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Speed reading promises are too good to be true

sciencedaily.com

11–20 of 43 posts

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#11
If your intent is to memorize every factoid and point made in the text, then speed reading won't be effective.

However, if you naturally skim articles really quickly looking for information that will be of interest to you, then in a sense you are already speed reading.

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#13
post #10

Bummer. I played with Spritz (a centered-text speed reading API) at a hackathon a while back, and was pretty impressed. It seemed that I could read with real comprehension at around 400WPH and "skim" at about 1000. A big part of your pitch was "moving from word to word takes most of the time while reading," and I thought they had research to support that. It's still a fun thing to try if you haven't done it yet. The…

Yes, tech assisted speed reading should actually work while retaining comprehension, as your eyes don't move.

The review article here suggests that language processing steps are the bottleneck, not we movement. So the reasearch suggests that current approach to using tech (rapid serial display of words) introduces a speed-comprehension trade off.

Perhaps a better approach would be to develop deep learning systems that sort of translate cumbersome writing into linguistic structures that our brains can more easily/quickly digest?

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#14
I've never quite seen the point of speed reading. When I read, it's either to look up some information I need, or for entertainment. In the former case, it's much more efficient to just look for the particular information and avoid reading most of the text at all. In the latter case, speed reading would make the entertainment run out faster.

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#15
post #13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, tech assisted speed reading should actually work while retaining comprehension, as your eyes don't move.

The review article here suggests that language processing steps are the bottleneck, not we movement. So the reasearch suggests that current approach to using tech (rapid serial display of words) introduces a speed-comprehension trade off. Perhaps a better approach would be to develop deep learning systems that sort of translate cumbersome writing into linguistic structures that our brains can more easily/quickly dige…

Those systems already exist, they're usually called editors. Sadly, they seem to be used less and less.

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#16

Straw man? I've never heard it claimed that speed reading can give the same level of understanding as normal reading. Just that it's a way to quickly get a sense or gist of a work.

Increased comprehension was definitely one of the selling points when we were offered a speed reading course at my slightly odd school in the 1980s. Its proponents may have backed off on those claims since.

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#17
If I'm looking to process a reading queue, I'll do a lot of skimming, most writing contains lots of fluff and very little substance. I look for the main idea and some supporting context, think about them briefly, make some conclusions, and move on.

Only if the text is exceptionally well-written will I slow it down and really dig into what the writer was trying to convey. It's like a conversation. Some are really worth paying attention to and experiencing, most unfortunately are not, just perform your social duty and then go find something more interesting to do.

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#19

I've never quite seen the point of speed reading. When I read, it's either to look up some information I need, or for entertainment. In the former case, it's much more efficient to just look for the particular information and avoid reading most of the text at all. In the latter case, speed reading would make the entertainment run out faster.

I'm currently (finally!) reading 2001. I was half a page from the end of a chapter when my train was seconds from stopping where I wanted to get off. Thanks to speed reading, I could finish the chapter and put the book down in my bag before leaving the train!

Re: Speed reading promises are too good to be true

#20

I've never quite seen the point of speed reading. When I read, it's either to look up some information I need, or for entertainment. In the former case, it's much more efficient to just look for the particular information and avoid reading most of the text at all. In the latter case, speed reading would make the entertainment run out faster.

> In the latter case, speed reading would make the entertainment run out faster.

That is also why I watch all my movies at half speed!

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