There's another Ronald Carver book called "Reading rate : a review of research and theory" , which comes to the conclusion that speed reading doesn't work. People can skim at faster rates than they can when reading with full comprehension, but then their comprehension will suffer. You can learn to skim, to take notes, to get quick overviews of whatever you're reading by noting things like chapter and section headings…
> read every single word in the text with full comprehension
Some would say this is impossible and unnecessary.
The text says it's been proven by NASA and several others that you can't remove subvocalization, yet most speed reader comments here go on to say "yes it works i removed subvocalization". It's obvious all these "speed readers" didn't read a single line of this article.
The article treats subvocalization as an absolute value to present a lazy argument.
Is reducing subvocalization beneficial? Is every single phrase and word important to subvocalize? Relevant questions completely ignored here.
> You can't read without subvocalization. While this article seems well researched, I find this claim very hard to believe. I can read while singing (not a song with words, but a tune that I know well, without words). I really don't think I "talk to [myself] so quietly, it cannot be heard" and while my "tongue and vocal chords" may "receive speech signals from [my] brain", I'm pretty sure they're not executed and nei…
i think this comes down to how different people perceive the world in very different ways... ways much more different than we realize. for example, here[1] Feynman talks about being able to count verbally in his mind while reading , but being unable to speak (since he is using his 'speaking' to count). and his acquaintance is able to count visually in his mind while speaking , but isn't able to read (since he is usin…
These sorts of quirks are fascinating; I tried it and I can count while reading, but can't talk and count at the same time. I can listen to music with words while reading, or while writing, but not while doing math or non-trivial programming, which seem to place greater demands on my parsing center.
Just a shout out for forcefeed - a javascript bookmarklet that lets you read any web page without moving your eyes. I think it's incredibly helpful, even if my comprehension isn't 100%.
> You can't read without subvocalization. While this article seems well researched, I find this claim very hard to believe. I can read while singing (not a song with words, but a tune that I know well, without words). I really don't think I "talk to [myself] so quietly, it cannot be heard" and while my "tongue and vocal chords" may "receive speech signals from [my] brain", I'm pretty sure they're not executed and nei…
I also found that hard to believe.
When I am reading aloud, I typically read a few words ahead of what I'm speaking -- and sometimes as much as a sentence or two! It's really necessary to get the emphasis right; I like to comprehend a whole sentence (or at least a clause!) before trying to verbally reproduce it.
I find it hard to imagine that I'm trying to 'say' two things at once. Certainly, I wouldn't know how to do that on purpose.
Just a shout out for forcefeed - a javascript bookmarklet that lets you read any web page without moving your eyes. I think it's incredibly helpful, even if my comprehension isn't 100%.
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 plea…
"don't slide your finger along the page"
Interesting, most speed reading techniques teach the opposite and condition you to move your fingers along the page.
Wow. That was well worth a read, at whatever reading speed gives you full comprehension. The author did a good job of reading the previous scientific literature on the subject, and relating important issues to one another. He examined both historical claims (supposed world records of reading speed) and scientific claims (statements about how people read in general). I read quite a few books about speed-reading when I…
Speed reading meets its match: 默會文言文認識論 (the tacit epistemology of Classical Chinese)