Here is a link is a great article about "slow reading," which is often what I refer to as "Socratic reading." As Michael Strong has written in his book about Socratic Practice, this type of reading can be extremely slow - sometimes a paragraph an hour! What's to be gained from this type of slow reading? Why would you want to read at such a snail's pace?
The author of the article, Thomas Newkirk wrote:
"...there is real pleasure in downshifting, in slowing down. We can gain some pleasures and meanings no other way. I think of the high-speed trains in Europe that I always wanted to ride, ones that hurtle through the French landscape at more than 200 miles per hour—that is, until I learned that at these high speeds, even the distant scenery becomes a blur. The retina simply can't take in a clear picture at that rate of movement."
Slow reading is a skill that students simply must have access to. This is not a type of reading that you would do often, but it would be another tool in the thinker's toolbox. I understand that they need the skill of reading quickly so that they can devour large chunks of text for high school or college. However, they also need the slow reading skill in order to understand complex passages, issues, and ideas.
