My experience is that modern speed-reading techniques don’t lower comprehension unless you get extremely fast (say, 900-1500 wpm). The exception is the very early stages, so it’s good to practice on, e.g., mildly interesting fiction. After a couple of weeks with ~30 minutes of focused practice daily, I was reading at double my previous pace with the same comprehension.
I frequently give my friends detailed feedback and analysis on their writing. They know about my speed reading thing, and none of them have noticed any change in the quality of my feedback.
How regularly do you apply what you learned? Of the last 10 books you’ve read, have you used something from each of them?
If you’re applying what you’ve learned, and it seems to work, that’s how you know you haven’t lost comprehension. If you’re not applying what you’ve learned, it doesn’t matter that much either way.
Most of what I read isn’t books but internet discussion. It’s often hard to distinguish what using an intellectual idea means. I do learn things and bring them up in a separate discussion a year later.
If I reply to your post than I’m using the fact that I read your post to write an answer. Better understanding of your point of view translates into a better answer.
Thanks for answering, I did some googling and found a website called spreeder.com that seems to be helping. So far I’ve been able to gradually increase the wpm from where I was comfortable starting, and it seems like it could be an effective tool.
My experience is that modern speed-reading techniques don’t lower comprehension unless you get extremely fast (say, 900-1500 wpm). The exception is the very early stages, so it’s good to practice on, e.g., mildly interesting fiction. After a couple of weeks with ~30 minutes of focused practice daily, I was reading at double my previous pace with the same comprehension.
How do you know that you have the same comprehension?
I frequently give my friends detailed feedback and analysis on their writing. They know about my speed reading thing, and none of them have noticed any change in the quality of my feedback.
The feeling of having the same comprehension is 90 percent of what you want anyway, if you haven’t had problems with failing eg school assignments.
I don’t think that’s the case. I frequently read in order to learn something and not in order to feel like learning something.
How regularly do you apply what you learned? Of the last 10 books you’ve read, have you used something from each of them?
If you’re applying what you’ve learned, and it seems to work, that’s how you know you haven’t lost comprehension. If you’re not applying what you’ve learned, it doesn’t matter that much either way.
Most of what I read isn’t books but internet discussion. It’s often hard to distinguish what using an intellectual idea means. I do learn things and bring them up in a separate discussion a year later.
If I reply to your post than I’m using the fact that I read your post to write an answer. Better understanding of your point of view translates into a better answer.
Where did you learn these speed reading techniques?
I leaned from Matt Fallshaw, who IIRC was using something loosely based on the Evelyn Wood method.
Thanks for answering, I did some googling and found a website called spreeder.com that seems to be helping. So far I’ve been able to gradually increase the wpm from where I was comfortable starting, and it seems like it could be an effective tool.