Maybe the default settings are too high
Slow Reading vs Audiobooks and Speed Media
- Many link the essay’s “mouth-speed” idea to audiobooks: some say they fit perfectly (fixed, human pace), others argue they still move too fast and lack flexible pauses for reflection.
- Listeners describe using variable playback speeds, pause/rewind, and reserving audiobooks for chores/driving to avoid feeling they’re “wasting time.”
- Several dislike audiobooks as too slow or over-performed compared with their own internal voice; others find them ideal precisely because they prevent skimming during exciting parts.
- Parallel debates appear around YouTube, podcasts, and coding assistants: some prefer 1.5–2x speed and see typing as the bottleneck; others say the “slow work” (typing, reading) is when real understanding and debugging happen.
LOTR, Literary Density, and Re‑reading
- LOTR is frequently cited as ideal for slow, savoring reading: rich language, worldbuilding, and descriptions that reward maps, rereads, and even reading aloud to children.
- Some extend this to Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Hemingway, poetry, and classical political speeches, emphasizing high information/meaning density per sentence.
- Others push back: much prose (including Tolkien’s descriptions) can feel like atmospheric “fluff” rather than information-dense; slowing down only makes sense for genuinely crafted writing, not for “clickbait or AI slop.”
Slowing Down Beyond Reading
- Commenters connect the theme to:
- Vacations and travel (resisting hyper-scheduled itineraries, savoring resorts, road trips, sailing, cycling, walking cities/Camino).
- Games (avoiding fast-travel, embracing long in‑world journeys).
- Music (single‑album listening sessions, local collections, careful concert listening).
- Work and thinking (pausing in meetings, “I’m thinking” moments, managers who sit silently before answering, very slow typists who still write good code).
- Burnout recovery, meditation, and embracing boredom as a “superpower.”
Techniques for Going Slower
- Reading aloud (alone or to family), moving lips, or subvocalizing to force “mouth-speed.”
- Rereading beloved works to focus on craft rather than plot.
- Reading in a weaker second language to force attention.
- Walking, not driving; avoiding fast travel in games; tuning out constant connectivity.
Tradeoffs, Opportunity Cost, and Skepticism
- Some stress opportunity cost: with limited time, it’s unclear which works deserve slow treatment, especially in fiction.
- Others argue the very habit of seeing books as opportunity-cost calculations is part of the “too fast” problem.
- A few are skeptical of the essay as self‑help fluff, or suggest the real issue isn’t “defaults too high” but unexamined, one‑size‑fits‑all pacing: people should learn to intentionally adjust speed up or down.