If Reading Bores You, It's Not Your Attention Span

Summary

Boredom while reading does not automatically mean someone has a poor attention span. Often, the problem is a mismatch between the reader and the book.

Adults returning to reading may feel they need to prove themselves by starting with acclaimed classics or other people’s “must-read” lists. A difficult passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses illustrates how a book can be too challenging for someone at a particular time—and how that difficulty can be mistaken for boredom.

The speaker contrasts this experience with reading Fermat’s Last Theorem, Simon Singh’s book about mathematician Andrew Wiles and his pursuit of a famous mathematical problem. Although the book includes mathematics and history, its human story and suspense kept the speaker engaged. This suggested that attention span was not the main obstacle; the choice of book mattered.

Drawing on research about boredom, the speaker describes three ways a book may fail to engage:

• It doesn’t connect with what the reader cares about. This can happen with school-assigned reading or books chosen from someone else’s list.
• It is too difficult for the reader at that time. Readers may interpret difficulty following a book as boredom and blame themselves.
• It is too easy or predictable. A formulaic book, or one whose outcome feels obvious early on, may not hold a reader’s interest.

These mismatches can all feel like boredom, but they do not mean someone is incapable of becoming a reader.

Questions to Ask When a Book Feels Boring

• Is it too difficult for me right now?
• Is it too easy or predictable for me?
• Do I feel a connection to its characters, subject, or story?

If a book is not working, a reader can try one that is a better match rather than conclude that reading is not for them. Starting with engaging, appropriately challenging books provides practice. As reading ability and experience grow, readers may find it easier to connect with more challenging books and relate them to their lives and the world around them. The speaker describes this ability to make connections as an important part of becoming well-read.

The video closes with an invitation to join the speaker’s free Anti-Library Society, a space for adult readers to share their reading and support one another.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Speaker/narrator: The video’s presenter, identified in the channel metadata as Dr. Danny Ash.
• Psychologists who study boredom: Their research is discussed, but no individual researchers are named.
• Books and people discussed: James Joyce’s Ulysses; Simon Singh’s Fermat’s Last Theorem; mathematician Andrew Wiles; and Pierre de Fermat.