I used to finish a 500 page novel in two days. Obviously know that I cannot do that with history or nonfiction in general.
But I also feel that at this rate I'll never read a lot of books to really gain knowledge of history ( and philosophy and religion )
So how do I fix this problem without having to skip through the details? I'm interested the details otherwise I'd read a brief article on the subject online.
I'm sorry; I'm not being facetious but what is your definition of too long? What are you aiming for/expecting and what are you achieving? How much time are you allocating to reading a history textbook per day/week and do you see this as purely recreational?
I love to read and can consume books when I allocate the time but have also recently slowed down whilst trying to read academic history books. I feel I will get faster as my brain gets used to accepting and storing information again (uni was a long time ago).
I am not putting too much pressure on myself about this because honestly there is no rush and it is a brand new skill. My suggeston to you is to look at some of your expectations/assumptions about how fast you SHOULD be reading something you're still getting the hang of and be kinder to yourself.
Also congrats on starting along the journey fellow novice