On being fast

Mosaic in the Centrale Montemartini

Sometimes I can be very quick. I read quite fast for example, faster than the average person. Some people have the idea that I do not read all of the books I say I read or at least suspect that I do not read a book well. 

I have had people who have asked me literally if I knew what the book was about, since I read it so fast. This in a slightly accusing tone.

The answer is yes, I read every letter and every word and I do understand and enjoy what I read, even if I do it fast. Fast is not the same as lazy or inaccurate, certainly not in this case.

Assuming I do not know what I read because I read so fast is equally stupid if I would assume people who read slower than I do are stupid and just do not understand the book. 

I also have the same problem in museums. I am not one of those people who reads all the information, so when there is an exhibition, I tend to walk through it a bit faster than people who do read all the information (but to be fair, if I would read all of it, I would still be faster). 
Not reading the extra information is a deliberate choice I make.

I suffer a little bit from professional-deformation; with everything I do I think about how I can use it in a classroom or in one of my lessons. And when I go to a museum, this is not what I want to be doing, I just want to watch and enjoy the beauty of what I see.

I also do not want to make the same mistake the German couple who sat next to me the Musée d’Orsay in Paris made. They read the entire Baedeker to eachother, but forgot to look at the painting.

Every now and then when there is something I do want to know, I’ll read the information. But for the rest I’ll skip those little cards with information so it will not distract me from what I see.

This can give some people the wrong impression.

When I was in Rome this Summer I visited the Centrale Montemartini. On the ground floor there were artefacts that had to do with Roman burial rituals. These are things I know about and I have read quite a good deal about the Romans. So I did not bother with the informationboards and just wandered through the exposition.

There was a Dutch couple there that meticulously read every card with information. When I was on my way back the woman said to the man: ‘Look, that lady is already finished on this floor and she came in after us.’ The man replied, rather smugly ‘Well, then I suppose she does not enjoy it as much as we do’. 

I could have explained of course. I also could have put that man in his place by telling him I am a historian and I did not need to read it since I already know these things. 

I did no such thing. The man was so happy with the idea he and his wife were doing this museum thing in a better way than I was, I just let him. 
I just hope they had a lovely day.