Anyone on here speed read?

[Michael]

Hi, I read really slow and I have a stack of books that I have to read and I heard about this thing called speed reading where you can read a book in a day instead of a week or 2. So can anyone tell me how?

[Katy]

The way to get faster at reading is to read more.

[Michael]

I've read like 200 books it doesn't seem to increase my reading ability.

[Feliks]

I used speed-reading techniques when I read Tolstoy's "War and Peace". I think it had something to do with Russia.

--Woody Allen

[Kilian]

I haven't practiced it enough to master it, but it's a very simple concept: stream-of-counsciousness reading. You practice identifying the words and their meaning, without actually pronouncing them in your head. Eventually, you should be able to absorb multiple words at a glance, simultaneously.

And no, if you have already mastered your own language, simply reading more does not make you faster at it.

[Virginia]

Speed reading is a method of catching the high points and ignoring the connective fluff. It is not a way to read something you wish to enjoy and savor. Might as well read the cliff notes, though it does come in handy when you don't really like the book but want to know how it ends.

[Ruth]

I have always been a speed reader. It is not something I've learned to do it's just something I've always done. When I get into a book I really like I'm just in another zone, it is one of the reasons I don't read in bed because then I'm up all night until I finish the book. I guess I have a little OCD. Lol

[Linda]

Speed Read? No Way. I think you lose the essence of the book.

[CD]

I read quickly.

What was the original question? Do I read? Or was there something about reading on speed???

:}

[Kilian]

Virginia wrote: "Speed reading is a method of catching the high points and ignoring the connective fluff."

That's not speed reading; that's a skimming technique. The most popular method for speed reading is the one I explained, wherein you eliminate subvocalization.

[Kilian]

Kevin wrote: " I read novels faster than most, and I think that that generally comes from not reading aloud in my head."

That's exactly what speed reading is. You must have learned to do it instinctively.

[[deleted user]]

Speed-reading is the only way I read. :)

[Virginia]

Two common schools of speed reading are skimming and meta-gliding. Both are speed reading and are used in different situations. Neither is a better or worse technique, just depends on what you are reading. I took a course many years ago and find skimming is not really for pleasure reading. I never really thought that people read aloud in their heads but if you do that would slow you down. As in anything else practice makes you better.

[Rachel]

Always speed read

[Benja]

I think it depends a lot on what you're reading. Percy Jackson 2 Electric Boogaloo should go down faster than War and Peace.

[Michael]

Adam wrote: "i read 1 book every 3-4 days"

How, could you please elaborate?

[Ken]

I do it naturally. My brain is just wired that way. The autistic multi-tasking thing. I don't hear the words aloud in my head, I just perceive their meaning, several at a time. It is not skimming. It's just faster than reading each word at a talking pace.

[Saxonjus]

I admit to speed reading as a last resort for a boring book.I give up with the poor thread/characters/plots & save my time & speed read until the end.

[Beth]

I'm probably somewhere in between. I can read about a page a minute. Faster if there is a lot of dialogue and thus a lot of white space. I do like to savor the words, words have their own perfect science. On the other hand, as a life-time reader and one very familiar with how plots are put together, I can sense when material is just filler and not essential to the plot. I might read a sentence or two out of the paragraph to see if I'm missing anything then just skip the rest. Not skim, skip. I have too many books left to read in my life time, to spend my time reading fluff.

[Cassie]

I speedread, the only problem is occasionally mis-reading something and getting confused. So the easier the book the easier to speedread.

The entire Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series I busted out in 2 weeks. But one A Song of Ice and Fire at the quickest took 3 weeks.

[Jon]

I'm not very fast at reading either. Mostly because I want to take my time and savor what I'm reading. If i come across a particularly well written passage, I'll re-read it several times in enjoyment. Speed reading seems like it would defeat the whole purpose of why I read in the 1st place....

[♪♫Gloria♫♪]

If you have read a book several times, it is very easy to speed read it. But, if you are reading a book for the first time, take your time and enjoy it. That's what books are for.

[Mary]

Michael wrote: "Hi, I read really slow and I have a stack of books that I have to read and I heard about this thing called speed reading where you can read a book in a day instead of a week or 2. So can anyone tel..."

