read books faster

[ezza]

this is pretty mad. i could do the 500 words a minute straight away

http://elitedaily.com/news/technology/t ... 0-minutes/

250 words per minute


350 words per minute


500 words per minute


i like the idea of this for stuff you dont wanna read, like when your studying n shit

[hugh]

I don't really know what my normal reading rate is but it's probably around 500WPM anyway, either way it's pretty cool, I want to see them turn it up to maybe 1,000 words because I find even that 500 is not difficult. I know a lot of people are pretty slow readers though, but I don't know if I really see this catching on.
How do you lot tend to read normally? I don't really read 1 word at a time I feel more like I am scanning blocks of words together, I tend to read about 5 or 6 words at a time. For example in the sentence

I don't really know what my normal reading rate is but it's probably around 500WPM anyway

My eye will focus somewhere in the middle of a cluster of words (italicised) rather than hopping from one word to the next.

[kay]

That's pretty horrible and painful on the eyes. Maintaining focus at a fixed depth for an extended period of time can be very tiring on the eyes. It also seems likely that it will exacerbate problems that are already prevalent amongst gamers who forget to blink because they're so intensely focused on a game.

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

[hugh]

That's pretty horrible and painful on the eyes. Maintaining focus at a fixed depth for an extended period of time can be very tiring on the eyes. It also seems likely that it will exacerbate problems that are already prevalent amongst gamers who forget to blink because they're so intensely focused on a game.

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

don't you think that it is interesting because it gives insight into how our mind actually reads words? I didn't realise how I read until this thread

[jaydot]

Hate the idea, like to digest my books innit.

[ezza]

yeah like i said i think it would be good for shit u dont wanna read

i swear when im trying to revise i just constantly get lost on what im reading. this makes u stay focused

[kay]

That's pretty horrible and painful on the eyes. Maintaining focus at a fixed depth for an extended period of time can be very tiring on the eyes. It also seems likely that it will exacerbate problems that are already prevalent amongst gamers who forget to blink because they're so intensely focused on a game.

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

don't you think that it is interesting because it gives insight into how our mind actually reads words? I didn't realise how I read until this thread

Interesting as an insight, less so as an app in the way they've implemented it. It's interesting to compare against how people comprehend what they're reading though - as per passages like:
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/undergraduate/reading.html

[wub]

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

This.

Speed reading is only really beneficial for fiction IMO, otherwise you're just not going to take it what you're reading properly.

[Muncey]

I'm a pretty dreadfully slow reader but I'm getting better now I'm reading almost every day.. before Christmas I never really read much at all, like a book a year. Like all things, it comes with practise, looking for shortcuts will often leave you with substandard results, in this case.. you'll get to the end of a book in record speed and not understand it as fully as you should or could have reading normally.

i like the idea of this for stuff you dont wanna read, like when your studying n shit

Its probably useful if you've already read it and want to find quotes but for actual studying or revision this would be horrible. Its the same logic as speed reading a foreign dictionary and expecting to be fluent in the language.

[ezza]

dunno, not if you already kinda know what its about

i do music so most of the stuff i revise i have a rough grasp of anyways

[Muncey]

Why are you revising from vast amounts of work lol? Surely note taking and revising from short notes is better than speed reading loads and very little of it going in.

If you're on about speed reading notes thats just lazy

Also in terms of revision if you already know most of it its just a case of remembering it all, reading twice as fast won't make you remember it twice as fast.. I bet it'll take you twice as many times reading it to gain the same quality of intake (understanding and remembering) as reading normally.

[Muncey]

That's pretty horrible and painful on the eyes. Maintaining focus at a fixed depth for an extended period of time can be very tiring on the eyes. It also seems likely that it will exacerbate problems that are already prevalent amongst gamers who forget to blink because they're so intensely focused on a game.

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

don't you think that it is interesting because it gives insight into how our mind actually reads words? I didn't realise how I read until this thread

Have you seen the mental maths thing they do in Japan? Flash loads of numbers in a really short space of time and they can successfully add it up but can't tell you any of the numbers.. something to do with remembering and adding up being completely different parts of the brain.

Agree its interesting insight but as practical as a get fit quick scheme imo.

[kay]

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

This.

Speed reading is only really beneficial for fiction IMO, otherwise you're just not going to take it what you're reading properly.

Even then I'd question whether speed reading fiction is particularly worthwhile. If you're speeding your way through it, you probably aren't enjoying it anyway, so why bother reading it?

[mks]

^ This. I think reading fiction is supposed to engage your imagination, so if you are speed reading it, what is the point? I mostly read non-fiction books, and I want to understand the concepts that I'm reading. It seems as if you are speed reading it, you are most likely going to have to read it again.

[nowaysj]

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

This.

Speed reading is only really beneficial for fiction IMO, otherwise you're just not going to take it what you're reading properly.

You just Thised a jdot post. I'll have you know.

See, I'm the opposite, I think this type of speed reading is beneficial for nonfiction. Where you can just trawl for data and the hearts of arguments. While fiction can actually be quite subtle, slowly building fractals of meaning through word choice and flow.

[kay]

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

This.

Speed reading is only really beneficial for fiction IMO, otherwise you're just not going to take it what you're reading properly.

You just Thised a jdot post. I'll have you know.

What?

[Pedro Sánchez]

I read at the pace in my head of that when I'm reading aloud to another person, isn't that how everyone reads?, if I don't fully understand a sentence I may reread it until I can grasp it.

[nowaysj]

Finally, reading faster is pointless if you do not comprehend what you're reading.

This.

Speed reading is only really beneficial for fiction IMO, otherwise you're just not going to take it what you're reading properly.

You just Thised a jdot post. I'll have you know.

What?

Sorry was speed reading.

[test_recordings]

Actually, I remember researching this for my degree and there's a fair bit of evidence humans don't really need to focus on one word at a time and can in fact just look at chunks of text to acquire the information, even several lines or a page.

Do you 'hear' the word when you read it? That's a byproduct of teaching children to read by associating speech with corresponding graphic representations. You can actually stop hearing the sounds mentally and apparently your reading speed increases because you're not then wasting time listening to the words as well.

[nowaysj]

Yeah, I think I hear the words. So hard to say. And there are so many different types of reading. We read in different ways, depending on context.