A place that welcomes slow reading has understood something about learning.

Understanding is not fast, and most environments are arranged as though it were. A room that lets someone sit with the same two pages for an hour, with no queue forming and no sense of occupying space unproductively, is making a claim about how minds actually work. Speed suits transactions. Comprehension needs somewhere it can be inefficient without anyone minding.

Give yourself one stretch this week where you read something at a quarter of your usual pace. And if you have any say over a space others use, protect the corner where a person can stay too long.