I have forgotten how to read

As a non-developer every now and then I see an article on HN that really hits home. This was one of them.

I find I have to "set the mood" in order to be able to even start reading a book, which involves a bunch of prep work that I never used to have to do.

It's...embarrassing to talk about. You can't talk about it with colleagues because the assumption is always that reading is easy, and admitting that it's not something you can do is like admitting lack focus and intelligence.

So many times I see really interesting book recommendations on HN and I immediately add them to an ever growing list on Amazon that I tell myself I'll buy "when I finish the 3 books I've been meaning to finish".

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My more cynical side wonders if there's a service that provides in depth book-report style articles.

Part of the allure of an article over, say, a chapter of a book is the sense of progress you get while reading the article. And ultimately knowing that you'll be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time. A chapter in a book is more ambiguous and that leads to an uncomfortable uncertainty while reading.