Speed Reading

[Royal Rother]

I am amazed at the number of books some of our young female readers claim to get through in a week.

How do you do it?
How long does it take you to read a 400 page novel?
Have any of you ever had speed reading classes?

Does anyone know anyone who has taken speed reading classes?

I am an average reader and have been tempted to sign up for a course. there's one I saw on an Infomercial on US TV, called eyeq, which is demo'd at www.infmind.com.

I found it an interesting concept, but it's pretty expensive to buy so am a bit dubious. It seems to be based around strengthening the eye muscles.

Do take a look and let me know what you think.

[Just RY]

I work with someone who is a speed reader - he can read a novel of around 300-400 pages in 2 or 3 hours. He also has a photographic memory. He just looks at a page for a few seconds, and turns to the next one. In his case, I don't think it is any particular training, just a powerful mind.

[My Friend Jack]

Surely you must lose some of the quality of the story by speed reading?

I can speed read newspaper articles (I did go on a short course about 15 - 20 years ago), but no way could I do the same for books. The technique that I use (I actually do it without thinking, and am barely aware of doing it) involves looking at the middle of the column (that's why it's easy with newspaper articles) and mentally filling in the edges. Difficult to describe, really. It's based on the fact that when you read, you don't read a word by scanning it from left to right, you just recognise the complete word. It also works because you are picking up the gist of what you are reading, rather than absorbing every word. Apply this to books and you lose the quality of the language.

As I said, difficult to describe. I learnt the technique in an afternoon, and until I read RR's post, I hadn't thought about it for years, although I use it every day.

[BrumB]

MFJ is right in saying that you must lose a lot of the feel of a book and an understanding of the structure and the quality of the writing by speed reading. However, I do believe that people who read a lot of books make more time than others. In other words they may read far into the night, or wake up early or read during their lunch hours, on the train or bus - basically anywhere. And they have the ability to concentrate and shut out everything else. When I was in the last stages of pregnancy I sometimes read two books a day - sadly a luxury that quickly changed!!

[Dream Weaver]

I am amazed at the number of books some of our young female readers claim to get through in a week.

How do you do it?
How long does it take you to read a 400 page novel?
Have any of you ever had speed reading classes?

Does anyone know anyone who has taken speed reading classes?

I am an average reader and have been tempted to sign up for a course. there's one I saw on an Infomercial on US TV, called eyeq, which is demo'd at www.infmind.com.

I found it an interesting concept, but it's pretty expensive to buy so am a bit dubious. It seems to be based around strengthening the eye muscles.

Do take a look and let me know what you think.

Sorry, RR, I can't reply to your post, as I read it in 1.76 seconds, and can't remember a single word it said. :cool:

Actually, that reminds me of one of my favourite ever Woody Allen quotes, which went something like, "I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."

[Opal]

How do you do it?
How long does it take you to read a 400 page novel?
Have any of you ever had speed reading classes?

I've never had speed reading classes, can read roughly 100-120 pages an hour, and I've no idea how!

When I was younger I used to read a lot, and I guess I just spead up at some point! I used to read a lot more when I was at school, haven't read too much since being at uni though.

As for losing the quality of the story, I guess I might do. I tend to re-read everything fairly soon after reading it for the first time, maybe thats a subconscious reaction to missing bits out or something...? I have to say, I got given a the Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan for Christmas, started them in the afternoon, finished them on the 27th! And that was with going sales shopping etc...

I would never have imagined there was such a thing as speed reading classes - it just came naturally to me, but I guess there's classes for everything now...

[Harriet]

I speed read everything, and then re-read it. So I guess I must lose some of the storyline, but I pick it up when I re-read it. I've never in my life gone to any type of speed-reading class, it's just how I naturally read. I'm nto sure hwo many words I can read an hour etc, I don't really count, but I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown in a day, and Harry Potter 5 (Order of the Phoenix) in a day as well. I've since re-read them (several times) and picked up mroe parts of the plot that I missed. I get through about 3-5 books in a week, but they're not really hard reading like Pride and Prejudice or something. I found Pride and Prejudice really fustrating to read, as I try to speed read it as I naturally do, and I found that it's a book where you have to read every word, which annoyed me.

When I read a book that I've read loads of times I just look down the middle of the page and then my memory fills in the rest. But if I'm reading a book for the first time I just skim the lines. And I skip descriptions for the first reading, they bore me.

[My Friend Jack]

So, RR, the choices are:

1. Speed read a book 3 or 4 times before you fully absorb it, follow the plot and understand the twists, but never appreciate the joy of the language or the "descriptive" bits;

or

2. Read it slowly but enjoy it!

I meant to say yesterday, that my reading pace slows down considerably when I reach passages of dialogue. I mentally apply accents, pauses, stresses and tones to the voices of the characters, and often go back to re-read short sections.

[Just RY]

I should have mentioned about my colleague - he loves literature, and absorbs the books thoroughly (at least he claims) - he honestly just has faster brain/eye coordination than most uf us. He is one of these people who are perhaps borderline genius, for example, he can do fairly complex mathematics in his head.

[Royal Rother]

Fascinating replies - thanks.

(Not that that's necessarily the end of them!)

Has anyone looked at the www.infmind.com link? Do have a go at the test - it takes about 10 minutes but is well worth doing, and fascinating in the concept it delivers. (Sounds like the technique you worked with MFJack.)

