Speed Reading

[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.