Parallel reading can be horizontal and/or vertical – we can read columns and/or rows.
We read horizontally, when two different texts are placed like layers in a cake:
a line of one text
a line of another text
a line of one text
a line of another text
and so on... like it is in the case of a mad reporter who is hanging in a balloon over the Earth to be sure he will report the end of the world nicely and with no obstacles – the balloon is floating over the world, isn't it? – the yellow lines are the words he is uttering, while the white ones are the words flowing through his head
Of course, many different variants are acceptable: various numbers of lines, various amounts of text, text printed with different typefaces or colours, and so on.
We read vertically, when two different texts are placed in columns, like in a newspaper, though in the case of newspapers nobody assumes or even supposes that we will read two or three columns simultaneously – that's a pity, because a vertically parallel report from a stormy dispute when all participants were talking at the same time would have special flavour.
If vertical and horizontal lines seem too boring, one can easily cut the block of text diagonally, and this diagonal line not necessarily must be straight.
Isn't it strange that parallel reading needs so much effort and learning? Parallel thinking and parallel perception are so common and easy it's hard to imagine our brain being able to function without such a basic ability. Watching many images simultaneously is not a problem. Listening to two, or even more, songs or concerts simultaneously is not a problem for our ears, either, although it is not comfortable for our brain. And reading two different texts simultaneously seems almost impossible.

A lot of things seem impossible...


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