Community Chat

[newziesuzie]

It seems like we don't read long
articles etc these days (or

long posts! Lol!), maybe
we're too used to short sound bites
now.

I was thinking about speed reading
and wondered if any posters have tried it out?

Do you find it's helpful?

I found an article "The Truth About Speed Reading"

that's pretty interesting imho:

Here's the link:
http://lifehacker.com/the-truth-about-speed-reading-1542508398

Here's the last paragraph summary:

".........So, in short: Speed reading anything you need to truly comprehend is probably a bad idea. However, if you have a few documents you need to get through or you're reading something that isn't that important, these methods can still be worthwhile. Just know that you won't become a super-fast reading comprehension machine." 

😊

[Lindsays Grandma]

I have been reading books ever since I was old enough to read.  I always make sure I have several books ready to read once I finish one.  There has never been a desire or need to become a speed reader so no I never looked into it.  I did know someone many years ago who who was a speed reader and it always amazed me when I watched him read.  But no, it wasn't for me.

[on the bay]

Yes~

Years ago I took an "Evelyn Wood speed reading course" (and I forget if it was a book or what)

and I still use it sometimes when I want to get through something or just get the "jist" of it.

Its easy to learn and kind of fascinating. The main theory behind it is that our mind goes so much faster than our eyes and how we read from left to right-we can speed it up with the techiniques they show.

And I've found its like learning to ride a bike-once you learn, you don't forget and pick it up again like you never left it.

And its true, I don't use it for things I really want to enjoy or understand thoroughly.

eta(or have trouble understanding)

[tansy]

My husband was a slow reader and had a lot of reading involved with his job.  He took the Evelyn Wood course and his speed did improve.

[Desertdi]

I tried it........but found I was missing all the detail.......which is the joy of reading.

[aubnwa01]

When I was in high school, one of my English teachers gave us a short course of speed reading with a contraption called a Tachistoscope that flashed words & phrases on a board for a second or so.  Not sure it helped!  I graduated in 1968.

[ritasNo1Fan]

Learning the Evelyn Wood method was one of the best things (and smartest) I've done.  I do not speed read everything.... only things I want to get through speedily.  The only thing I have trouble with is using it with ebooks.  There probably is a technique to that but I not sure what to do.  For me, speed reading is fab!

[CalminHeart]

I took a course in middle school to speed read and am so glad I did.  It's helped me tremendously the last 50 years of work and fun reading.  I never had any issues with comprehension other than occasionally having to go back to re-read a paragraph.

[Mellie32]

How exactly does that work?  What do they teach you?

[Yardlie]

I took a speed reading course the summer before I started college. It is probably different for everyone, but I can't say that it is really useful. In college, you have to study the book...not speed read. On the other hand, skimming a page or document, is a totally different thing.

The goal of the speed reading course was to read really fast and then take a quiz to see how much you comprehended. I have no need to read that way.