I thought everyone did this! I don't see the words, I see images.
For me,the book is better than the media 99% of the time,but there are exceptions,such as True Blood being better than the books.
Given a choice between the book vs the movie, I go for the book first every time and generally skip movies and shows based on said books since they never live up to what's in my head when I read.
For me,reading a book is like I'm actually there, in the world the writer is describing. It's 3d and in color, like watching a movie in my head.
The same goes to listening to an audio book.
You might want to try audio books and see if you can dive into the writer's world, like this series.
Science fiction is especially fun to read, since, I feel I am on other worlds,conversing with aliens,etc. Yeah,it's fun.
As I near the end of a good book or series,I'll slow down how much I'm reading at a time to make it last longer and I always feel a whisk of sadness when I'm done.
Needless to say,I love to read.
I understand that is how most people read (to some extent). I have tried to do it myself, but even though I do have quite an active imagination, my IMAGination doesn't work in IMAGes the way you would expect. I can't visualize myself as being somewhere else. I can't visualize somewhere I've never been. I can (in a limited way) recall places I have been and seen, whether they are photos or videos or actual memory, but I can't create new images, sounds, smells, whatever; and I can't modify what I've seen. If you told me that someone looks like a mix between Britney Spears and Katy Perry, I can kinda (not vividly) picture Britney Spears and I can kinda picture Katy Perry, but my brain can't combine the two images. However, if one person told me that someone looks like a mix between Britney Spears and Katy Perry, then another person tells me that Jessica Simpson looks like a mix between Britney Spears and Katy Perry, I could picture the person you are describing as Jessica Simpson.
It's hard to explain, and I don't try very often, but it is basically the same for sounds, smells, tastes, etc. When I'm reading I see words, and I read the words out loud in my head. If I've seen the movie already, and the scene is written pretty closely to the movie, I can remember the movie scene while I'm reading. However, it is not in place of the words in my head, it is in addition to the words in my head.
It's also similar when I'm thinking. If I'm thinking about something, I'm not seeing anything. I'm just talking to myself in my head. When my wife and I are walking around in our yard and she tells me her plans for the garden, and says "we could put a cherry tree here and petunias here..." I'm not seeing what she's seeing, even though I know what a cherry tree looks like, I know what a petunia looks like, and I know what my garden area looks like. I can't put them together like that.
I thought everyone did this! I don't see the words, I see images. For me,the book is better than the media 99% of the time,but there are exceptions,such as True Blood being better than the books. Given a choice between the book vs the movie, I go for the book first every time and generally skip movies and shows based on said books since they never live up to what's in my head when I read.
For me,reading a book is like I'm actually there, in the world the writer is describing. It's 3d and in color, like watching a movie in my head. The same goes to listening to an audio book. You might want to try audio books and see if you can dive into the writer's world, like this series.
http://podiobooks.com/series/a-traders-tale-from-the-golden-age-of-the-solar-clipper/
Science fiction is especially fun to read, since, I feel I am on other worlds,conversing with aliens,etc. Yeah,it's fun. As I near the end of a good book or series,I'll slow down how much I'm reading at a time to make it last longer and I always feel a whisk of sadness when I'm done.
Needless to say,I love to read.
I understand that is how most people read (to some extent). I have tried to do it myself, but even though I do have quite an active imagination, my IMAGination doesn't work in IMAGes the way you would expect. I can't visualize myself as being somewhere else. I can't visualize somewhere I've never been. I can (in a limited way) recall places I have been and seen, whether they are photos or videos or actual memory, but I can't create new images, sounds, smells, whatever; and I can't modify what I've seen. If you told me that someone looks like a mix between Britney Spears and Katy Perry, I can kinda (not vividly) picture Britney Spears and I can kinda picture Katy Perry, but my brain can't combine the two images. However, if one person told me that someone looks like a mix between Britney Spears and Katy Perry, then another person tells me that Jessica Simpson looks like a mix between Britney Spears and Katy Perry, I could picture the person you are describing as Jessica Simpson.
It's hard to explain, and I don't try very often, but it is basically the same for sounds, smells, tastes, etc. When I'm reading I see words, and I read the words out loud in my head. If I've seen the movie already, and the scene is written pretty closely to the movie, I can remember the movie scene while I'm reading. However, it is not in place of the words in my head, it is in addition to the words in my head.
It's also similar when I'm thinking. If I'm thinking about something, I'm not seeing anything. I'm just talking to myself in my head. When my wife and I are walking around in our yard and she tells me her plans for the garden, and says "we could put a cherry tree here and petunias here..." I'm not seeing what she's seeing, even though I know what a cherry tree looks like, I know what a petunia looks like, and I know what my garden area looks like. I can't put them together like that.