Super Fast! The Official Speed Reading Thread

[Parrot Head]

Has anyone here had success with endeavors in speed reading? Or, what have you done to improve you reading speed? I'm not all that fast and would like to improve so that I can read even more comics and the interviews in Mr. Hefner's fine publication more quickly. And posts here, too, of course.

I think I focus on the details too much, especially the grammar and typos. I always find typos in books. I need to pick up the pace and am open to suggestions, as long as they don't take too long to read.

[wuapinmon]

Use the index finger of your non-dominant hand to scan each line moving your eyes as fast as you can move your hand--be sure you're looking at the words to which your finger is pointing. Do this until you can do it without using your finger. I can read around 300-500 pages a day depending on the topic, language, and distractions. My dad taught me to do this, and he said that he took a short class on it in the Navy.

[All-American]

I took a class at BYU on speed reading. Got pretty good at it. Then I got to law school, which required a very different kind of reading, and I've fallen out of practice.

The two things they stressed the most are this. First, like wuap said, using your finger to guide you across the page. (I think they called this the Wood method, after the person who invented it.) Second, eliminate subvocalization. That way, you read at the pace of your ability to cognitively recognize the word rather than your ability to "say" it.

[UtahDan]

I took a class at BYU on speed reading. Got pretty good at it. Then I got to law school, which required a very different kind of reading, and I've fallen out of practice.

The two things they stressed the most are this. First, like wuap said, using your finger to guide you across the page. (I think they called this the Wood method, after the person who invented it.) Second, eliminate subvocalization. That way, you read at the pace of your ability to cognitively recognize the word rather than your ability to "say" it.

How do you do that (I get what it means, but not how it is accomplished)?

[creekster]

When I was in fourth grade myself and three classmates were placed in an experimental advanced reading course that had been created by some PhD student somewhere. Its goal was to teach us three types of reading: skimming, regular and in depth. They taught us skills through repeated drills and then tested us on our mastery of those skills. It was one of the most useful things I ever did in school.

[All-American]

How do you do that (I get what it means, but not how it is accomplished)?

Not easily.

Part of it is learning to take focus off of the individual words as they fall in the sequence of a sentence. I remember on my mission trying to make my way through the book of Mormon as quickly as possible to pass off on a certification requirement our mission had implimented. One of the other elders asked how I read it as quickly as I did. I told him that instead of reading one word at a time, I tried to read one line at a time. For him, that seemed to click.

[Parrot Head]

Thanks for the suggestions and when I start to think about subvocalization, I realize how prevalent it is.