This does somewhat include Capital and such, but because I’ve been exposed to a lot of the terminology and because I inherently understand some of the logic, I can get through it.

But for instance I was trying to read Thomas Carlye’s “The French Revolution” and I got through the preface and first two chapters before feeling exhausted. I can’t really describe my issue beyond just having to process each an every sentence like I’m a toddler trying to learn how to read.

  • davel [he/him]@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    12·
    5 days ago

    I’m curious if anyone has novel thoughts on the matter. I just know the obvious ones:

    • It’s an effort for anyone, not just you.
    • It gets easier with practice.
    • The more historical knowledge you have of the place & time the easier it is.
    • If it’s translated, some translations are better than others.
    • Reading about the work and/or the author usually makes reading the work itself easier. Though sometimes those works are wrong, and that could color your understanding detrimentally when you read the original work. Consider checking the assumptions you brought to the text from derivative works.