Stacks of unread books sit on nightstands, while e-readers are filled with half-finished books. We usually start out interested and ready to read, but somewhere between the early chapters and the middle, we lose focus. The story doesn’t hold us, and the book ends up in the growing pile of ones collecting dust…
By Klaudia Hostynska – Features Editor
Photo Credits: Pixabay
Why don’t we always finish what we start? When it comes to reading books, the answer to lives somewhere between psychology, personal expectation, and the modern attention economy.
“It’s not always about the book itself. I try to read as much as I can, but honestly, life just gets in the way, and when I get back into it, I tend to start fresh. It’s just a thing for me,” said Nino Murat, 42, who works as a mixologist.
Most of the time, this is due to the Zeigarnik Effect, a psychological principle that suggests our brains remember incomplete tasks better than completed ones. “Unfinished books provide the same effect on the brain as tasks that we are dreading to do; we want to finish them, but paradoxically, that makes it harder, they become a piece of work rather than a pleasure,” says Dr Kinga Dudzik, 34, who’s a psychologist in Bromley.
Many of us believe in the idea of the perfect book, the one that grabs us right away, which we read immediately from cover to cover and are left with a lasting impact. But most books don’t work that way. And these days, neither do we.
“I often know in the first five minutes if I’m going to finish the book, if it’s a novel. If the first five minutes don’t make me completely compelled, and if, on top of that, I don’t fully have free time during those weeks, I will definitely drop it,” said Nino.
Dr. Dudzik sees a trend among the readers who abandon books. “It’s like with any other thing in life, humans work on psychological instincts. They often pick titles that they feel they should read, whether that’s a personal matter or influenced one,” she said.
“In the end, like with every uncompleted thing, you feel guilty, which gets under your skin. If you’re an over-achieving person, you will finish the book by force, if not, you won’t want to touch it again.”
For individuals like Nino, the solution is to have various books on the go. “There’s no shame in having a bunch of unfinished books as long as it doesn’t pick at your brain, I actually like to read three at a time for example, and there’s always going to be one left over in the end.”
Credits: Klaudia Hostynska
Dr Dudzik adds that we are meant to read for pleasure, not in order to complete a task. “If a book is not engaging enough for you, it’s always okay to let it go. In fact, it works for me to grab a smaller book if I’m struggling with reading-productivity, and it proves effective all the time.”
Perhaps the unfinished book isn’t a failure but a reflection of daily human life – overstimulated, overcommitted, and always chasing the next best thing. Or maybe it simply means that book wasn’t right for the moment, and we might come back to it later when we’re ready.
Find out what Book will get you out of your reading slump based on your personality
Add up the scores to find out your next read
Add comment
Comments