how to improve comprehension?

[AniJan]

i'm pretty bad at comprehension. i need help.

i read one book every week and people have told me to ask questions to myself about why characters would do or think this way, however isn't it worthless if i'm unable to think about it?

i'm dead serious about this and i want to know how to practice to comprehend more complex things in the future. 

will be gone over the weekend because of camping, so no more stupid topics from me.

thanks in advance for helping me and my small mind. i appreciate all advice.

[Syntaxvgm]

read two books at the same time. 

[Tsuki]

ive always looked at the questions before reading the book, that way i am specifically looking for the answers while i read. it helps a lot.

[AniJan]

1 hour ago, Tsuki said:

ive always looked at the questions before reading the book, that way i am specifically looking for the answers while i read. it helps a lot.

But how does asking questions about the book help?

(Still driving. Data is usable)

[Volbet]

Well, what is it you're trying to comprehend? 

Trying to understand a factual work is quite different from trying to comprehend a fictional work. 

 

When you're reading a fictional work, then you need to put characters, scenes, plots and themes into a larger cultural context. 

For example, if you're reading Twilight (yes, we're going there) you could read it as a generic love story.

Or you could read it as a piece of Shakespearean litterature that draws on several cultural pointes and references several themes ingrained in Western litterature. 

Or you could read it as a thesis on the wonders of abstinence untill marriage in a relationship.  

 

Another example would be the game Bioshock. 

Is it truely a story of an underwater city that feel to a civil war, or is it a thesis on the failures of Randian objectivism as seen through the eyes and experience of the ultimate slave?

[Wolfca]

what?

[AniJan]

On 9/2/2017 at 1:30 AM, Volbet said:

Well, what is it you're trying to comprehend? 

Trying to understand a factual work is quite different from trying to comprehend a fictional work. 

 

When you're reading a fictional work, then you need to put characters, scenes, plots and themes into a larger cultural context. 

For example, if you're reading Twilight (yes, we're going there) you could read it as a generic love story.

Or you could read it as a piece of Shakespearean litterature that draws on several cultural pointes and references several themes ingrained in Western litterature. 

Or you could read it as a thesis on the wonders of abstinence untill marriage in a relationship.  

 

Another example would be the game Bioshock. 

Is it truely a story of an underwater city that feel to a civil war, or is it a thesis on the failures of Randian objectivism as seen through the eyes and experience of the ultimate slave?

Just understanding things. Everything.

[Volbet]

2 minutes ago, AniJan said:

Just understanding things. Everything.

In that case you've your life booked. No one can ever understand everything.

 

You need to start way smaller than that. Start off with something that you find intellectually stimulating and try to understand that.

Things will pretty much develope from there. 

[AniJan]

1 hour ago, Volbet said:

In that case you've your life booked. No one can ever understand everything.

 

You need to start way smaller than that. Start off with something that you find intellectually stimulating and try to understand that.

Things will pretty much develope from there. 

Well, I guess regular school comprehension.

[Volbet]

18 hours ago, AniJan said:

Well, I guess regular school comprehension.

Still way too broad to do anything constructive with.

Hopefully, you learn a wide variety of things in school.

There's a pretty big difference between understanding chemistry and understanding philosophy, for example.