this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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How does it affect your ability to enjoy books? Or type of books you'd enjoy?

Do you tend to prefer more visual medium like video(movies, tv), or comic books?

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[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 31 points 4 days ago (5 children)

I hate descriptions, and I have a really hard time when there's more than a paragraph focusing on descriptions of what things look like.

Other than that it's fine, though I sometimes have to trace back because I often skip parts that look description-y and some authors like to slip in some piece of crucial information.

[–] Drewmeister@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

I don't actively hate descriptions, but I used to just skim them. Now I sometimes slow down for descriptions if I think they might bring additional meaning or context. But then sometimes when it gets to be too much work, I'll go back to just skipping over them again lol

[–] Worx@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 4 days ago

I sometimes have to trace back because I often skip parts that look description-y and some authors like to slip in some piece of crucial informatio

Ugh, me too! I kinda hate when that happens

[–] turkalino@lemmy.yachts 5 points 4 days ago

I don't have aphantasia but I still skip over descriptions. It just doesn't really add anything for me. Much more interested in dialogue and actions

[–] TheHotze@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

This is me too. I will read descriptions, but don't pay as much attention. Sometimes, if after the description, there is a que that a description had something important in it, I will have to go back over a description to check what I missed.

[–] OceanSoap@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Does it not bother you that you don't catch what things look like as you read? If you're skipping description, of say, a lake, do you just... Assume it looks like a lake you've seen in the past? What if the description plays heavy into the plot, like the water is, idk, yellow and boiling. That doesn't matter to you?

[–] Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I scan over the descriptions to check for irregularities or significant identifiers. So your yellow lake would be noteworthy to me or if a person is described with long hair. I don't mentally imagine a long hair person, but I try to remember it, so if later somebody sees a long haired person in the distance I know which character is referenced.

And yes if I don't recognise anything noteworthy, I don't make a mental note, it's just a normal lake, nothing important to remember.

But that isn't always working out for me. In Neverwhere the Marquis de Carabas is described as being pitch black. Which I fully didn't get and so was wondering why all the fan art made him so black that you can't recognise features. Because that was how he was described and I missed that important fact.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 1 points 3 days ago

I mean, it does bother me, but there's nothing I can do about it.

I don't assume it looks like anything, I simply know there's a lake, I have no idea (nor do I care much) what it looks like. I can't imagine what a lake I've seen in the past looks like.

If the water is yellow and boiling, I'll remember it because I know water in a lake usually isn't yellow and boiling, I just don't have any visual aide for that.

It's kinda hard to explain, if you show me a picture with a yellow lake, I know it's wrong because I've seen lakes, but if you ask me to describe one, it's gonna be really hard for me and you won't get many details.

If it turns out any of the visual things was important, I'll simply read it again and mechanically remember the details, but mechanical memory is kinda limited in what it can hold, so I avoid that unless I find out that it's worth remembering.