An experiment to test if Bionic Reading helps you read faster

Post by ryzvonusef » Wed, Jun 22, 2022, 10:59 AM UTC

btilly wrote: post #47

ryzvonusef wrote: post #33

https://speed.readwise.io Your results Typeface Bionic Reading Literata Article 1 591 WPM 352 WPM Article 2 657 WPM 457 WPM Average Speed 624 WPM 405 WPM You read 43% faster with Bionic Reading Guess gotta give this a try for storybooks... maybe some enterprising and bored HN nerd can make a Calibre plugin that converts regular epubs to bionic reading enabled epub files ---- but the truth is, for the aforementioned s…

This technique will work for most text, but can be deliberately hacked in a bad way. I discovered this about 20 years ago from a cleverly written attack post on Perlmonks. Every paragraph started with a positive sentence whose tone slid into negative by the end of the paragraph. And then to positive for the next paragraph. I was horrified at how an attack piece had so many positive votes, and asked people why they we…

Post by hoodwink » Wed, Jun 22, 2022, 11:43 AM UTC

nestorD wrote: post #80

If the authors of the article are reading this: I would also do a test to see if the variance of the two groups (bionic vs normal) is significantly different. I did not check it but bionic might be very beneficial to some and detrimental to others which would not be seen when looking at the mean (you should also plot the distributions, it pretty much always a good first reflex).

Post by roelschroeven » Wed, Jun 22, 2022, 12:21 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #17

saurik wrote: post #10

I find it really difficult and annoying -- and thereby slow -- to read with these "fixation" points as that's just not how I feel eyes work... I want my eyes to scan across the text rather than ratcheting from one word to the next word, which is both slow and exhausting. The words and "fixation" is thereby just a massive distraction. Hell: if I really really need to read quickly I try to do this thing where I scan my…

Personal anecdote. When I try to read fast, I notice fixation points as my eyes skip across the text. But it will be whole chunks of words. And anything that tries to draw my attention to one letter as opposed to another, will slow me down. Note that my natural reading speed is ~950 wpm, so I tend to ignore these fads. I read fast enough already. The main barrier to reading faster is that it gets exhausting having my…

Post by roelschroeven » Wed, Jun 22, 2022, 12:37 PM UTC

Bjorkbat wrote: post #70

karaterobot wrote: post #26

In my experience, more people need to work on reading comprehension than reading speed. Comprehension is what actually matters, and is what seems to be in short supply. If Bionic Reading promised increased reading speed with no loss of comprehension, and provided it, all it would mean is that people would misunderstand things at a faster rate.

I’ve been thinking of that a lot as well. What’s the point of being able to read fast if you miss the fine details? What’s the point if you read so fast that you just sort of forget everything? One of the many issues I have with contemporary literate culture, another being those who insist on reading a large volume of books, on being “well read”, rather than focusing on quality.

Post by btilly » Wed, Jun 22, 2022, 3:03 PM UTC

dirkc wrote: post #89

btilly wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I simply read a lot of science fiction/fantasy as a kid, and it happened naturally. I would view claims that a random person could be taught to read at my speed with skepticism. But I've met other people who read as fast as I do. As a kid I thought I was simply a slightly fast reader until I happened to take a copy of https://www.amazon.com/Clan-Cave-Bear-Jean-Auel/dp/060961097... to a bath. I started, got caught up…

Does that take any enjoyment out of reading for you? I tried speed reading for a brief stint, but then decided to stop. For me reading a good book is like savoring good food, I wouldn't want to chug it down.