[lucyb]

That's a little weird - my reading speed did improve by about 100 wpm. The cynic in me wonders if the 'after' passage is just made easier to read than the 'before' one. It did give me a nagging headache if that helps.

[My Friend Jack]

You call that speed reading? It's taken you 8 months and 5 days! ;)

[Deinonychus]

My agent claims to read a brand new 400-page-plus novel/manuscript in an evening, which I'm sure is true. But that's his work, obviously. Why would anyone choose to do this when reading for leisure?

[Cathy]

I read a 214 page book on Saturday afternoon, in under 3 hours anyway, wasn't timing...I certainly tried to speed read things at uni, e.g. Bleak House (ahhh pain, pain!!) which did involve something like MFJ describes, and it took a few second per page. I can't remember how long it took, it was over about a week but I was working two jobs also (violins please) so it can't have been much. But its not something I'd do for pleasure!

I know typing stuff I don't take it in in the slightest, its the weirdest thing, I can type a two page document and look back over it to check for typos and it feels just like reading it for the first time.

[Grammath]

I can't speed read at all. If I could, my TBR mountain wouldn't be nearly so big. To be honest, I wouldn't speed read through choice anyway; one surely misses out on so much in the same way as one would with an abridged audiobook. Most of my reading is done for pleasure; it isn't a race to me.

My book consumption rate (around 60-70 per year or roughly 200 pages per week) makes me think that I'm not a slow reader, but a lot of books fade in my memory quite quickly. Maybe I should slow down and soak up more.

[Deinonychus]

Surely that beast you've been ploughing through for the past few weeks is likely to skew this year's average a little..?

[Grammath]

Surely that beast you've been ploughing through for the past few weeks is likely to skew this year's average a little..?

For the uninitiated, the beast concerned is "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke, a shelfbending 782 pages of fantastic (in both senses of the word) hardback.

I am keeping count of the number of books I read this year as I have for the past few and it'll be the 34th book I finish in 2005, so, although it might have to be novella and kids' books for the rest of the year, it looks like I'll keep my average up.

[Bill]

Even without that, if you read 60 to 70 books a year, and average 200 pages per week, that still comes out as a lot of novellas.

[Deinonychus]

I thought similar, but didn't like to say...

[angel]

I am impressed by how many books some of us read, but speed-reading doesn’t have to be just about totting up a tally of pages read and books conquered.

There is a time and a place for a “quickie”, a quick, passionate surge of excitement and culmination in one brief encounter. Too many of these, though, could leave one feeling unfulfilled, missing out on the more intimate experiences of getting to know and empathise, tracing the plot, predicting the effects, savouring the suspense and enjoying the anticipation: feelings that enrich the climax and leave one ready to relax in the story’s gentle unwinding and rounding off.

It is worth investing time on good literature; it repays in deep pleasure, but the occasional speed-read can inject excitement and refresh staid habits. . . . and, as has been said, speed-readers often want to return and learn more.

[megustaleer]

:eek: :D

[David]

Crikey! (wipes sweat from brow and fumbles with collar)

I'm glad I didn't read that last night or I'd never have got to sleep! :eek:

[Grammath]

Even without that, if you read 60 to 70 books a year, and average 200 pages per week, that still comes out as a lot of novellas.

Um, I know where my maths has gone wrong. I suppose I coulsd be accused of massaging the truth on my total annual book count since I'm including the unabridged audiobooks I listen to on my commute to work.

I typically get through a CD a day, and I reckon one disc is roughly equivalent to 40 pages. Five round trips a week so add 200 pages. A grand total of 400 pages a week i.e. an average length novel and a bit.

You could probably further increase the count as I'd read more if I was on holiday, as I'd like to be much more often than I actually am.

[lucyb]

That's a lot of commuting!

[Deinonychus]

Just admit it, Gram - you've only ever read three books in your entire life. And one of those was a blank pocket diary.

[Grammath]

Yes, its true, I'm totally illiterate, hence the need to get all these books read to me.

And, lucyb, depressingly yes, it is a lot of commuting. I blame the school moms.

[megustaleer]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Is this true?

[Claire]

That was a bit wierd.....

I could make sense of it without too many problems, that's for sure, but I did feel as if it was taking a bit more effort and there were a couple of words that I had to stop and squint at for a couple of seconds.

I guess how hard it is to read would depend a fair bit on how predictable or unexpected the choice of words and the sentence structure is. Brains tend to work on expectation - given what's come before, in a sentence, they start to guess at what's likely to be coming next, even before you get to it. (very much like predicitive text on a mobile phone)

So something written in a very obvious, predictable way would be far easier to read in that scrambled form than something that tended to shoot off in unexpected directions and use uncommon vocabulary and sentence structure.

[Cathy]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Is this true?

I will remember this next time someone says I made a typo!

[Obskua]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Is this true?

Oiu, c'set vira, mias pas ipmronatt.

[lucyb]

Mias oui, c'set ters irtanmpot - and stop making me thing on a sunday! How would students manage to cram for exams if they have to look at every single letter of a word?

[David]

and stop making me thing on a sunday!
Mmmm! Thinging hard! Me sleep now. ;)

[Jen]

I did the test on that website and my reading speed improved from 366 wpm to 395 - and I agree that the second passage seemed 'easier'. In theory I'd like to be able to speed read but in practice I can't be bothered with learning how. A bit like 'learning skills' that they used to try and teach you at uni. Mind maps. I ended up with a paragraph on the end of each line - I'm to literal!