Speed Reading

[crosscountry]

In the Harry Potter thread a couple people mentioned being able to read 750 page books in under 10 hours.


I don't think I could read 1/3 of that, maybe if I really focused - which seems to be difficult recently.


Anyway, those people that can speed read (and I mean without skipping pages or paragraphs) what are some of the techniques you use, and how good is your retention/understanding of what you read?

[Fazor]

Well, I said I came in between 8 1/2 and 9 hours. As far as retention; I don't skip anything, but I don't really read for the details. The little stuff is there to help me form the overall picture in my head, so the scenes are vivid as they would be in say, a movie.

That being said, after seeing a movie, I generally don't remember the smaller details. Same is true for a book. I know some people, like my g/f, read for detail. She wants to know every little thing. I tend to only want story.

In simpler terms, I read that little red riding hood's cloak is splattered with mud from skipping puddles down the worn cobblestone road as she heads south through Brimginham Wood towards her grandmother's cozy ranch-condo. That paints the scene. But in the end, I just care that she went through the woods, to grandmother's house.

[schlaugh]

If I had the contiguous minutes then I could probably get through Deathly Hallows in a day. Not sure about 10 hours but for sure 12 or 14. This book is reading very fast; I'm not skipping anything and I'm just reading at a normal pace. I'm 200 pages in but have only read it for about 3 - 4 hours. I expect it'll get slower as the details pile up.

FWIW the writing does not seem as good as in the previous books. Reads a bit more like a Michael Crichton screenpla...err...novel. That is, lots of dialog and narrative that could easily be transposed into blocking and scene setting.

[nauthiz]

I can get through a body of text pretty fast when I have to, but I prefer reading at normal speed because my comprehension noticeably suffers. I also feel that it hurts my enjoyment of a good book because my imagination doesn't get much time to sink into the storyline.

Personally, I don't buy claims that one can speed read without a significant loss of comprehension, especially since the strongest believers in this phenomenon all seem to star in infomercials for speed reading programs. A quick look at the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_reading#Scholarly_research) on the subject suggests that that's the case.

[Trebuchet]

I'm halfway in after probably 5-6 hours total. I have always read fast.

I am finding I don't want to read more than 2-3 chapters at a time of Deathly Hallows. The previous Potter books always had the last couple of chapters very intense. This time it's the whole book. After two or three of those I need a break.

Edited to add:
I'm staying away from the other Potter threads for now just in case of spoilers. Perhaps someone will start a new thread before long for discussion by those who've finished reading. With a spoiler warning in the title, of course.

[mike alexander]

I'm a very slow reader and always have been. In fact, I often go back and reread stuff while still in the thick of the book I'm on.

My wife finished the Potter last night, so I can start. I'm in no hurry.

[Chuck]

I read somewhere that to read a novel in order to pass a test on it; read the first chapter completely, then the last chapter completely, then the rest of the book but only the first line of each paragraph, ignoring dialog. I've never tried it. I'm done taking tests on literature.

[Damien Evans]

In answer to the OP, I don't know any techniques, it's just normal for me

If I want to understand absolutely everything I slow my reading speed down a bit, if I've already read it I jack the speed up

[Jens]

I heard somewhere that Woody Allen read through War and Peace in 2 hours after taking a speed reading course. And his review was, "it was about some Russians." :)

[DOOMMaster]

I'm a pretty fast reader. I go through 500+ page Star Wars books in about 4-5 hours (Not a big Harry Potter fan, sorry. Nothing against the books, I've even read a couple, and I liked the movies, but I'm just a big Star Wars geek). It kinda annoys me, because I go through the books so fast when I get them, but I spend around $10 per paperback these days. They used to be only $6 back in the 90's. Stupid inflation.

I've always been a fast reader. When I was a little kid, grade school, my teachers didn't used to believe that I actually read the book (or story, whatever we were doing in reading class). I was done way before the other kids. So I always got the hard questions right away. Of course, I didn't have a problem answering them, so after a while, the teacher would only call on me if no one else could answer it. Don't know if it's one of those things you are just born with, or if you develop it when you find out you like reading. But I love to read, so it's not something i complain about. I just wish books weren't so expensive.

[Maksutov]

Last time I took a test re reading speed, I came in around 1000 words a minute while passing the comprehension part.

But that's for prose.

If I'm reading a textbook on differential calculus applications, the reading speed slows down for some reason.

[Chuck]

I used to buy new paperbacks for 50¢ when I was a kid. But then candy bars cost a nickel. If you made $10,000 per year you were considered highly successful.

