Speed reading: What's the deal?

[Inso0]

I've been intrigued by the idea of speed reading ever since I saw some guy on TV years ago who seemed to devour entire books in mere seconds by moving his hand down the page in a snake-like motion, and then answer questions about them from the people in the audience who provided them (the books).

Now I don't recall that he was actually selling something, but it is of course entirely possible that the whole thing was staged.

But lately I've been hearing a lot of radio commercials and seeing ads for speed reading programs.

Some choose to promise results in WPM (words per minute) and others simply apply a blanket, "Read 1000% faster! Ten books in the time it takes you to read one today!"

I'm wondering if any of the OOT folks have experience with speed reading techniques, and if you could perhaps share them here.

Also, if anyone has any online resources or knows of a legitimate purchasable program that will teach speed reading techniques.

I used to really enjoy reading, be it fiction or simply reference material, but the last book I read was The Da Vinci Code... I just don't have the desire to invest large chunks of time in reading nowadays.


Cliff notes: I want to learn how to speed read, share your insights on the subject!

[miajag]

Not that this will be of much help, but I have an innate (or at least learned on my own very early in life) speed-reading ability. I'm not really sure how to describe the technique other than that I basically "see" entire sentences/paragraphs at once, as if they are just one big word. Not sure if the commercial speed-reading methods are similar to that, but it works for me (end brag post).

[Gugel]

basically, the courses teach you to see chunks of words. you can read a lot faster, but you will lose SOME comprehension. since most books have a lot of non-important stuff, i just speed-read through that and slow down for the parts that matter.

the people that claim to be able to read a book in seconds are lying. this is not possible.

[baumer]

[ QUOTE ]
Not that this will be of much help, but I have an innate (or at least learned on my own very early in life) speed-reading ability. I'm not really sure how to describe the technique other than that I basically "see" entire sentences/paragraphs at once, as if they are just one big word. Not sure if the commercial speed-reading methods are similar to that, but it works for me (end brag post).

[/ QUOTE ]

this is what speed readers usually do

it just improves from reading letters, to words, to sentences, to paragraphs.

[Gildwulf]

I don't understand why you would want to read a book in an hour; part of the joy of reading a classic piece of literature or a good novel is savoring the language, the little nuances, etc.

I read quickly, but not whole paragraphs at a time and I still like to read good sentences and paragraphs 3-4 times just for the enjoyment of a well-crafted piece of prose.

[AvivaSimplex]

Any product I've ever seen basically teaches you to skim over large sections. It might be helpful if you had to read over a lot of fairly simple material to prepare for a test. I think using these techniques would defeat the purpose of reading novels for pleasure.

[ QUOTE ]
I used to really enjoy reading, be it fiction or simply reference material, but the last book I read was The Da Vinci Code... I just don't have the desire to invest large chunks of time in reading nowadays.

[/ QUOTE ]
Here's my theory--you haven't found any good books recently. You need a book to grab you by the collar and demand that you keep reading it. If you liked Da Vinci Code, try other popular thriller-type books, like the Harry Potter series. The last good fiction I read was Footprints of God, by Greg Iles, which is kind of in the same genre as DVC. I bought it at an airport bookstore because I had nothing else to do, and stayed up until 2 in the morning to finish it the same day.

[Inso0]

[ QUOTE ]

Here's my theory--you haven't found any good books recently. You need a book to grab you by the collar and demand that you keep reading it. If you liked Da Vinci Code, try other popular thriller-type books, like the Harry Potter series. The last good fiction I read was Footprints of God, by Greg Iles, which is kind of in the same genre as DVC. I bought it at an airport bookstore because I had nothing else to do, and stayed up until 2 in the morning to finish it the same day.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I read the Da Vinci Code in a single sitting. Though I will say that it wasn't as good with it as it was hyped up to be. It was alright... but it was definitely the subject matter that made it as popular as it was, and not the actual writing.

[codewarrior]

Your feeling the need to include Cliff's notes in your post should lead you to believe that speed reading is not OOT's forte'.

[Sigurd]

You can improve your reading speed, without losing any of the meaning, however, it will just be a "slight" increase, nothing like 1000%. You basically just decrease the times you move your eyes when reading a line. Ideally you will go to have just one "fix point" on each line, so you just let your eyes "glide" down the page.

You can try playing with this by taking a chunk of text, paste it into notepad, and then increase/decrease the width of the notepad window.

[theBruiser500]

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