Is there any truth to speed reading

[Paradox74]

I just read a bit of The Evelyn Wood Seven-Day Speed Reading and Learning Program and I also did a search on amazon.com for other books on said subject.

There is a huge difference between the Evelyn Wood approach and most of the others on amazon.com and so, I was wondering if there’s any truth to speed reading at all. I mean, can the average person read at 600-900 words per minute with a considerable amount of comprehension?

 

[fatewilleatyou]

Brian Dunning's take on this:
http://hw.libsyn.com/p/5/b/3/5b301c...7008f1111203&l_sid=17974&l_eid=&l_mid=2198945

 

[Joey McGee]

It depends on your desire for comprehension. All speed reading causes comprehension to drop. You'd have to be talking about neuroplasticity throughout the entire brain to be increasing speed and comprehension.

This Dunnings podcast is great stuff.

Society for the Scientific Study of Reading

 

[novaphile]

Hmm...

I'd also doubt many of the speed gains quoted.

I started at around 600 words per minute, and ended up with 98% comprehension at 2000 words per minute.

Having said that, the following caveats apply.

1. There is a "ramp up" time to get to that speed for any session.
2. "Comprehension" was measured by answering a set of questions, after reading a 10 page piece of text.

Since the questions were fact based, it's possible that I missed a lot of other things in the text, like nuance.

However, my work paid for the training, and all other class mates were able to get to 600 words per minute with 98% comprehension.

The class included a number of other techniques for improving comprehension of technical material, all of which seemed to have some merit.

PS. I hate pod casts, spoken word is approximately 100 words per minute, and most people can easily read 300 words per minute. Podcasts seem like a waste of time to me.

 

[Joey McGee]

Transcript of that brilliant, well done podcast.

I hate pod casts, spoken word is approximately 100 words per minute, and most people can easily read 300 words per minute. Podcasts seem like a waste of time to me.

I listen to them when my brain is sick of reading. Different strokes for different folks eh? Also listening to someone speak, with the tone and inflection carries more meaning. And, listening to someone speak can be relaxing and pleasurable.

 

[JJM 777]

You'd have to be talking about neuroplasticity throughout the entire brain to be increasing speed and comprehension.

People can learn to play the piano at an incredible speed, for example, a beginner wonders how anyone can logically control his fingers so fast. The practice routines are designed to get the brain accustomed to certain subconscious routines which kinda are faster than a person normally thinks consciously. I assume that also in reading it would be possible to practice routines which increase one´s reading speed, the average person reads much slower than he would be theoretically able to comprehend, I think. There would be limits however, and IQ or maximum learning potential varies from person to person.

 

[Joey McGee]

People can learn to play the piano at an incredible speed, for example, a beginner wonders how anyone can logically control his fingers so fast. The practice routines are designed to get the brain accustomed to certain subconscious routines which kinda are faster than a person normally thinks consciously. I assume that also in reading it would be possible to practice routines which increase one´s reading speed, the average person reads much slower than he would be theoretically able to comprehend, I think. There would be limits however, and IQ or maximum learning potential varies from person to person.

I think there must be several ways to objectively improve your reading skills based on this kind of science. Few are forthcoming from the evidence, but there are good places to start...

Dunning speaks...

We've learned that your recognition vocabulary, and thus your reading speed, can actually be improved; but the real technique is the opposite of what's taught in speed reading courses. Focus instead on reading comprehension. This will improve your recognition vocabulary, and you will probably begin to read faster.

I would also postulate and attempt to study whether exercise can increase comprehension and speed. Exercise releases BDNF which helps with neuroplasticity. There could be other techniques...

In any case, if we could simply introduce the concepts of brevity, sourcing and craftsmanship to a higher degree in important documents like textbooks, newspapers and papers, we could do away with much of the reason we are pressured to speed-read anyway

 

[fatewilleatyou]

People can learn to play the piano at an incredible speed, for example, a beginner wonders how anyone can logically control his fingers so fast. The practice routines are designed to get the brain accustomed to certain subconscious routines which kinda are faster than a person normally thinks consciously. I assume that also in reading it would be possible to practice routines which increase one´s reading speed, the average person reads much slower than he would be theoretically able to comprehend, I think. There would be limits however, and IQ or maximum learning potential varies from person to person.

Pianists practice the same rhythmic pieces over and over.
I guess you could read a well studied book of poetry incredibly fast.

 

[Agatha]

I was taught to speed read at school, and find that although I can read very fast with reasonable comprehension, it's a different technique than reading for enjoyment or reading for study.

Speed reading isn't reading all the words much faster than normal, like playing a piano piece at top speed with all the notes. It's reading the text in chunks, ignoring many of the unimportant words and focussing on extracting the sense of the text.