I read some speed reading books years ago. Apparently if you skim a book first, paying attention mostly to the main sentence of each paragraph and to the first paragraph of each chapter, then the real reading goes much faster because you're already familiar with the material.

[Ronald Brak]

Relax, stretch, chill out and then open a book and let the words fall into your brain through your eyes. Process them visually instead of verbally. Read the first line forwards, read the second line backwards, the next line forwards and so on. Then stop doing that. That's downright confusing. Read lines forward, or rather, don't read them, just let the meaning of the words fall into your head.

Now because you are reading so quickly you are not forming connections in your head to what you already know which means you will won't retain anything. So at the end of each paragraph pause and check you undestand what the paragraph meant. If not go back. Constantly be summarizing in your head. If you're not processing the material you won't remember it.

And if you are reading for pleasure, consider reading at the speed you find most pleasurable.

[snarkophilus]

Speed reading? I've never learned to do it, but I read quickly because of lots and lots of practice. When I was in grade one, we had this thing called Monster Reading. Every kid in the grade one classes got a toy monster that went up on a chart on the wall, and for every book you read, you got to advance it by one. I got to 500 by the end of the year, spurred on by competition from a girl in the next class... I guess even at that age, I didn't like the idea that a girl could to anything better than me, so I did a tremendous amount of reading. I was going through two Hardy Boys books a day in the last few weeks. For the next fifteen years or so, I read at least two hundred pages every day, until I got too busy to read for recreation....

(I'm currently at page 300 after 3.5 hours of reading, including time to make dinner. My usual rate is 100 pages/hour. It's getting really boring, though, and I'm starting to wander around and do other things, which is going to slow things down.)

[mugaliens]

When skimming for information, I can do a few thousand words per minute (wpm), but when reading for enjoyment, I'm down to between 90 and 150 wpm. It gives my brain more time to imagine and "see" the details of the setting, nuances between characters, etc.

More fun!

[crosscountry]

cool guys thanks.


This thread wasn't about harry potter per-say, just that it sparked the discussion.

[Donnie B.]

Well, I read HP and the DH in about 13-14 hours of reading time. I don't think I skipped a word (though the second reading may prove me wrong), and I don't consider that pace to be speed reading.

Different people do have different comfortable reading paces, and the same person will read different kinds of material at different paces (as has been pointed out already).

Oh, and crosscountry, in case you care, it's per se -- one of the many Latin phrases that have crept into common English usage.

[Michael Noonan]

Anyway, those people that can speed read (and I mean without skipping pages or paragraphs) what are some of the techniques you use, and how good is your retention/understanding of what you read?

I am wondering if it comes from mentally saying the words in your head as you see them. When I read it is at a leisurely pace almost as if I am reciting the story to myself for pleasure.

If I need to I speed up and it is like the words come faster. Then after that you disconnect the thought verbal and the rate rises but is less enjoyable.

Beyond that is skimming to get the drift but not the flavour. It is like stuffing food in without chewing because you are hungry and don't have the time to enjoy the taste of it.

[crosscountry]

Oh, and crosscountry, in case you care, it's per se -- one of the many Latin phrases that have crept into common English usage.


I tried for several minutes to figure out how to spell that.:doh:

[Chuck]

I found a way to double my reading speed instantly, turn off the television.

[Maksutov]

I found a way to double my reading speed instantly, turn off the television.Plus it also doubles your intelligence.

Remember, reading is for prose, TV is for amateurs.

[snarkophilus]

Remember, reading is for prose, TV is for amateurs.
That is brilliant. I want it in bumper sticker form.

[GDwarf]

Took me about 9 hours to get through DA.

I don't tend to remember small details, names of extras, the colour shirt that the main characters are wearing, etc. However, I have a very good mental picture of what's going on, who's doing what, and what's happening in general.

However, in really dense books I tend to end up missing stuff. Well, not just dense stuff, HHGTTG was really bad for explaining the last four chapters in a single line, which I often ended up missing until my second read-through.

[Scopeman]

Reading and memorizing is different I think. While reading dont try to memorize anything of what you`re reading, just enjoy. You can do it better this way. Well, if you`re having an exam then you should:)

[nauthiz]

It's starting to sound like the latest Harry Potter book is too much of a page-turner to make a good test of someone's reading speed. Maybe we should use Gravity's Rainbow instead.

