[net.consumers] Speed Reading

slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (10/15/85)

I have never taken a speed-reading course, but I do read pretty fast (just
about 1200 baud--I can almost keep up at that speed.)  So I can relay some
advantages and disadvantages of doing so.

It is great for novels and light reading.  I can get through most
smallish sized paperbacks in an evening or two--although I usually don't try.
So, if you are going to be an English Lit major, I would recommend it highly,
since you will have to read a lot.  One semester, I had to read 24
novels--mostly classics like Tom Jones.  It was no problem.

On the other hand, if you are going into a technical field, I don't
think it will help.  I found my reading speed to be a HANDICAP when
I went back to school for my computer science degree.  I had to 
carefully train myself to slow down, and now have a separate reading
speed for technical material.

I can't spell.  Since I never read single words, I never know how
they are spelled!  I probably miss a lot of sentence structure,
and detail.  Because of this, I also sometimes deliberately slow
down if faced with a particularly fine writer.  For instance,
I ended up reading The Lord of the Rings OUT LOUD to myself last
time through.  It was amazing what I had missed by tearing through
it.  For that reason, I think that your writing style won't be helped
much--you just miss a lot of detail that you could use.

The best thing about it is reading netnews :-)
-- 

                                     Sue Brezden
                                     ihnp4!drutx!slb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity,
   location, and musical ability are as yet unknown.
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robison@lzwi.UUCP (R.T.D.ROBISON) (10/28/85)

I learned some Evelyn Wood speed reading skills.  I do not agree with
the claims geenrally made for speed-reading, but consider this:

I can read with my finger moving along the page (line by line, or vertically)
to control the speed that I am reading at.  There is no ideal speed; I adjust
for the type of literature, and the degree of comprehension I think is
necessary.  When you read the traditional way, it is very hard to think about,
or control, your speed.  It's easy to slow down far too much.  The finger
control makes it easy to know what you are doing.

Through Evelyn Wood exercises, I have increased the degree of comprehension
I get for many different reading speeds.  You learn to develop, and turn on,
certain kinds of deeper concentration.  There is nothing magical here -- you
have to practice to keep the skill up, and I suspect that for most people
comprehension increases by a modest factor, not, say, by a factor of 10.

The speed-reading work helped me to be much more conscious about how much
comprehension each type of reading requires.  I read good fiction slower
than I used to.  I don't want to miss much.  I read bad fiction very fast,
if I suddenly realize that the only thing interesting about the book is how
the plot turns out.  Magazine articles and textbooks have their own appropriate
tempos.

-- toby robison (ihnp4!picuxa!tdr)