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Gustav

Speed Reading = Reading Faster?

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Hi @Leo Gura and followers of Actualized.org!

What I want to address is something I think is CRITICAL and something that has meant a lot of frustration for me and really made my junior high-school year MORE difficult than necessary: so-called “speed-reading”.

I want to keep it short, but I think I need to provide some context because I believe many people want to get to the bottom with this once and for all, and I think this is something that has been argued about too much:

For a long time I considered myself a slow reader and although enjoying reading once I get absorbed into it, the very act of reading has caused much anxiety whenever I become too self-conscious of my pace, at which point I use to beat myself up.

When I was 16 I researched how to read faster and came across “speed-reading”, something that in theory sounded like the greatest ability ever. I wondered why on earth it was so unheard of; everything made perfect sense (in my desperate mind) and the benefits are self-evident.

I practiced all the common techniques and took two online courses. I’m glad I made a serious effort to investigate this, but at the same time it has been one of the biggest wastes of time, effort, frustration, and self-confidence.

The result was that my normal reading got seriously damaged because I was now conscious of all the mechanics of speed-reading, and how I was not doing them. I was left being able to read neither at higher speeds nor my normal speed (without more frustration than before).

Now, to clarify: When I researched how to read faster, that’s what I was specifically researching. Not how to skim, not how to take notes, organizing and grouping material, scanning for and jotting down key points, or summarizing texts. I was already very confident and effective with my study techniques, only wanting to increase the pace of my reading, everything else being equal.

As I later did further research and now dared to consider opposing views and evidences why speed-reading does not work (which I at the time ignored to a fairly large extent), it seems to me like my frustrations come down to a question of definitions and misunderstanding. Speed-reading seems to be reading faster and necessarily at the expense of full comprehension but applied to different degrees and different situations.

To me however, reading is looking at a text and absorbing it – fully. Selling “speed-reading” as READING faster I think is very misleading. Some people actually do sell it as a technique of more skimming nature, but many others don’t.

Since I trust you @Leo Gura, I was extremely surprised to find a speed-reading book on the booklist for two reasons. One is that I couldn’t imagine what you see that I missed – I came to conclude that it is by and large a scam. Secondly, if it doesn’t mean reading everything in front of you with full comprehension, how is this useful when doing thorough studying of personal development by reading, for example, the books you recommend? Surely the point is to get something out of the books and not to "burn through pages"? Like you say yourself and as I and everyone else agrees: quality over quantity.

My questions are thus: What is speed-reading for you? When do you and don’t you use it, and why?

I’m tired of pulling my hair over this issue, and since this is a real, no-bullshit community, I think we need to answer this question clearly and honestly so we can all move on with the benefits of knowing what is what.:)

Cheers!

/Gustav

Thanks to Leo for all your work! It has saved my life!

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I like this analogy of a hose and a bucket.

You can increase your reading speed as much as you want (the size of the hose) but if you don't develop and practice your memorization and visualization skills (size of the bucket) you won't comprehend the text.

For professions and tasks that require reading a lot of text, creating good chunking hierarchies and quieting your sub-vocalization can be incredibly useful for increasing efficiency.

For actually learning something life changing and practical, a slower pace can be important. Pre-reading and skimming is always a good idea, but intentionally slowing down, being more mindful and contemplating while reading is essential.

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@Gustav You are thinking black and white thoughts about speed reading. I have looked into various speed reading methods - the one I liked the best would be considered speed reading because the word intake was certainly faster; however, by the end of the technique, I would have reviewed/read the material 4 times. This deepens comprehension and engagement in processing the material significantly (for me). 

6 hours ago, Gustav said:

The result was that my normal reading got seriously damaged because I was now conscious of all the mechanics of speed-reading, and how I was not doing them. I was left being able to read neither at higher speeds nor my normal speed (without more frustration than before).

I don't have this issue. If I read at a leisurely pace in a linear fashion, thoughts about reading some other way don't pop up. You said you used to beat yourself up about reading slowly. You have some sort of personal hang up about this. Were you shamed about how you read? 


nothing is anything

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If you are looking for something where you can both read faster and still have full comprehension i think an alternative to speed reading might be to concentrate much more intensely without distractions but it is also much harder to do (there is a book on this called deep work by cal newport)

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Speed reading is not about reading fast. It is about reading more efficient. You could still read slowly and carefully but with a different technique than you learned as a child.

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If there is something I'm trying to learn or the book's content is covering concepts I'm not familiar with, it's going to require multiple reads and/or reading slowly.  There's just no way around that.   If you're just trying to get a summary of the content from a library book, the graduate school recommendation (for courses studying an entire field, like Systems Thinking) is to read first/last chapters, then pick any chapters that peak your interests & then you have to put the point of the whole book together in your head.  I've always felt short-changed from having to do that, but if your studying an entire field for one semester, you don't have any choice.

If you're studying something that you plan on working on for 10 years, then it's probably best to start slow & then change the pace when you're able.

Lastly, I only use speed reading techniques if I find myself reading the same sentence again & again.  I'll put my finger on the line & start following it to push myself forward & then try reading two points of the line & so on until I'm moving again.

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