Is binge-reading of any value?

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s_allard
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Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby s_allard » Thu May 11, 2017 2:04 am

In another thread, mention was made of binge-reading. It turned out the OP really meant extensive reading or reading systematically despite not knowing a significant number of words. Binge-reading, I suggested, should be something like binge-watching many episodes sequentially of a TV program and therefore should mean the reading of a large number of pages in one sitting. I can hardly define what constitutes binge-reading but for sake of argument it could be something like reading for four or more hours in a day. It might be something like reading an entire book in a day.

Binge-reading could be combined with extensive reading or it could simply be reading a work that one understands perfectly.

I have not given much thought to the issue except to think that I would love to be able to find the time to read for long stretches. This seems to be so hard to do.

I wonder if there are any language learning advantages in doing like this. One thing that comes to mind is a kind of immersion effect that comes from a massive dose of input. This does not of course replace regular daily or periodic work but could it be a way of giving oneself a big boost with some long-term effects? It may be the sort of thing one can do once a month.

I've decided to give this a whirl. Tomorrow I'm going to spend 6-8 hours reading that Spanish novel that I've been nursing for over a month. I wonder if other people have any experience with this.
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby reineke » Thu May 11, 2017 2:19 am

No, Binge-Reading Isn’t The New Binge-Watching
HuffPost (excerpts)

"For a long time, the word binge generally meant one thing in American conversation: eating way too much in one sitting. The word connotes overindulgence, unhealthy excess;...

Thus, this word did seem appropriate to attach to the new trend of watching many episodes of a TV show in a row....

Proud binge-watchers were quick, however, to recast the term as a hip new activity. Where’s the shame, they asked, in devoting several consecutive hours to a finely crafted drama like Orange Is the New Black?

Soon, well-meaning booklovers decided TV shouldn’t get all the binging. It was time for reading to become a binge activity as well.

Sorry guys, that’s where I draw the line. Here’s why: Reading is not a binge activity. Reading for long hours at a time is mentally engaging, surrounds the reader with an aura of productivity, and does not leave one with a sense of remorse and embarrassment...

Besides, the idea that spending several hours with a book needs a new term is an absurd concept. It’s called reading. The activity of sitting down with a novel for the afternoon is not a trend; it’s just how reading has almost always worked.

The push to make “binge-reading” a thing arises from a wonderful impulse. In the age of prestige TV dramas, book lovers want to reaffirm the value of reading. Awkwardly tying books into the binge-watching trend is a valiant attempt to make reading just as hip as watching the first two seasons of Game of Thrones in less than a week.

The joy of reading has always been its ability to transport us, to not only occupy a quiet Saturday but to stimulate our minds and hearts. A day spent reading is never a day wasted. And it’s also not a day spent binging."

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5050240
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby neofight78 » Thu May 11, 2017 3:29 am

In a world where people read books rarely, and most reading involves fliting around on the internet, where often people are cash rich but time poor, spending several hours reading can rightly be called binge reading. Borrowing terms from one context and using them in another way is a normal part of language development. Besides I'm not sure that now binge always carries a negative connotation in all contexts. The world and language change. I can't help but think the linked article is rather silly. If you want to say that people should spend more time reading books that's fine, but that has nothing to do with the phrase binge reading.
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby zenmonkey » Thu May 11, 2017 4:52 am

neofight78 wrote:In a world where people read books rarely, and most reading involves fliting around on the internet, where often people are cash rich but time poor, spending several hours reading can rightly be called binge reading. Borrowing terms from one context and using them in another way is a normal part of language development. Besides I'm not sure that now binge always carries a negative connotation in all contexts. The world and language change. I can't help but think the linked article is rather silly. If you want to say that people should spend more time reading books that's fine, but that has nothing to do with the phrase binge reading.


Agreed, except I've used the term 'binge reading' well before the Internet existed - last century stuff, a lonely 14 year old would cycle to the library and take out 20 books (the limit), cycle home and read them through, even under a bed cover with a flashlight. Less than a week later, he'd cycle back. He was also known as the papivore by the librarian (was she French?).