People who read quickly typically take in large chunks of text at one time and their eyes are always scanning ahead. I basically read about a half a line at one glance (depending on the type and how it is spaced).

[Ken]

I think two things are being discussed here. Skimming and block-reading.

[Meadow]

Ok, I read fast, don't know if it's speed reading or not, but I can read a book or two a day. I don't know that it was something taught or purposely learned it just developed. When I was growing up we didn't have a TV so at night, especially during the long winters we read. I think with practice it gets quicker. My suggestion read for at least 15 minutes a day, everyday, and see if that helps.

[Mary]

Kenneth wrote: "I think two things are being discussed here. Skimming and block-reading."

Correct. Skimming involves skipping over text. Block reading is just a more efficient way of reading text.

[Bjarne]

First, I think speed reading is the same as what used to be called block reading. You don't follow the lines and hear the sound in your head, but you glance say 1-4 times at a page and then go on. In a few hours you can read a book. The significance of some important morphemes go directly into you without the phonemes being deciphered.
I am now 65 years. As a teenager and a young man I used to be able to do this, not only in my maternal swedish language but also in english. It worked better with non-fiction, but even with fiction it could be useful; I think I went on and off alternating with more attentive reading. Then about 30 years old I moved to France, learnt a new first language, lived there for a bit more than 20 years. The ability to blockread transferred itself to french but to a lesser degree. Then I went back to Sweden and have lived here almost 15 years. Now, I do not block read at all in any language, even if I (off course) am fully fluent in french, english and swedish. I also read much less than I did as a young man...
To sum up : the ability to blockread is discovered by the individual, not consciously sought. Is is dependent though on massive reading and a strong familiarity with alphabets/languages. It can be lost and the confusion of changing languages as an adult can have something to do with that.

Comments? I could be quite wrong but this is my conclusion for now.

[Bjarne]

PS It was called "block reading" in swedish. I see now that to refer to speed reading as "block reading" in english gives rather a comic impression. The meaning is that through a single glance you "understand" a larger number of letters than those in a line, and letters that are of some distance from each others on a page. DS

[Michele]

I took speed reading in high school. It increased my reading speed considerably; however, I prefer to read most books at a slower pace. I enjoy them more that way.

[Michael]

Bjarne wrote: "First, I think speed reading is the same as what used to be called block reading. You don't follow the lines and hear the sound in your head, but you glance say 1-4 times at a page and then go on. ..."

I will try this, thanks.

[Kimber]

Kenneth wrote: "I do it naturally. My brain is just wired that way. The autistic multi-tasking thing. I don't hear the words aloud in my head, I just perceive their meaning, several at a time. It is not skimming. ..."

I think I read the same way. I average a book every two to three days and can read something I'm really looking forward to in one sitting. For this reason I try not to read a series until it's completed or if I am really looking forward to a book I will set it aside and wait for the perfect time to devour it. I also have to set time limits on my bedtime reading (alarm clock and all) or I'll look up from my book and find the sun coming up.

[Ruth]

Kimberlibri wrote: "Kenneth wrote: "I do it naturally. My brain is just wired that way. The autistic multi-tasking thing. I don't hear the words aloud in my head, I just perceive their meaning, several at a time. It i..."

Exactly! I never start a series until I have all of them and I don't read at bedtime because I would look up from my book to see the sun coming up and then wonder how I could have lost all track of time.

[Peter]

I speed read fact - at a verified 2500wpm.

As I read fiction for pleasure and wish to savour the nuances pertaining thereto, I read every word, and that works out at about 400wpm.

I must admit that if I've invested the time to read half a fiction book and I've lost the hook I might start only reading the high points. I could just read the last chapter, but that's cheating.

[Louise]

I can certainly speed read. I don't read books very often but when I do they're over in two, three hours max. I can't really explain how I read so quickly without losing the story, but I just can. I just look at a sentence and I know what's in it (I suppose?) I'd like to know my wpm - how can I check?

[Kelly]

I feel whenever I speed read I don't take much of it in, or my mind wanders during it, ahaa! So I rarely do it, unless I'm reading a book I can't really get into and i just want to finish it.

