Speed Reading - Fact or Fiction??

[canvasishome]

Ever since I was a teenager, I've been fascinated with the thought of being able to speed read. To be able to read dozens of books over the course of a summer would be a marvelous way to enjoy a vacation.

I've heard numerous stories of people like JFK, Nixon, and others with this ablility. I've read and heard many evaluations of programs such as Evelyn Wood, Speer Reader-X, ReaderRocket, etc. saying that the average reader of say 200-300 words-per-minute can boost their reading speed to 500+ wpm with practice.

It seems the way we are taught to read (by vocalizing and sounding out words) is the very thing that holds us back from reading fast. That subvocalization voice we hear in our head as we read hold us to about 200-300 wpm, because that is the rate at which the average person speaks. The human brain can take in information at much higher rates, so if we can break that subvocalization habit and take in several words (or even several lines of text at a time) we can speed read at a high clip.

My basic questions are:
do you speed read?
how did you learn (natural or a program)?
do you think it's something that can be taught to anyone?
has it improved your life?

I'm interested in any stories you may have. Or, maybe you think it's just all a lot of hooey. Some say that "quick reading" is just skimming, and your comprehension suffers.

Thanks!

-dk-

[perel]

Yes I speed read and have been doiing it from I was small, can you learn it, I suppose so, but i have a natural inquisitiveness and looooove to read so much that the world does not exist when I am reading.
And yes It has a purpose I can read through Wet Canvas forums quicker than most.
and I think gather up more information than people that does not.

Retha

[FriendCarol]

Yes 'anyone' (that is, any literate person with normal cognitive abilities) can learn to speed-read, but I don't recommend it: I was a very fast reader from a young age. In college, I started to take a free (self-taught with tapes) speed-reading course. Within a few lessons, I was literally 'reading' as fast as I could move my finger from side to side down the page (not each line -- they teach you to make your eyes follow your finger as it waves down the page in about 3 cycles).

I would not have believed I was comprehending anything I'd read, except that when I took each comprehension test following each passage in the course, I was still correctly answering every question! Yet I would not have been able to tell you what I'd just read in any detail at all. Might have been barely able to articulate the subject of the passage.

Suddenly I realized: This means the information in the text is going straight into my mind, without any mediation or evaluation by that part of me that normally thinks about things -- and evaluates information against what I already believe... Hmmmm. No, I actually didn't want that! I stopped the course and returned to my usual (merely very fast) reading, complete with my usual subliminal analysis, instead. :D

[sisi]

I have been a speed reader for as long as I can remember. Actually I think my only real accomplishment so far is that I taught myself to read in kindergarten. I have inhaled books ever since I can remember. Actually I stayed up until 3:30 am the other night finishing one of my books. Oh was I trash the next day:o :cool: ! I suppose people can learn to read faster if they really wanted to, just like any other talent. But that's a big problem nowadays. Most kids can't even speak proper english because they don't read and spend too much time using computer/texting jargon.

[canvasishome]

Thanks for the interesting responses. I just find it amazing how someone can scan a whole page and sort of "take it all in" as an image. Without seeing or scanning the individual words, I don't understand how any comprehesion takes place. How does the person turn off the subvocalizing issue with the brain?

It's all very interesting to me. I'll have to research further.

-dk-

[Nehalenia]

My basic questions are:
do you speed read?
Yes

how did you learn (natural or a program)?

natural


do you think it's something that can be taught to anyone?
No, dyslexia is a real and serious reading problem


has it improved your life?

Absolutely not!

Although I can crash through a book at speeds most people don't believe, it hasn't done me much good. Reading by it's very nature requires reflection and reflection needs time. The brain needs time to correlate the new information with what is already learned. Otherwise it's perfectly meaningless.


Some say that "quick reading" is just skimming, and your comprehension suffers.
My point excactly!

Margreet:wave:

[Alex22]

I don't speed read.I respect people that does it,but I think there's a lot from books that could be missed.For example,just reading a story,speeed reading can catch every word,but to imagine characters,situations in the story,every little detail could be missing.And I would hate to read just like that.It wouldn't make any sense to me.Besides Nehalenia just said it,reading needs reflection,thinking,and speed reading doesn't help it at all.Just my humble opinion.

