What is deep reading? Here are some definitions mined from the internet:
Deep reading is the active process of thoughtful and deliberate reading carried out to enhance one’s comprehension and enjoyment of a text.
Richard Nordquist (ThoughtCo)
Deep reading, also called slow reading, is the intentional act of reading slower and more thoughtfully with the purpose of increasing– or “deepening”– comprehension and enjoyment.
Matt Valentine (Goalcast)
A deep approach to reading is an approach where the reader uses higher-order cognitive skills such as the ability to analyse, synthesize, solve problems, and thinks meta-cognitively in order to negotiate meanings with the author and to construct new meaning from the text. The reader makes connections to already known concepts and principles and uses this understanding for problem solving in new contexts.
Julian Hermida
(I lean towards the definition by Julian Hermida—which oddly doesn’t mention enjoyment—which I found in Tomorrow’s Professor Postings at Stanford: Strategies to Promote a Deep Approach to Reading)
And my definition?
Deep reading is the act of reading with sufficient intensity and focus, usually supplemented by underlining and notes, to make the author’s content part of my future self.
For example, one of the last books I read deeply (by my definition) was The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn, a book which gave me an entirely new appreciation of what—and how very rare—a true paradigm shift is.
Anyway, I always try to have one book on my shelf which I am reading deeply, something I would recommend to anyone on a journey of intellectual growth.
Happy reading!