That reading was full of secret. Varacious and guilt-ridden at times. And most certainly it was an activity also full of embarrassment - I also read every Judy Blume book, every Kevin and Sadie book. Simply because they where there.
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby Theodisce » Thu May 11, 2017 7:29 am

Any massive language learning activity is beneficial to our skills, at least this is what my experience tells me. For example, two weeks ago I was working intensively on my Czech and reading a book about the Aromanian language which I digested during two longer sessions was a very nice supplement to several hours of listening to audiobooks.
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby blaurebell » Thu May 11, 2017 8:36 am

reineke wrote:Sorry guys, that’s where I draw the line. Here’s why: Reading is not a binge activity. Reading for long hours at a time is mentally engaging, surrounds the reader with an aura of productivity, and does not leave one with a sense of remorse and embarrassment...


The person who wrote this article has obviously never read a completely stupid Anne Rice vampire novel instead of doing their exam prep :lol: In my defence, I was 14 :oops:
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby aaleks » Thu May 11, 2017 12:36 pm

I just recalled that in Russian we have the idiom 'читать запоем' which, I guess, can be literally translated into English as the 'binge reading'. This idiom could be older than I am :)
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby reineke » Thu May 11, 2017 12:40 pm

I like this author's point of view better. Her idea of binge reading preserves the original sense of the word.

Binge Reading Disorder

"The typical American consumes more than 100,000 words a day and remembers none of them.

If you’re like me, you make a plan to go to sleep at a reasonable hour only to find that it’s 3:30 a.m. and you’re in bed reading articles on your phone, about topics ranging from racially motivated inequality to why writers like to stay hush about their sources of income, to Taylor Swift’s rumored lack of a belly button. Then you wake up, a few or many hours later, and don’t remember a single thing you read.

On average, I read about 20 articles a day, none of which I actively seek out on my own.. .

On the subway I read books on my iPhone, and when I get service the plot of those books get mixed in with the plot of my life, so to speak. Was it Poirot who didn’t want to go to the dentist, or my friend Becky?

In 2008, Nicholas Carr wrote an article in the Atlantic called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”—that became famous enough to merit its own Wikipedia page—in which he argues that the abundance of information that the internet provides is diminishing our abilities to actually comprehend what we read...

A UC San Diego report published in 2009 suggests the average American’s eyes cross 100,500 words a day—text messages, emails, social media, subtitles, advertisements—and that was in 2008. Data collected by the marketing company Likehack tells us that the average social media user “reads”—or perhaps just clicks on—285 pieces of content daily, an estimated 54,000 words. If it is true, then we are reading a novel slightly longer than The Great Gatsby every day.

Of course, the word “read” is rather diluted in this instance. You can peruse or you can skim, and it’s still reading. I spoke with writer and avid reader John Sherman about his online reading habits. “Sometimes, when I say I read an article,” said Sherman, “what I actually mean is I read a tweet about that article... ”

https://themorningnews.org/article/bing ... g-disorder
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby smallwhite » Thu May 11, 2017 1:08 pm

s_allard wrote:I wonder if there are any language learning advantages in doing like this.
...
I've decided to give this a whirl. Tomorrow I'm going to spend 6-8 hours reading that Spanish novel that I've been nursing for over a month.

Are you comparing reading for 6-8 hours in one day with not reading at all, with your normal daily dose, or with reading for 6-8 hours over however long it normally takes you? (6 vs 0 or 6 vs 1 or 6x1 vs 1x6?)

What will be your evaluation criteria?
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Re: Is binge-reading of any value?

Postby Ольга » Thu May 11, 2017 6:04 pm

As I wrote in the other thread, I practiced "Listening & Reading" binge-reading (if we can really call 2-3 hours the name "binge-reading"). I listened to a speaker and followed his words for about 2-3 hours a day. I think it was very useful. After several books, which I have read using this way, my grammar, and vocabulary improved drastically, not taking into account Listening skill itself (I think this skill has improved the most).
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