Speed Reading

**Michael** · 02 Apr 2010, 09:45 PM

It seems there are a lot of people out there who simply read faster than others.

Is this just a natural progression after having read many books over so many years, or are there some techniques involved? Post some tips - I'd love to be able to read faster without losing comprehension.

**kedawa** · 02 Apr 2010, 10:13 PM

I read faster than I can speak, but not by that much.
When I'm reading fiction, I'm never in a rush to get through it, so I read at a narrators pace.

There really is no such thing as speed reading for the average person, because people generally can't process an entire page of information properly in just a few seconds, even if they could recognize every word. Every speed reading method I'm aware of is either specific to people with photographic memories, or it's just skimming.

**Michael** · 02 Apr 2010, 10:29 PM

I just specify a little better: Has anyone found any methods that simply make their reading more efficient?

For example, does holding the book a certain distance away from your eyes make a difference for anyone?

I've also read that a lot of reading time is wasted going back and reading words more than once. I find myself doing this, and try to conciously avoid it.

**Shine** · 02 Apr 2010, 10:48 PM

Apparently this was once taught in schools, The idea was to have the student focus on the center of the paragraph and rely on peripheral vision, the teacher would revel the paragraph to be read for a second or two, and the student was expected to hae it memorized in that time. That's why text books are formatted the way they are, with thin columns, averaging two, on a single page, it's a bit of a hold-over from when this was taught.

I can with, deep concentration, "read" without actually saying the word in my head, but it's really really really hard to keep up at any sort of even pace, mostly, I just read with the voices of Vincent Price and James Earl Jones and occasionally Morgan Freeman in my head.

**Josh** · 03 Apr 2010, 12:35 PM

You guys hear the words in your head when you read?

**Doc Holliday** · 03 Apr 2010, 12:48 PM

They move their lips too.

**Mr-K** · 04 Apr 2010, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by Josh

You guys hear the words in your head when you read?

I do! I also read slow as fuck.

**Fe 26** · 05 Apr 2010, 03:58 AM

Originally Posted by kedawa

Every speed reading method I'm aware of is either specific to people with photographic memories, or it's just skimming.

This is what I've heard. Just skimming along looking for key words and dates.

I do think people read differently. As it was pointed out, some people here, actually hear the words. While others do not.

It would be interesting to put up a poll and find out if there is a correlation between good grammar and hearing it in your head.

I might understand why some people here go flip bat shit crazy over bad grammar and spelling if they have to hear the words in their head. Things probably sound really odd to them.

I don't really hear text in my head. I don't even pay attention to structure. My focus is entirely on what is being said. Not how it is being said. I take in a huge pool of information and make connections between it all. I guess they call that "being an idea man." Kind of like from an Beautiful mind. Except I'm not insane (nor have a produced anything ground breaking or useful).