Any truth to 'speed-reading'

[Blanquist]

Some methods or techniques to improve reading speeds?

[Koba Junior]

I think the surest way to improve one's reading speed without sacrificing comprehension would simply be to practice reading. That is, invest time into reading and you'll gradually become more efficient at it.

[seventeethdecember2016]

Some methods or techniques to improve reading speeds?
When I was younger, I used audiobooks for more complicated works. It helped my reading skills to a variant degree.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

I can't speed read. I re-read every second paragraph and can't stand not comprehending each sentence meticulously, sadly.

[Zealot]

- Don't read from a computer screen unless you have to. Studies show that people read slower on a computer
- Read silently
- Don't make internal audio representations of what you're reading
- Use a pointer to go over the spot you're reading, such as a pen or ruler
- And, of course, always read.

Of course speed-reading is true but if it's an important document then you should probably not try to speed-read. Stalin reportedly read over 500 pages per day and no doubt used speed-reading techniques.

[Blanquist]

- Don't read from a computer screen unless you have to. Studies show that people read slower on a computer
- Read silently
- Don't make internal audio representations of what you're reading
- Use a pointer to go over the spot you're reading, such as a pen or ruler
- And, of course, always read.

Of course speed-reading is true but if it's an important document then you should probably not try to speed-read. Stalin reportedly read over 500 pages per day and no doubt used speed-reading techniques.

lol, 500 pages isn't impressive, many people can read that much, there's 24 hours in a day. Yeltsin reportedly read just as much when on his pension. Not much else for him to do.

Thanks for the tips though, what do you mean by "internal audio representations"?

[Koba Junior]

lol, 500 pages isn't impressive, many people can read that much, there's 24 hours in a day. Yeltsin reportedly read just as much when on his pension. Not much else for him to do.

I can't shake the feeling you're saying this simply because the skill was attributed to Comrade Stalin. Five hundred pages in a day, even for someone who isn't running a country, actually is pretty impressive. People generally don't stay awake for twenty-four hours straight, and their days are usually filled with various tasks to complete.

[Zealot]

lol, 500 pages isn't impressive, many people can read that much, there's 24 hours in a day. Yeltsin reportedly read just as much when on his pension. Not much else for him to do.

Well Stalin wasn't just sitting around on a pension to read all day. 500 pages was just what he read in his spare time after work. However, it's unimportant.

There was a thread about this topic on Revleft before:
http://www.revleft.com/vb/speed-reading-t166467/index.html?t=166467

Skimming through this article it seems to be quite informative:
http://pianoer.wordpress.com/2006/02/05/speed-reading-techniques/

There's a lot of information on speed reading out there, just do a search. I think there's even lectures about it on Youtube.

[Blanquist]

I can't shake the feeling you're saying this simply because the skill was attributed to Comrade Stalin. Five hundred pages in a day, even for someone who isn't running a country, actually is pretty impressive. People generally don't stay awake for twenty-four hours straight, and their days are usually filled with various tasks to complete.

I think 400 pages is a realistic, not difficult task to complete.

You have to realize someone like Mao could spend day and night in bed, and he did, so it was very possible for him to read to his pleasure.

Where as someone like Obama, or a modern politician has to make speeches, give interviews, etc. Their days really are booked up.

Whereas Stalin never gave speeches and spent most his time at all night dinner parties and movies marathons. Being an all-powerful dictator allowed him to do this.

I'm sure Castro and Hussein, famous bookworms, easily read through 400 pages a day in prison.

[Koba Junior]

Whereas Stalin never gave speeches and spent most his time at all night dinner parties and movies marathons. Being an all-powerful dictator allowed him to do this.

There isn't any part of the quoted passage that isn't completely wrong.

[Railyon]

If I could read 400 pages a week that would be swell.

I think some writers lend themselves to this kinda stuff better than others. Marx' Capital, at least in the German original, is written in such a way that you have to read the same sentence multiple times before you actually understand it, that makes speed-reading pretty much impossible.

If we talk "leisurely reading" not dabbling in high lit or anything, it's possible but you'd wanna savor a book when you read it, innit...

[BOZG]

Thanks for the tips though, what do you mean by "internal audio representations"?

One of things that limits people's reading speed is that they speak it silently in the their heads. This then restricts their reading speed to however fast they can speak in their head whereas humans can actually process text much faster than they can speak.

[Robespierres Neck]

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/10/18/how-to-speed-read-like-theodore-roosevelt/

I wouldn't know, personally. In fact, I'd like to learn. I'm currently reading a lot of books, it'd be quite efficient to be able to finish them in 20 minutes. Oscar Wilde could read an entire page in 5-10 seconds.

[WhoIsDaveGalt]

The question about speed reading courses is very interesting, but it depends on what you mean by 'speed' and what you mean by 'reading'. Does 'speed' mean 1,000s of words per minute as you quickly run your finger down each page? Does 'reading' mean skimming over the words, omitting the 'unimportant' words? This is an important question because most people are very confused by the vague and shifting definitions of these words.

It's also very important because reading is such an important skill.

Reading is so important, because without reading you are without knowledge, and without knowledge you are without power, and without power you are without happiness, liberty, and possibly life itself.

If your goal is to 'understand' faster, then the best way is to improve your ability to assimilate information more effectively. A more complete explanation of the validity of speed reading is at thoughtunits.com

[ComradeOm]

There isn't any part of the quoted passage that isn't completely wrong.Trivia: Wartime excluded, Stalin never took less than 65 days holidays a year from the 1930s onwards. Post-war he was taking twice that; 154 days in 1952 alone! So there was plenty of reading time. Just saying

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

Because of a twist of fate, I have a little extra info on this. A close relative of mine actually coined the term "speed reading," in the late 1940s. His speed reading training was not a gimmick, or a method to read 10,000 words per minute, but a way of optimizing reading and comprehension. It is not difficult to teach someone to double their reading speed -- one thing that can help is not reading every word. Also understanding the structure of writing can speed things up. So a person can read over one thousand words per minute with very good comprehension. Of course as comrade's have mentioned, there difficulty of the material matters. If something is very dense and technical, that can really slow things down. Unless the reader is very familiar and facile in a given mode of writing. (e.g., I can read some historical and political texts very quickly, as I have read many -- this does not include much of Marx's writing)

[Sasha]

i basicly learned myself as an young kid to speed read to overcome my dyslexia, i'm not sure how i did it but i think it involves to try to not read let allone spell out every word in a sentence but guess the words and by consequence the sentencse on what the words look like (in dutch "woordbeeld") and skipping al the non-relevant obvious words like "the" and "and" etc etc and re-eddited them back in in your brain.
and then practice, practice, practice and expand your vocabulary by reading insane amounts of books, texts etc etc.
my record is the complete lord of the rings in 5 days..

[ridethejetski]

I once read Bob Avakian's memoir From Ike to Mao in two days (seriously). It was thrilling.