[Alex B.]

I also read pretty slow. A maximum of 40 pages an hour. Sure I don't have to read faster and I really enjoy reading that way, but I have so many books I want to read and it seems like I am getting now where. I want adventure, but this adventure is in slow-motion.

[Glenn]

Yes, I speed read. But if you learn how to do it properly, you gain just as much as reading more slowly. The secret, as it was explained to me, is that your concentration is greater, similar to driving faster. You do NOT skip read. You read everything but you read groups of words, not the individual words. However, it is no good for proof reading, because your brain automatically corrects the words your read. What I do find is if there is a passage with particularly go description, I do a double take, and go back and read it one word at a time, just to savor the quality of the writing. There are courses one can take, and I sent my daugter to one while she was still at school and it certainly improved her concentration and comprehension. I learnt to speed read from a book many, many years ago. It works.

[Mary]

Glenn wrote: "Yes, I speed read. But if you learn how to do it properly, you gain just as much as reading more slowly. The secret, as it was explained to me, is that your concentration is greater, similar to dri..."

This works very well for visual readers. Auditory readers have a more difficult time because they have to hear the words in their head and that takes longer. I read very fast and I read in chunks of words. I see every word, but I do not READ every word (does this make sense?). It is similar to recognizing a single word. If you see a word enough, the individual letters disappear and you see the word as a picture. The same thing for chunks of words. You see them as a snapshot of a group of words.

[Ken]

It's the forest v. the trees. I'm a forest reader.

[Ruth]

Kenneth wrote: "It's the forest v. the trees. I'm a forest reader."

That's one way to explain it.

[Tallburt]

My good lady wife knocks off books with alarming speed. Given her book or so a day habit it would be cheaper for her to take up smoking.

[Joshua]

Dena wrote: "I admit to speed reading before. But I only speed read books that I start but turn out to be boring, so I'll speed read jut to finish it and get it over with. lol But I dont speed read books that I..."
Same here bro. Or sis.

[Joshua]

The first time I read The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, it took me ,like, two months. The second time I read it, it took me three days.

[Saxonjus]

I do speed read yes however this is usually with books that I do not connect with! Its a good and bad trait to have the bad being you read but you do not fully digest the words/content/feeling you lack a bond with the author(crucial for me) the good is you can read a 'boring' book quickly get a general idea of the story.

[Peter]

Whilst that might be true (in the test I did I got 2500 wpm and 100%), it is not the way I read fiction. THAT I like to savour, not just hit the high points. Admittedly some parts of WOT I spead read, just to get to the interesting bits. I generally skim over descriptions of forests, fields, rivers, oceans.... as they generally don't move the story allong and seem to be included to get to an agreed word or page count, or the ensure an extra volume in the series.

[Meran]

Speed reading is evil. :) It's NOT the same as reading fast, IMHO.

Absorbing impact an d emotions can't possibly be done while Speed Reading.

[Meran]

Tallburt, that's a disturbing analogy! Especially as I'm one of those who read a lot, and I hate the smoking habit (my mom smoked 5 pks/day for most of her life.) I can certainly see the cost of it comparatively! (now, dammit)

The good thing about smoking is there's no bookshelves of books leftover, only ash which can be put into the compost :/

Funny, though!

[Deeptanshu]

I do speed read sometimes and while doing so I can finish a full length novel in a few hours but i try not to as I have learnt that it is more enjoyable to take my time whilst reading. Plus I sometimes miss on some little details here and there whilst speed reading.

[Teresa]

I have been able to read a 200 to 300 page novel in less than a day as long as I can remember. Depending upon the density of the writing, I can get through in 3 to 8 hours. Skimming or skipping is different than just reading fast. If a book might be tedious and predictable, I might skip through pages, reading just a few words until the ending. Poetry or truly poetic prose I may read more slowly and ponder about it. A particularly resonant scene from a book may have the effect of making me stop and think; that is what makes great literature. Most of the time I tend to read four or five books at a time which prevents me from going on a "reading binge" in which I forgo sleep and chores to read until the end.

[Gavin]

Depends. I can do it in spanish, but in english I read slower for some reason. Trying to work on that.