Reese

ok, I'm a pretty slow reader. I love to read but it takes so long to read a good novel that by the time I get half way though the book I've forgotten everything about the beginning except major plot elements.

I see some speed reading books, and tapes for sale in infomercials sometimes but nothing for free. Anyways, Do these work? If they do, How do they work? Anyone wanna tell me the "secrets" of reading faster?

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Magpie0001

First thing use your finger or a pen to guide your eye, I know it sounds stupid but it really improves your speed.

Second, read words in threes or twos.
It works like this: when you read you take in one word at a time & your brain puts each word into a line to make sence of it. If you read the words in bunches your brain doesnt have to work as hard & your speed will increase.

Third, good light, quiet athmosphere & maybe you havent found the right book!

Also:
There are two techniques that I know of, the first had tips like above, I cant remember any more & theres another one you can get for your pooter that flashes the words of a text file onto the screen, youd be surprised how fast you can read with this method, but I found it a little hard on the eyes. You can vary the speed of the words & the program just spits them up on the screen like a machine gun.

Both are available on Kazaa.

Hope I helped.

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Reese

I downloaded a demo of acereader, it pops up the words quickly, it is hard on the eyes but It could work. The demo only went up to the speed that was just a tiny bit to slow for me. I guess I don't read that slow

Thanks for the advice. hope it helps

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“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry

JStrider

theres 3 ways of reading...

reading outloud... reading the word and speaking it at the same time...

silent reading... same as reading outloud except you say the word to yourself... moving your vocal cords with the word... its how most people are taught to read to themselves...

the thirdone.. cant remember what its called... but its when you dont move your vocal cords so you are limited to how fast you can read by your mental speed not by the speed you move your vocal cords at...


theres all kinds of websites on learning to read faster...

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Paper Clip

I believe that the trick to reading is practice. As you read more, your brain, like a muscle, will learn to read and interpret faster.

In order to read more, you should pick short books that are very interesting to you. If you find a particluar author that you like, read a bunch of his/her books (like Robert Parker's "Spenser for Hire" detective books or Clive Cussler's "Dirk Pitt" adventure books - as you can see, I like mysteries and adventure fiction!). Then your brain knows a bit what to expect and you can read faster.

Pretty soon, this will translate to your reading in general.

Good luck and keep trying.

Mango

Paper clip nailed it, practice. I have not had a TV for about 6 years. In that time I have read a shit pile of books, I am much faster now than I was initially. PRACTICE! Some authors have starange writing styles and mess you up until you get into it (Mortachai Richler is the most recent one I read) Find an author that you can read easily.

Reese

I don't think practice is helping. I read everything, I read probally 30 posts per day on TFP, the newspaper, a few chapters of whatever book I'm reading, I don't think any more of my free time could involve reading something.

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Magpie0001

Just another thing, Search on Kazaa for "speed reading" (docs) I found courses called "Alphanetics" & "Photoreading".
That acereader thing you got, I know it is hard on the eyes, so maybe you could use it for 5 - 10 mins a day. If I remember correctly its designed to teach your mind to recognise the different shapes words make. So, with a little practise your mind wont actually read the words (letter by letter, syllable by syllable) your mind will recognise the SHAPE of the word & derive the meaning from that. THus making your reading faster.

Good luck.

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mtsgsd

Well, practice is the thing, but, you have to practice speed reading, not just reading. Did that make any sense at all

You have to learn a new way of reading that is not just about speed. You should be able to find a lot of help on this without buying anything, and I think that it's part instruction, and part talent. In other words, some people just can't read as fast as others.

Ok, I just put in a personal example, but it was way too long IMO.
Start with tracing the words with a pencil or your finger. Move it faster than you like to read, and try to keep up with it. The point is to force your eyes to keep moving on to the next word.

Most people move on to tracing a line straight down the page instead of across each line. After that is up to you. You want to be able to take in groups or even whole lines at once. I can usually do this by paragraph if required. I wouldn't be able to repeat it to you, but I know what it was saying.

That reminds me of another trick. You aren't reading every word. Pick out the "important" words. Think of it kind of like using a high-lighter. Most of the paragraph is just words supporting the concept be expressed right?

I hope this helps. I can try more if you'd like. I haven't actually analyzed what I do in years, it's just become second nature.

HiThereDear

One important tip - don't go back and reread parts of the passages over because there is a tremendous amount of repetition in novels. Whatever information you missed you'll pick up in a little while.
Also, it's better to read through the work once very quickly, then read it for real and it will be much more enjoyable and you'll get a lot more meaning out of it.

mokle

The programs (like Eye-Q) do work, I had one a while ago.

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Mokle
"Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see" -Ali

VirFighter

I read article written by Bill Cosby (yes, the comedian) a long time ago that was a guide to speed reading. The main point was to teach yourself to read in groups of works instead of reading each individual word.

I find that I can read fast when I concentrate hard on it but this leads to mental exhaustion pretty quickly.

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MacGnG

intresting

4thTimeLucky

For those of you who have learnt to read faster do you still take it all in.

I did a little practice of reading groups of words at a time and not moving my vocal chords to silently say each word as I read. I found I could read faster, but it didn't really 'go in'. If I asked myself what the last paragraph was about I could only vaguely say - and that isn't very useful if you are reading an academic text or trying to pick up on the finer points of a novel.

For me reading is like making love to a beautiful woman. You could speed it up if you wanted to, but its better to take your time and really appreciate it.

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elian gonsalez

Exactly. I went to this class to improve your reading speed, and it was almost completely based on reading without pronouncing the words in your head. The teacher told us a story about one girl he had who was deaf from birth, and could read faster then anyone because she didnt "pronounce" the words when she was reading.

mathmo

One thing you might want to do is look in your local library. There are several books around but one person who tends to write a lot on these sorts of things is Tony Buzan. His book, Speed Reading is full of techniques, including ways to read the page (reading backwards or in an 'S' shape etc).

I think some of the techinques depend on you being able to see the "magic eye" images, but don't quote me on that.

In any case, your library would be an excellent resource though you probably have more than enough to go on from the previous posts.

crazycousinjim

I don't know if this will work for every one, I am entirely self taught, but I can blow trough about 100 pages of a novel an hour. I kinda just zoom out a bit. You don't need to focus on every word. I guess my mind got used to picking up a paragraph at a time and processing it. Give it a shot with the whole grouping of words thing and see if that helps.

bing bing

It's not how fast you read but what you take in. If you're failing to take in much already, reading faster will only provide more hindrance.

TIO

When you speed read, you do absorb the material better.

How to learn:

Grab a metronome, and a novel with fairly simple language. I learned with Animal Farm.
Set the metronome fairly slow, and start reading, tracing the lines with your finger.
Complete one line per metronome tick. It doesn't matter if you don't catch much of what you're reading, that will come.
If you think you're starting to understand, up the speed.

It's incredible how quickly your reading speed will improve. After one weekend's drilling, I was reading at about 4 times my old speed, and comprehending better to boot

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