I've just done this test http://www.readingsoft.com/quiz.html (which is the first one that came up on googling speed reading tests) and got a reading speed of 1460 wpm and 83% comprehension.

I can't tell you the words that opened or ended the piece, I can't tell you even one exact quote of the text without checking, but I can tell you all of the figures contained in the piece and I will be able to remember them for about half an hour before I forget them. If I need to remember them , I can hang on them for longer by repeating them to myself or writing them down.

 

[sadhatter]

I find one's ability to comprehend while speed reading is directly proportional to said persons ability to B.S.

Get a bunch of key words, and fill in the blanks. Assuming the person your trying to convince doesn't know a crapload about the topic in question, your ability is regulated only by your ability to connect the dots, and gloss over things you missed. If the person does have a high knowledge of the subject, you can throw in a bit of cold reading for good measure.

 

[DallasDad]

That test is crap. I got 5873 wpm with 73% comprehension. There were no footnotes or references, so I pretty much glossed over the numbers. My BS detector said, "Sez who?" at the first unsupported assertion. I also noticed that the first statistic given was hypothetical, followed by a logical gap: They mentioned 1% of readers, and then the "average" reader, followed by information about the average reader. Where's the graph? What's the standard deviaton? Where were the controls for age, education, occupation, and heck, even language, let alone sophistication of the subject matter?

These things made me skip all the rest of the numbers in the passage, and, after taking the test, I wish I hadn't wasted the few seconds at the beginning.

 

[DaveGalt]

"Speed Comprehension" is the real goal.

I realize this is an old post, but I thought I'd mention this in case it's helpful to someone else.

It seems what many people are missing is that comprehension isn't something you try to maintain while you read, but comprehension IS reading. Without comprehension, you aren't really reading at all, but merely deciphering words.

There is an excellent free site at readspeeder.com for learning to speed read. This is a new method which teaches you to comprehend faster. It does this by showing you how to concentrate on ideas vs. words, and read whole phrases at a time.

Lots of other programs talk about reading groups of words at a time, but this one divides the text into actual thought-units. And because these are meaningful phrases, it is easy to understand them in a single glance. If you've been disappointed with other speed reading courses or books, you really should check this out.

 

[fuelair]

I just read a bit of The Evelyn Wood Seven-Day Speed Reading and Learning Program and I also did a search on amazon.com for other books on said subject.

There is a huge difference between the Evelyn Wood approach and most of the others on amazon.com and so, I was wondering if there’s any truth to speed reading at all. I mean, can the average person read at 600-900 words per minute with a considerable amount of comprehension?

I repeat this every so often just anecdotally: When I was in the fifth grade I and rest of my class (and I assume, but don't really know, the rest of the 5th graders) was given a test for reading speed. My parents (not me directly) were told that I was reading at 800 wpm with 90% comprehension. I have no direct way to verify that as completely or nearly correct, but I can still tell you the article was about a guy discovering diamonds in South Africa because the wheels of his vehicle were getting muddy and picking up rocks - making movement difficult. Removing the rocks, he realized they actually were diamonds. The story was in two columns on the right hand side of a workbook type book. the 1st column was full, the second a third to a half of the column space.

Later (much) I worked awhile for the American Speedwriting Academy (about 8 months). They put me and my wife through the program - but on my initial test I was ca.1100wpm and 90%+ comp. - i.e. whether speedreading training works or not I was a natural fast reader. When I was finished/ready to train others, my top speed was ca. 6000wpm on average and 78% comp average. The reason I suspect it does work is that one of my students (we taught classes in teams but I worked a lot with this 15 year old)
who started at under 200wpm and 65 % comp (poor grades was why his parents came to ASA.

After 11 weeks of 3 times per week 2.5 hour class sessions, I picked a book he had never read and I made up the comprehension test (I considered ASA a little too simple and wanted something closer to what my first one in school had been like to give me more certainty of his actual ability) . The book was Planet of the Apes (the questions I used were all things that were not in the movie - though I did not ask if he had seen it). He did the reading where I could watch and took the test with me sitting near him. His speed was almost twice mine (he had good eyesight, I was 20/200 in my left eye)(right at 10Kwpm) with 73% comp. I was proud of the lad!!


Note: I have not worked for or trained anyone in speedreading for 30 some years so I have no dog in this - as I said, purely anecdotal!!

 

[Ashles]

I repeat this every so often just anecdotally: When I was in the fifth grade I and rest of my class (and I assume, but don't really know, the rest of the 5th graders) was given a test for reading speed. My parents (not me directly) were told that I was reading at 800 wpm with 90% comprehension. I have no direct way to verify that as completely or nearly correct, but I can still tell you the article was about a guy discovering diamonds in South Africa because the wheels of his vehicle were getting muddy and picking up rocks - making movement difficult. Removing the rocks, he realized they actually were diamonds. The story was in two columns on the right hand side of a workbook type book. the 1st column was full, the second a third to a half of the column space.