[W.J.Lexie]

What one is reading I think would make all the difference , wouldn't it? Makes sense with manual text [ that is if the comprehension is truly utilized ] but what of contracts , policies ,loans , and the like when signature and laws are involved , would one be so confident ?
What of works of poetry ?[very long poetry] and works of fiction ? These use visualization much .
And oral storytelling ? All the fun would be lost !
And okay ... so how much time it takes to read .....
The complete works of Shakespeare ?
Dick and Jane ?
Cake recipe ?
Don Juan ?
complete medical manual of the workings of the human body ?
respectively .
Also there is that memory phenomenon where a person memorizes a phone book .

[musket]

I could see it being useful for technical manuals etc, if indeed the claims about comprehension are true.

Other than that, though I'm a naturally fast reader, to me books are to be savored and enjoyed. What, you're gonna swig that bottle of Margaux just to get it over with? Is a great meal better if you rush through it? How about great sex?

This country is obsessed with efficiency.

[gedeonbacsi]

Fiction. For sure.

[Lettersalad]

musket: right to the point.
Speed up reading? WHY?
Did you ever read the german book "Momo" (http://www.amazon.com/Momo-Puffin-Books-Michael-Ende/dp/0140317538/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-7759019-3870365?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178793822&sr=8-1) by Michael Ende?
If you try to save time, as everyone is so eager to do today, you´ll gain nothing. Days come by 24 h, 60 min/h, 60 sec/min. They start at 0:00 and stop at 12:59 pm. By speeding up you´ll only shorten your days, not make them longer.

Salad

[mithila]

I think that if you read a lot of books, you naturally read faster than if you didn't have the reading habit at all. That said, I'd also have to accept that there's a sort of optimal speed that depends on the kind of book you're reading, or even the reasons why you're reading it. Going back to the days of my adolescence, I remember reading through some pulp romances that were popular in those days -- Mills and Boon they were called -- and taking maybe just a half hour to tear through one of them. It went this way: girl meets boy (or man twenty-three years older, depending on the author), first touch (accidental), first kiss, rift, realisation, reunion (very deliberate and steamy). The touching and kissing slowed down my reading a bit, I remember. For my literature course those days, Jane Austen was a prescribed writer, and I found her books to be almost as formulaic as the Mills and Boons. However, I jsut couldn't race through them in the same way.

So yes, it's like stillbill pointed out -- there're all kinds of things that a person reads; besides, as musket says, there are things in life you want to enjoy, and real pleasure doesn't come in an instant. (that last was the byline of a very eyecatching ad campaign for filter-coffee -- the kind that takes some time to slowly drip down. The ad only showed a couple making love, and then this line came on. There was great outrage and it was withdrawn. Pity.)

[Enchanted]

I read both fact and fiction!

The former at a slower speed than the latter, depending on whether or not I want to recall the facts. The fiction is forgotten the moment I pick up the next book of fiction! :)

PS I am a vociferous reader who never watches TV.

[canvasishome]

Yes, I certainly understand those with dyslexia or other issues would not be able to speed read. When I say "anyone can learn to speed read", I am meaning anyone who is an average reader at, say, 200-300 wpm.

I went to the library and checked out a Evelyn Wood "Reading Dynamics" program. It is a video tape series filmed in an actual seminar with approx. 40 participants.

The leader explains/shows the impediments most people encounter when they read. As our eyes scan a line of text, most people (without realizing it) don't smoothly move across the line. Our eyes stagger and may even re-read and stop at words along the way.

The program goes on to show how the hand can help guide the eyes to smooth those scans to keep from this course movement. Other items are covered, such as comprehension and memory.

It did also explain that people have to adjust their speed for different kinds of material. As was said here, poetry is material that cannot be read too fast, or skimmed, but nonfiction is prime material for speed reading. A book on mathematics is not good speed reading, but some fiction is.

Very interesting comments from everyone. Thanks again.

-dk-

[Lettersalad]

...

The leader explains/shows the impediments most people encounter when they read. As our eyes scan a line of text, most people (without realizing it) don't smoothly move across the line. Our eyes stagger and may even re-read and stop at words along the way.

The program goes on to show how the hand can help guide the eyes to smooth those scans to keep from this course movement. Other items are covered, such as comprehension and memory.#
...
-dk-
That´s no impediment but the natural way the eye recognizes words.

Salad

[Ghanima_Atreides]

I don't know if I'm a speed reader or not, I average a book a day but I've been addicted to reading since i was very young. My mom loves literature and she encouraged me to read as much as I could. I remember when i had nothing else i would read the cereal box while i ate. (i still do that and it drives my husband crazy)

I read much slower in Spanish than i do in English and of course reading something technical takes me a little longer, I've never actually sat there and clocked my reading. I just know that when i pick up a book I generally finish it the same night or the next morning. My husband gets mad when i pick up his books and read them in one sitting. He swears that the reason i read so fast is because I also read in spanish. I'm not sure how those 2 things have anything to do with each other except the fact that we puerto ricans can babble at the speed of light.

