Speed Reading

[Gosso]

AdamA made a comment in the Doctor thread about being able to read a 270 page book in 2-3 hours.  To me this is very impressive, since in general I am a slow reader (I'm more of a numbers guy).

Can anyone recommend a good technique to achieve a faster reading ability or to even "speed read"?  Does this reduce the amount of information you retain or comprehend?

[blackomen]

I've tried Photoreading..  it works a little for me (after spending years trying to "master" it in futility) but not as well as the author hyped it to be..  still sounds like a useful system although I've become more skeptical when I got older.  If it works for anyone else, please report back!

[MediumTex]

I would not want to read faster.

I view reading the way I view a good meal.

[Storm]

AdamA made a comment in the Doctor thread about being able to read a 270 page book in 2-3 hours.  To me this is very impressive, since in general I am a slow reader (I'm more of a numbers guy).

Can anyone recommend a good technique to achieve a faster reading ability or to even "speed read"?  Does this reduce the amount of information you retain or comprehend?

Scientists have determined that there are two types of readers:  Those that must sound out every word in their mind, and those that can read without this process.  If you are the first type, you can probably forget about being able to speed read.  You will never be able to read faster than speech, because of the way your mind must sound every word out.

With that out of the way, the way most speed readers do it is by actually skipping content.  For example, if I'm speed reading something, I will read the first and last sentence of each paragraph, and perhaps skim one or two sentences in the middle.  Even in individual sentences you learn to key in on the verb and primary nouns rather than reading everything.

The drawback to this is that sometimes you can miss important information when speed reading.  You are intentionally skipping some content.  I find that when I'm speed reading a good writer, this is usually not a big deal, however, sometimes amateur writers put important content in strange places within a paragrah, causing me to miss their major point entirely.

I've even had a manager write a particularly long, boring document on a business process, and intentionally stick a sentence in the second to the last paragraph at the bottom that says "if you are still reading, please email me and let me know; you just won a prize."

Anyway, most of the speed reading techniques allow you to digest the gist of information without reading every sentence, however, if I'm reading for pleasure, like a good book, I don't like to use this technique.

Helpful hint:  If you have a Mac, open the document in Preview, or paste the document into Text editor and use the Summarize feature.  It is surprising how well this distills long documents into the key points:  http://www.documentsnap.com/summarize-t ... summarize/

[MediumTex]

I view reading the way I view a good meal.

me too .

I think I'm a natural speed reader. On thinking about what I generally do its a quick scan of the first ten or so words in each paragraph and an immediate jump to the next paragraph if that hasn't grabbed my attention, or maybe a quick scan for any key words in the paragraph if it somewhat grabs my attention. Or a full/normal read of that paragraph if it seems key.

I tend to do a similar sort of thing with video presentations. Repeatedly skipping a minute or so, whilst briefly listening to a little bit after each jump to see if it grabs your attention. Noting possible areas of interest (lapsed time counter) and going back afterwards to specific times to listen in more detail.

I have found that after reading legal documents regular reading feels very easy, so I probably read pretty fast just because of that.

I have often had the sensation when reading something I really enjoyed of slowing down just to savor every word.

[dualstow]

I'm definitely a slow reader, but it seems like skimming is mostly what's described above. That, I can do.
My best reading happens when I visualize what I'm reading to the point where I forget I'm looking at words.
This is easy to do with Stephen King and difficult with Umberto Eco.

[Gosso]

Good Stuff!

I agree that it depends on what you're reading.  When reading a news article I typically read it backwards -- I'll read the last paragraph first, then the second last, etc...I find this can cut through the filler and get to the meat, and then I'll skim the upper paragraphs for anything interesting.

Storm, my brain definitely has to sound everything out, so it seems I am doomed to slow reading or simply skimming.  I'll just have to choose what I read more carefully.

Here's Carl Sagan's take on books (you can stop watching after 2 min):  http://youtu.be/0E0yzMgqOUg

[smurff]

When I learned speedreading, it was via a method that taught the reader how to do something we were taught not to do in elementary school:  Reading with the fingers and hands.  With this form of speed-reading, I can read about 1 to 2 pages a minute (60 to 120 pages per hour) depending on the material, with reasonably good comprehension.

The primary technique involves moving the index finger along underneath the line you're reading in a book or article or whatever.  You match your eyeball's scanning movements--the way you usually read--to the speed of your finger.  A step up from that (which allows you to go faster) is to lie the hand flat on the page, with the pinkie edge under the line of interest, and slowly sweep the hand down the page with your eyes simultaneously scanning side to side while also following the lagging edge of the hand.  The hand technique is supposed to help one read even faster, but I find that because it involves skipping words that I don't want to skip, it slows my reading somewhat.  To read even faster, some people draw a backwards "S" from side to side, top to bottom, on the page as the eye scans.  I can't do that yet for reading, but I often do it to help me locate specific sentences and phrases in a text.

BTW, these instructions are useful for materials where the words are made of Roman letters and for written materials lying approximately face up where one reads left to right, top to bottom, and turn the pages right to left. I don't know how well they would work for other alphabets, especially those that read from right to left and turn the pages from left to right.  And I find that it does not work well for reading from a computer screen, unless working with a screen that is close in appearance to paper and that is angled the way one would hold a book or magazine to read it normally.

Using the fingers and hands helps deal with some of the short comings of mentally sounding out words.  Because the finger is moving along more rapidly than one can say the words, there is not enough time to mentally sound the words out.  The brain skips that process to keep up with the finger/hand and the reading.

Like MediumTex, I like reading in standard mode.  But there are just so many things to read (I read and write for my occupation) that there's no way to make a dent in it without some form of speed reading.  I think of it like fast food.  A slow, home-cooked meal is nice, as is slow food prepared in a nicely appointed restaurant.  But sometimes you don't have the time for that, and sometimes you just get a craving for some fast food.

[Jan Van]

Which prompted me to do this speed reading test...

[MediumTex]

Which prompted me to do this speed reading test...

Cool.

I discovered that I am a "Good reader."

[AdamA]

AdamA made a comment in the Doctor thread about being able to read a 270 page book in 2-3 hours.  To me this is very impressive, since in general I am a slow reader (I'm more of a numbers guy).

Can anyone recommend a good technique to achieve a faster reading ability or to even "speed read"?  Does this reduce the amount of information you retain or comprehend?

Full Disclosure:

1.  The book I mentioned is a VERY easy read.
2.  It deals with material I'm intimately familiar with.
3.  It still probably took me longer than 3 hours to read, but I shortened the estimation a bit b/c I consider myself a slow reader. 

Here are some ways that I've made it through a few books quickly.

Fiction--Read only the dialogue.  I recently did this with the book "Pillars of the Earth," for the second half.  I was very intrigued by the plot, but would get bored with the very descriptive writing style, especially of the architecture.  (I am not bragging about this, and feel somewhat embarrassed posting it).  I still enjoyed and understood the book.

Skim--Works mostly for nonfiction.  There are some books that contain good information, but are just unnecessarily long.  Skim those and just read what seem relevant.  Works best if you're trying to learn about a specific topic.

I just re-read this post, and I realize that I sound (kind of?) like an idiot.  Nonetheless, I occasionally use tricks like this (depending on the book) and feel like in certain cases it doesn't detract from the literary experience or the wisdom garnered.

For the record, I read the book I recommended in that link from front to back.