Later (much) I worked awhile for the American Speedwriting Academy (about 8 months). They put me and my wife through the program - but on my initial test I was ca.1100wpm and 90%+ comp. - i.e. whether speedreading training works or not I was a natural fast reader. When I was finished/ready to train others, my top speed was ca. 6000wpm on average and 78% comp average. The reason I suspect it does work is that one of my students (we taught classes in teams but I worked a lot with this 15 year old)
who started at under 200wpm and 65 % comp (poor grades was why his parents came to ASA.

After 11 weeks of 3 times per week 2.5 hour class sessions, I picked a book he had never read and I made up the comprehension test (I considered ASA a little too simple and wanted something closer to what my first one in school had been like to give me more certainty of his actual ability) . The book was Planet of the Apes (the questions I used were all things that were not in the movie - though I did not ask if he had seen it). He did the reading where I could watch and took the test with me sitting near him. His speed was almost twice mine (he had good eyesight, I was 20/200 in my left eye)(right at 10Kwpm) with 73% comp. I was proud of the lad!!


Note: I have not worked for or trained anyone in speedreading for 30 some years so I have no dog in this - as I said, purely anecdotal!!

tl;dr

 

[Beaver Hateman]

I repeat this every so often just anecdotally: When I was in the fifth grade I and rest of my class (and I assume, but don't really know, the rest of the 5th graders) was given a test for reading speed. My parents (not me directly) were told that I was reading at 800 wpm with 90% comprehension. I have no direct way to verify that as completely or nearly correct, but I can still tell you the article was about a guy discovering diamonds in South Africa because the wheels of his vehicle were getting muddy and picking up rocks - making movement difficult. Removing the rocks, he realized they actually were diamonds. The story was in two columns on the right hand side of a workbook type book. the 1st column was full, the second a third to a half of the column space.

Later (much) I worked awhile for the American Speedwriting Academy (about 8 months). They put me and my wife through the program - but on my initial test I was ca.1100wpm and 90%+ comp. - i.e. whether speedreading training works or not I was a natural fast reader. When I was finished/ready to train others, my top speed was ca. 6000wpm on average and 78% comp average. The reason I suspect it does work is that one of my students (we taught classes in teams but I worked a lot with this 15 year old)
who started at under 200wpm and 65 % comp (poor grades was why his parents came to ASA.

After 11 weeks of 3 times per week 2.5 hour class sessions, I picked a book he had never read and I made up the comprehension test (I considered ASA a little too simple and wanted something closer to what my first one in school had been like to give me more certainty of his actual ability) . The book was Planet of the Apes (the questions I used were all things that were not in the movie - though I did not ask if he had seen it). He did the reading where I could watch and took the test with me sitting near him. His speed was almost twice mine (he had good eyesight, I was 20/200 in my left eye)(right at 10Kwpm) with 73% comp. I was proud of the lad!!


Note: I have not worked for or trained anyone in speedreading for 30 some years so I have no dog in this - as I said, purely anecdotal!!

I don't have time to read all that.

 

[Beaver Hateman]

That test is crap. I got 5873 wpm with 73% comprehension. There were no footnotes or references, so I pretty much glossed over the numbers. My BS detector said, "Sez who?" at the first unsupported assertion. I also noticed that the first statistic given was hypothetical, followed by a logical gap: They mentioned 1% of readers, and then the "average" reader, followed by information about the average reader. Where's the graph? What's the standard deviaton? Where were the controls for age, education, occupation, and heck, even language, let alone sophistication of the subject matter?

These things made me skip all the rest of the numbers in the passage, and, after taking the test, I wish I hadn't wasted the few seconds at the beginning.

I got 80% comprehension without looking at the text at all.

 

[aggle-rithm]

I don't have time to read all that.

It only took me a fraction of a second to read it, but my comprehension was 5%.

 

[dlorde]

There is an excellent free site at readspeeder.com for learning to speed read. This is a new method which teaches you to comprehend faster. It does this by showing you how to concentrate on ideas vs. words, and read whole phrases at a time.

When I was in my early teens (the late '1960s), my parents bought me a speed-reading course that included a reading device that involved a spring-loaded shutter that could display a line of text for various selectable fractions of a second. By practicing with this and following the other exercises, I was eventually able to read text line by line at high speed with good comprehension.

But it never felt like a natural way to read, required considerable effort, and was quite tiring. When the novelty wore off, and I stopped the exercises, my reading speed gradually slowed to a more comfortable level. I do still retain some of the line-at-a-time comprehension, which is handy for skimming text, but my normal reading speed is now far more leisurely than it once was.

 

[winkydink]

i got 73% without reading the text

 

[Nowhere Man]

ts;dr (too short, didn't read)

Fred