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Is speed reading really possible?

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Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#31

Post by blowski »

lusr wrote: post #27
critium wrote: post #19

At around 7 or 8 years old, my reading level was several grades ahead of schedule. I was consuming large (for my age) novels with no sweat. My parents noticed this and gave me a speed reading book. I incorporated each an every item on that book including the removal of subvocalization. It certainly gave returns right away, allowing me to consume books at a faster rate, but a huge cost. Years later, I entered college…

I just tried reading a number of articles on the front page using www.spreeder.com that another commenter here mentioned. I got up to 800wpm with chunk size of 3 before my suspicion was confirmed: while I had no problem following the story, it felt like I had a mental buffer that was constantly filling up and skipping over interesting questions or thoughts based on what I was reading. Fundamentally, speed reading thr…

Exactly what I found. I tried reading Les Miserables using a speedreading app (Fastr) and while I was reading more quickly, it left me wondering what the point of reading it was at all.

When I read it in a normal app (Kindle), I appreciated the beauty of the language, the depth of the characters, and the intricate storyline so much more.

For business stuff, a similar problem occurred - I missed out on key points in emails, and was less creative in solutions. I'm not saying that this applies to everyone, but for me, reading slowly is more efficient.

The key is reading the right stuff more slowly, and not reading the wrong stuff at all.

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#32

Post by ericb »

Around 5th-7th grade, I was in advanced reading and part of a speed reading training class/experiment. It still all seems a bit odd to me. A woman came in a couple times a week with a special projector that projected a book on the screen, but using a rapidly moving light, only showed a few words at a time on the screen. Each week the light moved faster. This was followed by comprehension tests.

I read about 30% faster than most people, but I have no idea if this is really why. Was anyone else a guinea pig? This was in Central NY in the 80's.

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#33

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #20

How do deaf (since birth) people subvocalize?

Sub vocalizing is the fact or reading syllables instead of entire words at once.

Deaf could find very useful to vocalize words as they could read peoples lips and faces based on those units.

Everybody read lips and faces subconsciously, there are famous illusions in witch people hear different sounds with the same sound file depending of the video of a mouth they watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#34

Post by blowski »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #20

How do deaf (since birth) people subvocalize?

Studies have suggested that some do, some don't. The more deaf you are, the less likely you are to subvocalise.

Totally not an expert in this area, but I think everybody associates more than just the sound of the word - movement of lips, memories, and other senses are also involved. Deaf people can obviously acquire those 'subvocalisations' instead.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8PhwXf9uj1IC&pg=PA114...

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#35

Post by Inufu »

I think speed reading is most useful when you are reading some text where only parts are relevant or new to you. By quickly reading those, you can focus on the important pieces and spend more time to think about them.

Interestingly, the faster I read, the less I'm able to "filter" the information I read about, it seems almost as if my brain absorbs it directly. That means that I'd never speed read content that might contain bad memes or false information: political propaganda, religious texts, etc.

Does anyone know a good test for reading speed (including comprehension)?

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#36

Post by daven11 »

I did a speed reading course when I started uni and yes it does work. A lot of stuff is bad habits - some others have mentioned, sub vocalisation, keeping your eye in the middle of the page and read with your peripheral vision, obvious stuff - don't slide your finger along the page, don't use a ruler (some do) and so on. I improved my reading and comprehension quite a lot, but find I turn it off when reading for pleasure versus reading to extract facts. It's well worth doing - even if it only increases your reading speed 10 or 20%. [edit: How to skim read was another useful tool]

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#37

Post by emhart »

Around the point in the article describing the eye movements required for reading, I experienced a weird anxiety as I attempted to both perceive my own eye movements and consume more of the text. After a few sentences it actually became uncomfortable. Gave me the impression that implementing speed reading strategies would be dubious for me, personally.

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#38

Post by simonbarker87 »

Inufu wrote: post #35

I think speed reading is most useful when you are reading some text where only parts are relevant or new to you. By quickly reading those, you can focus on the important pieces and spend more time to think about them. Interestingly, the faster I read, the less I'm able to "filter" the information I read about, it seems almost as if my brain absorbs it directly. That means that I'd never speed read content that might…

This book did in fact double my reading speed in 1 hour and there are 2 nice tests in the back which can help calculate you reading speed and also comprehension

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speed-Reading-Double-Triple-ebook/dp...

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#39

Post by drostie »

lusr wrote: post #27
critium wrote: post #19

At around 7 or 8 years old, my reading level was several grades ahead of schedule. I was consuming large (for my age) novels with no sweat. My parents noticed this and gave me a speed reading book. I incorporated each an every item on that book including the removal of subvocalization. It certainly gave returns right away, allowing me to consume books at a faster rate, but a huge cost. Years later, I entered college…

I just tried reading a number of articles on the front page using www.spreeder.com that another commenter here mentioned. I got up to 800wpm with chunk size of 3 before my suspicion was confirmed: while I had no problem following the story, it felt like I had a mental buffer that was constantly filling up and skipping over interesting questions or thoughts based on what I was reading. Fundamentally, speed reading thr…

I think speed reading, as skimming, would be good in cases where you are trying to skip through data rather than process it. I do something very similar with lectures on topics which I'm already familiar with -- I speed them up to 2x or 3x speed in VLC, then slow them down when I reach a topic which requires extra thinking and comprehension.

There is also a tremendous value to watching an important lecture twice: the first time on fast-forward so that you understand the structure of the talk and the gist of the subject, and the second time on normal speed so that you can really get into the details. A lot of writing tries to give you an "overview" or "table of contents" to accomplish the same task, but when it's not there, skimming can be extremely useful.

Re: Is speed reading really possible?

#40

Post by btipling »

I worry more about the quality of my comprehension than the speed at which I read. I"d rather take ages and get a good understanding than speed up the pace at which I read. Depth over breadth any time. In product features, in overall understanding, in capability, in testing, art, in all things life. This is akin to a get rich quick scheme, do things on the cheap, doing more with less. You can only do less with less.
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