ADD / ADHD and reading books... drama or delight?

I always thought that due to their poor concentration, people with ADD and ADHD had a huge aversion to reading books. Actually, the opposite turns out to be true. In fact, I quite often get e-mails asking if I know of any good (self-help) books for ADD and ADHD. So here goes.

To begin with, I write a little about the book 'Living with ADD' by Sterre Hunvie that has been highlighted a number of times in the media. Sterre's husband and son were both diagnosed with ADD so she has to deal with it herself on a daily basis. You might find it useful. By the way, the book Living with ADHD already existed.

Further on in the article, I write about my school past and the great difficulty I had reading my textbooks back then. I used to really hate reading the most. Now, though, that has lessened and I have actually managed to read quite a few interesting books all the way through. An important condition is that I have to be captivated from the very first page to be able to hold my attention. I usually finish the book within three days. Which books fascinated me so much I will describe at the end.

 

Sterre Hunvie's book 'Living with ADD'

A while back, I received an email from Sterre Hunvie. Sterre informed me that she has been busy writing a book about ADD. Her book has since gone on sale under the name: 'Living with ADD' .

'Living with ADD' is written especially for people who have ADD themselves and for partners and parents of ADDers. The book is full of tips for both adults and children with ADD. Sterre has explicitly taken into account that her book should be easy to read for ADDers. Among other things, she has done this by choosing a slightly larger font than usual. In addition, she has used vivid pictures to make reading more pleasant.

Sterre's book has been featured in the media a few times and received positive feedback. The comments I have come across are also mostly positive. I have not yet read the book myself so cannot say too much about its content.

What may be a plus point of the book is that Sterre's husband and son are both diagnosed with ADD which means she has to deal with it on a daily basis.

If you are going to read the book or have already read it, I am curious to know what you thought of it and whether it was useful to you. So please do let me hear from you in a comment below the article.

Below you can see an interview with Sterre Hunvie about her book 'Living with ADD'. She also talks a lot about her home situation and her husband and son who both have ADD.

Below the video, you can read more about my school days and the drama of reading (study) books.

 

Interview with Sterre Hunvie on her book 'Living with ADD'

 

 

My school days and reading (study) books, a downright drama!

Virtually my entire childhood, I couldn't get through a single book. School textbooks were even more of a drama. I read the chapters but the information just didn't come in. Almost after every page I thought, "What did I just read?" because I was just immediately lost in thought, something I usually only found out at the end of the page, or even later. Sometimes, while reading, I would suddenly realise that I had been lost in thought for 15 minutes and had thus read all the text on autopilot. So the result was that I never really knew what I was reading. This way, of course, reading could not be fun either.

How I managed to get through school is still a mystery to me, because paying attention in class was out of the question. Looking outside, drawing, sometimes messing about ;) and basically just anything that was more interesting caught my attention. Maybe I always made it through school in the end by compensating the attention deficit with my intelligence. Who knows...

 

The books I did get out of

These days, reading books is getting better and better for me. It will never become my hobby or passion but every now and then I do just fine and enjoy it. The condition is that I have to be captivated from page one.

Some books I find so interesting that I read them in one go. One such book where I had this experience is John Loporto's book: 'The Davinci Method'. I found this book super interesting and inspiring right from the first page. In his book, Loporto approaches all our AD(H)D characteristics from a new and mainly positive angle. In fact, everyone with ADD and ADHD should have read this book. Highly recommended. For more information about this book and a very cool video in which John Loporto shares his views can be found here justified.

Furthermore, a few weeks back, I read the little book 'Cheese and the theory of evolution' by our well-known philosopher 'Bas Haaring'. I finished this book too in 3 days. I find this a very enjoyable and informative little book that is easy to read through. In the book, Bas explains the theory of evolution from beginning to end in an interesting and easy-to-understand way. Furthermore, you will learn, among other things, why people and animals behave the way they do today. Definitely fun for people who like easy-to-read books.
Furthermore, 'The Alchemist' has been in the pile of books I still want to read for months. I have heard a lot of good things about it but apparently the first 3 pages were not gripping enough for me :P

 

I am curious about your experiences with reading books and how you used to do it at school. As an ADD or ADHD person, do you (like to) read books and which ones are they? Let us hear from you in the comments below....