[jfribrg]

Many years ago, I went to an introductory seminar that was held by the Evelyn Wood program. They didn't discuss too much about how their program works (you have to pay for that), but the one item I did learn was to use your finger to guide your reading. The explanation they gave was that your eye naturally follows movement, so by moving your finger across the words, it makes it easier, and by moving your finger faster, you read faster. Their program involves reading every single word with no skimming. As my instructor pointed out, all you have to do is miss a single "not" in a sentence, and the meaning of the sentence you read is completely changed. I don't know anything more about the program because I am too cheap to pay for the full course.

[nauthiz]

The Evelyn Wood program got a specific mention in the Skeptics' Dictionary entry (http://skepdic.com/speedreading.html) on speed reading.

Up in the Wikipedia article I linked before there was mention of a study that compared reading comprehension between people who were taught to use speed reading techniques and control group of people who were just told to skim the article. They found that the people who had been taught to speed read claimed to have a higher comprehension rate than control, but in reality they did much worse.

Also found an account (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=224215&postcount=7) of someone's personal experience with taking the Evelyn Wood course on another forum.

[Antice]

I do a 500 pages book in 4 or 5 hour's if it's any good.
I read the lord of the rings (all 3 parts) in a double sitting... took me about a Friday afternoon/ evening and a Saturday morning (i was done by dinner at 17:00)*. and i remember more of the story than what got used in the movies.
i maxed out at approx 1800 - 2000 words per minute in school reading tests when i was 16. I've slowed down quite a bit tho.

*Yes. i did sleep that night.

[mugaliens]

The Evelyn Wood program got a specific mention in the Skeptics' Dictionary entry (http://skepdic.com/speedreading.html) on speed reading.

Up in the Wikipedia article I linked before there was mention of a study that compared reading comprehension between people who were taught to use speed reading techniques and control group of people who were just told to skim the article. They found that the people who had been taught to speed read claimed to have a higher comprehension rate than control, but in reality they did much worse.

Also found an account (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=224215&postcount=7) of someone's personal experience with taking the Evelyn Wood course on another forum.


Personal experience bolsters your comments, although my speed reading of around 2,500 wpm falls far short of the rate given for the previous link (10,000 to 25,000 wpm). However, my actually reading speed (with normal comprehension) falls directly within the 200-700 wpm rate given at this site (http://skepdic.com/speedreading.html).

[crosscountry]

I've been reading German lately. I'm reading less than 200 per minute - probably more like 150.

[ToSeek]

I read Deathly Hallows in about six hours or so. Not sure about technique - it just seems to come naturally. I do note that I tend to read dialogue more carefully than blocks of description because the former is where the key stuff is. This occasionally gets me into trouble, particularly in science fiction where one of the blocks might include a sentence that said, "They boarded the shuttle for Jupiter and arrived there the next morning." I probably don't get as much out of it as a more careful reader, but I then I can read two books in the same time the more careful reader might do one.

[Chuck]

I'm trying to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a little faster. I hope I don't lose comprehension. I just got to the part where Darth Vader steals the DeLorean.

[cjl]

I just finished Deathly Hallows, and the total elapsed time was about 6 and a half hours. I read everything - I'm not sure why I read so fast, I just do. My normal reading speed is between 800 and 1800 wpm, depending on the level of the content.

[Chuck]

Comprehension test:

What are Ron's and Hermione's middle names?

[mugaliens]

I'm trying to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a little faster. I hope I don't lose comprehension. I just got to the part where Darth Vader steals the DeLorean.

:lol:

Was that before or after he found the lost ark?

[Chuck]

Lost ark? I guess my comprehension was slightly reduced.

[mugaliens]

Lost ark? I guess my comprehension was slightly reduced.

You know - where Marty joins forces with Doc Conan before they journey to the center of the Earth before time began and discover the Nautilus hidden in the grotto.

:eh:

Same chapter as the ark discovery, if I'm not mistaken.

[Chuck]

Thanks. I'll reread that part at a more leisurely pace.

[crosscountry]

if you find it tell me which page it's on.

[Gillianren]

I'm not sure what my wpm is. For a start, it changes based on what I'm reading--and how many times I've read it before. But fast. Let's go there.

How? I have no idea. I always have. Some people just do read quickly, and some people will never read quickly without skipping a lot. Ah, well.

[Damien Evans]

As promised (either here or in the other thread), here is my reading time for the final Harry Potter: 6 hours plus or minus ten minutes

I could have read it faster, but I had no desire to do so

[Antice]

It seems that people that read a lot of literature has a way of absorbing the meaning without really seing the words themself.
when i read there is no narative voice or words describing things. the scenes described just spring into my mind instantly. and action unfolds like.. umm.. action....
that is if the book is well written and the language used comprehensible.