I Could Fast Forward, I Guess

An audio book about speed-reading seems a little counter-productive    

I guess that depends on how quickly the narrator of the audio book can talk, doesn't it?  

So, if you've been reading the Blag for a while now, (and for the love of all things good and plenty, why wouldn't you?) you know that I am fond of audio books.  I play them in the car, almost entirely to the exclusion of traditional radio.  It's a wonderful way to pass the time on road trips, and an equally wonderful way to catch up on reading stuff that I would otherwise not have the time or the required consciousness to read.  By that, I mean whenever I start to read, I just fall the heck asleep.  It's now the world works.  

So, not long ago, I completed the first book of a series that was recommended to me.  Specifically, the first book was recommended to me, and I was told that the series kinda goes downhill after that.  The reviewers on the audio book site I use seem to agree.  So, while that particular book was pretty enjoyable, I'm not overly keen on continuing the series.  Other series I have "read" in this manner have books coming out later this year, but until then, I'm pretty aimlessly looking around for something new to sink my literary teeth into, aurally speaking.  

In that vein, I started scrolling through a list of books that the audio book place recommended for me.  One of these was a book about speed reading.  

This confused me. 

I understand that speed reading is a skill which can be practiced and mastered over time.  I understand that this is a skill that I do not possess, and learning might have certain benefits in the workplace.

And for us, too.  We could speed read over all the crap you write here and waste so much less time.  

But in the case of reading for pure enjoyment, I would have to think that speed reading takes some of the fun out of the process.  The imagination involved in reading and picturing the story and characters in your mind while you're reading is a significant part of the allure, and what makes literature an art form quite unlike any other.  Speed reading would seem to throw all of that into overdrive, and mash everything together or at least gloss over certain parts to make the whole situation less enjoyable.  I would think. 

Also, the skill of speed reading is completely and hopelessly lost when I can only read the book about speed reading as fast as the person is narrating it.  

I did not get this book.