[edart]

I have no idea if I am a speed reader or not?
I just read all of the text on this thread and that took me three minuites (is that fast?) I am constantly reading something, Forums like this, newspapers, novels and magazines. I can get through a Steven King novel in a day easily! I can recall about 90% of what I read!

A book on mathematics is not good speed reading


It is for me ( I hate mathematics:p )

[Dallen]

I took a class in speed reading about 30 years ago, and it has been invaluable to me. I often speed read, but not when I am reading for pleasure.

Speed reading is great for web surfing, initial research, scanning through technical data, news, manual, and most kinds of necessary reading. For pleasure I like to slow down and savor the words and nuances.

It is a discipline and a skill that any reader can learn quite easily.

[musket]

That´s no impediment but the natural way the eye recognizes words.

Salad

Right. Look, I understand how speed reading might be useful for students cramming exams, or IT people trying to keep up with the latest development so they don't turn into a Tenontosaurus trying in vain not to get chewed up by all those soon to graduate student Velociraptors.

Other than that... far as I'm concerned, it's sick. It misses 99% of the point of reading for pleasure and a good deal of reading for information as well. Even with technical monographs about birds, or other subjects of interest to me, I would never try to speed read.

In fact, I will never even learn how to speed read, because bad habits once inculcated are hard to break.

What, I'm gonna make it my goal to win the 220 at the Reading Olympics?

[Lady Carol]

do you speed read?
Yes
how did you learn (natural or a program)?
naturally
do you think it's something that can be taught to anyone?
No. I think for starters you have to have a passion for reading.
has it improved your life?
No. I have to buy books by the pound e.g. the fatter the better. I look for books that are 600 pages at a minimum and none of these books with big lettering and I prefer paperbacks to the hard covered books. Smaller books are over and done with in no time and as I average a book a week it is hard not to run out of then.

[natswild]

Hear, Hear!! (or should I say, Read, read!!!) A lady after my own heart!
I tend also to read the thicker books, and I admit I'm a bit of a snob about thin books--to me it's almost like reading a magazine, there's no real time to develop characters, plot and so on...
That said, I do read very quickly; I started reading when I was 4, in French, then switched to English when I was 8. In high school, we had a section on speed reading, I "broke" the machine, in that I read faster than it could go 2250 words/minute.
However, at this time in my life, I only use that skill for very limited things. Mostly I read at a very sedate 800-1000 words /minute. I usually go through a book every day or two, unless it's over 1000 pages, or very difficult to read, such as Cervantes' Don Quixote, and other novels from that time period.

[W.J.Lexie]

[QUOTE=natswild]Hear, Hear!! (or should I say, Read, read!!!) there's no real time to develop characters, plot and so on...
Ah yes ,but this is where your imaginative visualization comes in.

[FriendCarol]

In NONspeed-reading mode, if I didn't have too much else to do, I used to read 3 novels a day. Yes, a day. :o Teachers were always grabbing books away from me, and I also had to hide them from my parents.

Until I was about 19, I never heard poetry as I read it, because I never subvocalized. Definitely, I didn't really get the point of it; thought poetry was mostly about brevity. I didn't actually start to subvocalize routinely as I read until I became a playwright. Now I do it most of the time. Speech rhythms and sounds are such a large part of language, and I missed them in everything I read throughout my childhood and adolescence. I didn't start to enjoy Jane Austen until I started subvocalizing -- hated her books when I was young, couldn't even finish them. Wasn't that fond of Dickens, either.

My reading became a big problem the year I first went off to grad school (bad match on the school; wasn't much of interest there my first year... I transferred to a better school after that :D ). It meant I had to carry about 10-12 books back and forth (to the school library) 2-3 times a week, not including textbooks. So I bought a tv. :lol:

These days, my eyes are very bad; I need cataract surgery soon. So I usually only read about 1 mystery novel a day, as well as whatever I cover online, plus part or all of of the current watercolor or art (design, biography, history) book. And I'm back to no tv, these past 3+ years. Good thing I enjoy cooking, and also have painting to keep me busy! :)

Occasionally I do the speed-reading thing, but only to zero in on the parts I need to read (or re-read) in a legal contract or technical material. It's fairly simple to stop subvocalizing, but nowadays I would advocate different reading styles for different purposes or different material, like most people here.

