RFI: Speed Reading

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Anyone have any experience with speed reading? I've got a backlog of books and that I'm wanting to get through. I have always been a slow, though avid, reader. So the way I figure it, I could try and teach myself speed reading for more reading enjoyment and increased reading comprehension.

What recommendations do you have for me?

― Zebra, Alpha Go! (cprek), Thursday, 7 April 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

PS I saved this for ILBks.

― Zebra, Alpha Go! (cprek), Thursday, 7 April 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

My mom is a speed reader -- she's just been one from a young age. She can speed-read stuff like James Joyce without a problem, but one side effect seems to be that she reads more for general plot than for savoring details. I wouldn't enjoy reading like that.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:02 (twenty years ago)

Can't she could throttle down if necessary though? Or will the book EXPLODE?!

― Zebra, Alpha Go! (cprek), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

It's easy; just speed up. Pay attention to leading sentences in a paragraph.

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

SKIM with your eyes instead of focusing on each word.

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

She can read more slowly, but gets bored if she does.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:22 (twenty years ago)

Speed reading hurts me. Even if I hate a book, I have to track around and drag through deciding just why I hate it.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

I'm a very slow reader, almost to a fault. I'm always afraid to miss something.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 7 April 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

I'm a very slow reader too. In my mind's eye, I always have to visualize what the characters look like, how they sound, if they're sitting in a chair when they say a particular line or standing by a window. And I have to have the room situation worked out (which can be a challenge with an author who doesn't provide much in the way of description), the weather, the time of day. This slows me down, but otoh I think it serves to make scenes more memorable--I can recall certain scenes from books very vividly.

I get discouraged sometimes when I consider how many books are out there, but Thoreau's old chestnut is true, isn't it?: It's not how many books you get through, but how many get through you that matters.

― Gail S, Thursday, 7 April 2005 20:59 (twenty years ago)

I think it is quite tiring, speed reading.

It annoys me when I am speed reading The Guardian and some cloumns are wider than others.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 8 April 2005 09:46 (twenty years ago)

I say GO FOR IT!
There are many courses and books, but many of them offer the same technique:
run your forefinger across the page at increasing speeds, using
your eyes to follow.

There is also software that will blink words in the same position
in rapid succession, saving your eye muscles the movement
across a screen.

― speedee, Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

slow reading is one of the highest pleasures afforded by life.

― Josh (Josh), Saturday, 27 August 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

it takes a special book to make me slow read these days. i also read faster and sloppier when i've been drinking.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 27 August 2005 05:36 (twenty years ago)

well that goes without saying.

― Josh (Josh), Saturday, 27 August 2005 06:13 (twenty years ago)

I wish I was better at slow reading. I have to read things aloud to get into slow reading mode, or to do a close reading for someone else.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 27 August 2005 08:29 (twenty years ago)

i think i only read slow when a book is full of things where i'm like "wow, ok, let me soak in that idea and fact for a bit..."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 27 August 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Hah! I finished reading this thread before you did.

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 27 August 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

you will never be finished reading this thread.

― Josh (Josh), Saturday, 27 August 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

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