In general, how to improve reading comprehension in nonfiction books?

Question

I am a high school sophomore, and I am strongly interested in history and religions, so I have the urge to read long and technical nonfiction books regarding them. (For example large textbooks about Roman history and such) But what always happens is that my eyes scan through the words without absorbing the meaning. I am able to comprehend in the beginning, yet I start to lose retention later on. My fluency in English is perhaps one reason. Please allow me to introduce my background first. I am an American of Chinese descent. Supposedly, English is my mother tongue, yet I went to China to study for eight or nine years and I came back. During this time period English was a skill that I neglected, so later I put in great effort to recover this. Recently I returned to the states and started high school. Currently, I am very skilled in writing, listening and speaking, yet reading seems to be the only problem.Here is my question. Is the reason for my poor reading comprehension a matter of fluency in language, or it is simply because the books that I read are too deep for a sophomore? If it is because of fluency, how can I solve this problem? This problem is really frustrating me since I do have a hunger for knowledge. The inability to read is truly vexing me.Thank you very much!

Answer 1

It's hard to say if this is a fluency problem, since everybody has different reading skills (especially those who speak more than one language), but if it is allow me to offer this advice. Start by reading shorter, simpler books. They can be in any genre, about any subject that you like. As you finish each book, the next one you read should be a bit longer and a bit tougher. This will condition your brain to be able to absorb longer and heavier books.

Another thing you could do, which I do myself, is to highlight/underline/take notes while you're reading. This will keep you brain actively absorbing information as you continue to read and you'll have notes to look back on in the future! This exercise also helps your memory take in this kind of information.

The important thing to remember is to go at your own pace! And please don't be discouraged from reading deep books just because you are a sophomore! If you love reading these books and want to keep learning new things then nothing should stop you from doing just that!

Hope this helps!