Speed Reading

[ThePinsir]

Lately I've been derping around websites that have various exercises designed to increase reading speed. The object of most of them seems to be to eliminate "subvocalization" - reading the words 'aloud' in your mind. You basically recognize large strands of text at once and fly through the pages. I'm getting pretty good at it.

I'm wondering if any of you have practiced/are good at this, and how it actually effects your ability to comprehend and remember information. For example, I've been reading "Origin of Species" for a while now. I'm taking my time with it because I want to be damn sure I understand what's being said and hopefully so I can remember a good bit of it. But it's also taking foreeeeeveeeeer. Sometimes I'll read a paragraph or whole page 2 or 3 times before I really get it. It was even worse when I read Krauss' "A Universe From Nothing"!

So, can you guys fly through technical books/popular science books at lightning speed and still get anything from it...or should I just suck it up and accept that if I want to actually appreciate the work I need to slow the fawk down?

[max-greece]

If you have an android phone or tablet take a look at "A Faster Reader."

We had a thread on it a couple of weeks ago. I have installed it and use it every day. Normal reading speed is about 200-250 wpm - I use this software at a comfortable for me 450.

One note - the free version only runs up to 350 wpm and doesn't pause for punctuation. The full version which is about $1 goes up to 1000 wpm and includes pauses for punctuation making the whole thing work a lot better.

I use it almost entirely on news sites. I wouldn't use it to read a book for pleasure and I have no idea how much of a technical book you would be able to absorb but for long news articles its great.

[Angrboda]

Reading about the speed reading application 'Sprintz', the general impression I got was that the faster you read, the lower your comprehension (generally speaking). One article that I read said that one factor in being able to speed through texts is expertise: being familiar with the subject. This suggests a few tips to me, based on study skills stuff I did a long time ago. A few things you can do to increase your expertise may be... First, study the table of contents before you start reading a book. This will give you a general idea of the outline of what will be discussed, and a feel for why. I may be inventing this next tip rather than remembering it, but before you read a chapter, read the first page, or the first few paragraphs, then read the last few paragraphs, or page, of the chapter. If the book is reasonably well written, this will give you a feel for what is going to be argued or covered as well. I'm sure there are other tips, but I've never bothered to take advantage of such things. I suspect reading a summary or set of notes on a text like Origin might also be helpful in improving your expertise on the subject matter prior to actually reading the book or chapter. And if you don't feel you comprehend a book or chapter well enough, you can always go back and reread the chapter (or book), either immediately after the chapter, immediately after the book, or after some time has passed. Results from psychology suggest waiting a span before rereading, to allow your mind to work through the material subconsciously some first (a period referred to as incubation, and a process known as cerebration). I've been rereading texts that I've previously read a good deal lately, and I'm finding that I'm picking up a lot of interesting things that I didn't get the first time. Some books can be read and reread over and over again without losing interest. (The Tao Te Ching, Zhuangzi, and Sun Tzu's Art Of War for me.)

I'm a slow reader. I should do what you're doing because I like to learn, I just don't care much for reading.

[truthBtold]

Speed reading is dangerous. ... I try reading the morning newspaper before work on the highway.. NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!

[SteelCurtain]

It takes a lot of practice to speed read with adequate comprehension. On the whole, I find it takes me 2-3x as long to read a non-fiction with harder to comprehend concepts than it does for me to read a fiction novel. I will occasionally re-read Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene,' and it still takes me longer, because the science in it is difficult to wrap my head around.

[Whateverist]

I'll scan for specific information or to get the general lay of the land of a an article. But if it witty, I'll probably want to slow it down to enjoy the yucks. If it addresses something of real interest which is difficult, then I'll definitely slow it down. It isn't as though I merely want to consume the text whole. What I want is to interact with it, argue with it and possibly be altered by it. That takes time.

[FlyingNarwhal]

I can read pretty fast, but I have recently started using audio books which I highly recommend. I like to learn, but if I just sit and read I feel like I'm wasting my time. So I'll listen to audio books in my car, when I'm doing chores, or playing games. I just keep it playing in the background so I can listen. I don't really know if it is faster than speed reading though.

[NoraBrimstone]

I don't like speed reading. Half the fun of reading is taking my time in another world. I like to savour that. Speed reading is like speed eating to me. You don't get to enjoy it the same.

[Sedna]

I used to read so fast when I was younger; I don't know what happened. A couple times I've tried to get into speed-reading, but meh. It's hard to get into and I'm not sure if there's much benefit in it for me.
You could keep trying out things to make you read faster, but I wonder how effective they are anyway...

[Foxaèr]

I tend to read quite quickly, yet I can still understand and enjoy what I am absorbing. I especially prefer to speed through the boring descriptive parts of novels whereby the author thinks we need a five page description of the surrounding forest.