Tyler Cowen wonders why we consume movies in single session, but stretch books out over many. I'll stick with hypotheses 2 and 4 (books are much longer and we don't like reading enough to sustain focus), and pose another question: Slightly contrary to Cowen's assumption, I can polish off fiction at a pretty absurd clip, and read it for hours on end. Nonfiction, however...that's another story. I've got an outer limit of 40 minute sessions, and that's on books I like. Meanwhile, where I'll speed through fiction, I comparatively crawl through its less fantastic cousin.
But why is that? It's not that I'm uninterested, or incapable of comprehending. I don't find the reading taxing, or dull. And my motivation when reading nonfiction, and excitement about the payoff, is certainly greater. Yet I move at a fourth the speed, and can't seem to hold focus for sustained periods of time -- which is a real frustration, as after five or six sessions, it's hard to really want to continue with the same book anymore. I'd love to be one of those people who sits down with a serious book and gets up three hours later, erudite and self-satisfied. Sadly, if I'm only getting out of the chair three hours later, it's almost certainly because I fell asleep.