Btw, horrifying statistic I learned when I was running a writers' site: The average number of books read by an American in one year is... 0. :( Between a quarter and a half (maybe more) of all books bought in the U.S. are purchased as holiday gifts (in about 3 weeks in December). This was before the Web, though, and before Amazon.com -- in the days almost every tiny town had a video store, and most cities had no book stores (or one, with just a few shelves of books). I think the Web has probably increased literacy, since it made reading really valuable for awhile there. Too bad about YouTube... even the very poor quality doesn't seem to put off people who'd rather go back to watching than read.

[canvasishome]

OMG, Carol. That's amazing to me - 3 novels a day! I'm embarassed to admit that I'm lucky to finish 3 a year!!

It's not that I'm a poor reader, but I am slow. I find my mind wandering, re-reading passages, getting eye fatigue, etc. Certain things go faster, but I would love to read fiction, mystery, sci-fi faster so I could cover more books.

-dk-

[QueenBArt]

I speed read, but not sure how to explain it. I've always been able to do it, and I disagree with the comprehension. In my case a higher level of comprehension is needed to be able to read in my case. My husband is a slow reader, and he skips, litteraly skips things and it drives me insane. He has gotten much faster since we've been married and we "share" books which is actually I buy a book that he would otherwise have no interest in, then I rave about it, and he picks it up in between my breaks... so he has to be quick!*lol* I've been addicted to reading from the get go, so I think it may be a natural ability vs. a learned behavior, but I suppose it can be learned as well. Everyone has the ability to learn something, the proficiency of it is what really allows the natural "ability" to come through.

[paintfool]

Right. Look, I understand how speed reading might be useful for students cramming exams, or IT people trying to keep up with the latest development so they don't turn into a Tenontosaurus trying in vain not to get chewed up by all those soon to graduate student Velociraptors.

Other than that... far as I'm concerned, it's sick. It misses 99% of the point of reading for pleasure and a good deal of reading for information as well. Even with technical monographs about birds, or other subjects of interest to me, I would never try to speed read.

In fact, I will never even learn how to speed read, because bad habits once inculcated are hard to break.

What, I'm gonna make it my goal to win the 220 at the Reading Olympics?

Oh, i dunno about it being 'sick'. :D It actually comes in handy quite often. I use it while reading things like nutritional info or ingredients, while grocery shopping or while scanning a news paper article, to see if i need to know of anything like road blocks/construction, zoning meetings, etc.

I can LOOK at these items and gather enough information, without having to follow word for word & i'm quite sure that i comprehend as much retain-able information as the person who reads all of the 'filler' words.

If used in these ways, it's a valuable tool. But it's not for me, when it comes to things that i want to get a full and complete understanding of, or for pleasure reading. I use it as a life aid & haven't formed a habit of any sort. Just a tool.

[wabbitt]

The best advice I ever got was in my first term of college: take the speed reading class. Speed and comprehension went up. Reading books in a few hours was like sitting through a movie. I did have a problem with my contacts drying out though. Doctor diagnosed it right away, "are you a speed reader?"

However for math and engineering classes with formulas and such, it was necessary to slow down for thorough comprehension. Speed reading came in real handy when I played MUDs (mulit-user doors games) in the 90's and text was scrolling up at crazy speeds.

[LiftNw8]

Do I speed read? No, I am pretty average, in my reading, anywhere from about 250 - 400 words a minute. But by the same token I prefer to actually absorb what I am reading and I do not feel that speed reading allows for this, as I took a test recently that at the level which I read I have 83% comprehension, so that is my preference to actually comprehend and hold onto what I read rather than fly through it.
Oh and according to the stats I read, the average reader reads far fewer than 200 - 300 words a minute, but I think its more to the reader, you have to define who the average reader is, someone who reads a lot of books a year is certainly not average, I read up to 5 at one time, switching back and forth from day to day so I can consume more, does that make me an average reader, certainly not in my book.

[CSForest]

I took a speed reading class once. It improved my reading speed slightly but far from being "speed" reading. It also improved my reading at the cost of reading detail. I felt like I was missing the subtleties of fine writing which is especially important to me when reading fiction. I didn't like it and went back to my slow careful reading.

[Crispycritter]

I am not a speed reader, however I married one and my daughter speed reads also. What is amazing to me is not the speed they read at but the amount of information they absorb from reading, more than I absorb at my oh so slow reading speed