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I have never been a fan of fast reading techniques/book summary services. I like taking my time with books (maybe too much sometimes) because I feel understand
by baxtr 8y ago
I have never been a fan of fast reading techniques/book summary services. I like taking my time with books (maybe too much sometimes) because I feel understand the author's idea better if I get some time to reflect on the words. So I usually try not to rush through books. However, slow reading (the concept described in this article) makes me feel sleepy... I guess I stick to my inner reading speed.
- sotojuan 8y agoI've found that the proponents of speed reading mostly only read non fiction books that help them with their career (directly or indirectly), so I guess it makes sense to speed through them... but yeah, I can't even do that with the nonfiction books I read.
- announcerman 8y agoTrying to speed read mathematics at least seems like a pretty bad idea. Maybe it works better for shallow self help books?
- eismcc 8y agoHaving taken a speed reading course and read guides on it, I’ve akways felt like the main goal was to retrain your mind to process info non-verbally. Once comfortable with that skill, it could be applied to whatever you want. In the extreme case, judging from anecdotes of John Von Neumann, I can only assume he was able to process math reading this way. https://www.quora.com/What-interesting-facts-should-everyone-know-about-John-von-Neumann https://www.quora.com/What-interesting-facts-should-everyone...
- announcerman 8y agoAssuming he could speed read math, was a genius because he could speed read math or could he speed read math because he was a genius
- eismcc 8y agoJust an example of what the optimum experience would be if you could process non-verbally and utilize the info. Unclear to me what the relationship is between genius and non-verbal processing - can’t hurt to improve the skill and see how the info helps or doesn’t
- baxtr 8y agoI think that and also some people want to be able to speak about topics they don't know about. For example a friend of mine (a doctor) was not familiar with the concepts of "agile" so he went and had downloaded a book summary as audio and listen to it during his commute. Now he doesn't feel like a complete idiot when the topic comes up. I guess he pays the service exactly for this feeling
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ebiester 8y agoI think of it the other way around. While I didn't get much from the 800wpm level, I found the training on not backtracking and understanding the eye movements allowed me to understand better, not worse, and still allowed me to stop at my leisure. It's less that I'm rushing through the book and more that I'm being more intentional about it.
- hazz99 8y agoI found training on not backtracking and understanding eye movements allowed me to understand better ... What did you train in regards to backtracking & eye movement? It seems vaguely familiar to how I read (backtracking over paragraphs pretty frequently) -- is there some reading I can do on this?
- leg100 8y agoTony Buzan's speed reading book brings this up, particularly the eye movement. The eye has two types of movement: the one you use to move from one object to another; and then the one that follows an object. He recommends the latter when speed reading, using a pen or pointy thing as an aid, your eyes following the tip as you sweep it across the page. You can move it from side to side, or down the middle, or zig-zagging, etc. You accompany this with a metronome, to move the pen in regular movements. I think in time the idea is that you can abandon the pen and metronome once you've got used to reading this way.
- kqr 8y agoAren't saccades inevitable unless actually tracking something?
- leg100 8y agoMaybe. One could try imagining an invisible line and tracking that. It helps not to focus on the text itself, but on the space just above the page, just as the tip of pen would be hovering above the page as it sweeps across. That way the eye doesn't fixate on words and cause saccades.
- newman8r 8y agoYeah I notice the sleepiness as well. It might actually be a good way to read a few pages before going to sleep.
- kaycebasques 8y agoAs a technical writer, I think it’s important to understand speed reading and design for it when writing docs. I’m not saying that all developers are formalled trained in and intentionally doing speed reading, but when you think about your own “information foraging” habits when browsing docs in order to get something done, you’ll find that your habits probably resemble speed reading a lot more than slow reading. At least in the initial phase, when you’re hunting for relevant information. In general, I’d say that speed reading is handy when you’re hunting for relevant information, and slow reading could be handy once you’re reasonably sure that you’ve found it. But up until that point, slow reading would be a waste of time (I.e. spending too much time on irrelevant information).