5 ms·

Yeah, it's not for skimming — more for 'close reading'. It's definitely not for people who speed-read/skim by moving vertically down the page. But it can speed

Yeah, it's not for skimming — more for 'close reading'. It's definitely not for people who speed-read/skim by moving vertically down the page. But it can speed up close reading (where you're reading every word), and it also turns out to be helpful for certain learning disabilities (dyslexia, ADHD, etc).

Terretta 3y ago
The person you're replying to is not describing skimming, they're describing reading instead of "sounding it out". Your technique seems able to help people who likely learned to read with a ruler hiding upcoming lines, or with a finger pointing at the word they say aloud, and people who read with subvocalization. Such readers generally process text at not much higher rates than speech, and often prefer audio books or YouTube which add visuals or emotion since reading holds no particular advantage. Other readers take in chunks of meaning, mapping from word form sequences to concepts without going through phonics. It's not skimming. (It's possible it's the same pathway but subconscious instead of aware of the tracking and subvocalization.) These readers can still play back the individual words, with the same recall accuracy as the word by word or sound by sound readers. For these folks, audio books and YouTube are an excruciatingly slow way to transfer information. These faster readers are "close reading", not skimming. They are reading every word, but mapping word shapes into phrases at a time (perhaps similar to how LLMs can correctly answer completely typo-garbled questions). The difference between these methods of reading is at least 4x and often 10x or more speed with the same or better concept learning and recall. Your method is clearly (pun intended) able to assist those who would 'need' the ruler or fingertip to go sound by sound or word by word, with crossing end of line to start of next. (Likely similar reasons some folks read web pages successively highlighting lines with their mouse; your approach would likely help them too.) But as you're seeing in these comments, it generally brings sequence absorbers to a crashing slowdown.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  Yeah, this is very well put, it’s exactly how I read, but I couldn’t have said it as well.
- tiptup300 3y ago
  How does one learn this type of reading? I think sometimes i accidentally start to, but my comprehension drops, then I have to stop go back and try again with the slower style. Is this more of just a practice sort of skill?
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    Only speaking for myself: I love reading, always loved reading. I read a lot, and I read every day. It’s one of my most important things in life. I’m guessing doing something that much just comes with improvements.
- Izkata 3y ago
  > Your technique seems able to help people who likely learned to read with a ruler hiding upcoming lines, or with a finger pointing at the word they say aloud, and people who read with subvocalization. > Such readers generally process text at not much higher rates than speech, and often prefer audio books or YouTube which add visuals or emotion since reading holds no particular advantage. I'm somewhere in between these - I subvocalize, but at about 2-3 times the speed of speech, and I hate audiobooks/etc. My eyes jump several words at once and I read them individually with my peripheral vision - so the while their example isn't really slowing me down much, it is distracting.
- saltcured 3y ago
  I find the example website almost as distracting as a Hollywood ransom note made out of random newspaper clippings. But it's even worse with the continuous variation, as some phrases seem to call out as if the color were emphasis like italics, bold, or underline. It's got me wondering if zebra-striping background shades as in spreadsheets would be a better compromise. To help some readers with their eyeball "carriage return" without disrupting those of us who visually parse larger blocks of text.

Terretta 3y ago

The person you're replying to is not describing skimming, they're describing reading instead of "sounding it out". Your technique seems able to help people who likely learned to read with a ruler hiding upcoming lines, or with a finger pointing at the word they say aloud, and people who read with subvocalization. Such readers generally process text at not much higher rates than speech, and often prefer audio books or YouTube which add visuals or emotion since reading holds no particular advantage. Other readers take in chunks of meaning, mapping from word form sequences to concepts without going through phonics. It's not skimming. (It's possible it's the same pathway but subconscious instead of aware of the tracking and subvocalization.) These readers can still play back the individual words, with the same recall accuracy as the word by word or sound by sound readers. For these folks, audio books and YouTube are an excruciatingly slow way to transfer information. These faster readers are "close reading", not skimming. They are reading every word, but mapping word shapes into phrases at a time (perhaps similar to how LLMs can correctly answer completely typo-garbled questions). The difference between these methods of reading is at least 4x and often 10x or more speed with the same or better concept learning and recall. Your method is clearly (pun intended) able to assist those who would 'need' the ruler or fingertip to go sound by sound or word by word, with crossing end of line to start of next. (Likely similar reasons some folks read web pages successively highlighting lines with their mouse; your approach would likely help them too.) But as you're seeing in these comments, it generally brings sequence absorbers to a crashing slowdown.

Semaphor 3y ago
Yeah, this is very well put, it’s exactly how I read, but I couldn’t have said it as well.
tiptup300 3y ago
How does one learn this type of reading? I think sometimes i accidentally start to, but my comprehension drops, then I have to stop go back and try again with the slower style. Is this more of just a practice sort of skill?
- Semaphor 3y ago
  Only speaking for myself: I love reading, always loved reading. I read a lot, and I read every day. It’s one of my most important things in life. I’m guessing doing something that much just comes with improvements.
Izkata 3y ago
> Your technique seems able to help people who likely learned to read with a ruler hiding upcoming lines, or with a finger pointing at the word they say aloud, and people who read with subvocalization. > Such readers generally process text at not much higher rates than speech, and often prefer audio books or YouTube which add visuals or emotion since reading holds no particular advantage. I'm somewhere in between these - I subvocalize, but at about 2-3 times the speed of speech, and I hate audiobooks/etc. My eyes jump several words at once and I read them individually with my peripheral vision - so the while their example isn't really slowing me down much, it is distracting.
saltcured 3y ago
I find the example website almost as distracting as a Hollywood ransom note made out of random newspaper clippings. But it's even worse with the continuous variation, as some phrases seem to call out as if the color were emphasis like italics, bold, or underline. It's got me wondering if zebra-striping background shades as in spreadsheets would be a better compromise. To help some readers with their eyeball "carriage return" without disrupting those of us who visually parse larger blocks of text.