3 ms·
Small anecdote: speed reading is mostly bullshit but when I took a course it showed me how to approach books and new content in a different and more useful way.
by duckkg5 3y ago
Small anecdote: speed reading is mostly bullshit but when I took a course it showed me how to approach books and new content in a different and more useful way. I usually just started from the beginning and started reading.
Now I look at the cover, back, chapter list, flip through the chapters a few times looking for high-level things that pop out, do it again, then look through the index for things that have lots of references. Then I can start reading the book, and I have a better idea of what I'm in for. Plus it's much easier to be engaged when you aren't so religious about the 'right' way to use a book.
That kind of thing has let me learn stuff I would otherwise feel too intimidated or unsure about.
- WheelsAtLarge 3y agoI haven't taken a speed reading course but I've learned to skip read. I read the main idea of a paragraph and move forward. It's a good way to get the gest of a chapter so you have some idea of what the chapter is about as you read the detailed text.
- sn9 3y agoFor those curious, this kinda stuff is explicitly taught in Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book, which is precisely about how to extract the maximum value from a book rather than speed reading.