I read at about 1100 WPM. I had no idea that people sounded out words in their heads until about two years ago, when I was speed reading an article about speed reading and realized I was speed reading. I am curious how much faster it is possible to go? Can anyone here go significantly faster? I want to know if it’s worth training further.
I talked to a person a few months ago who mentioned that her reading speed decreased noticeably from its very high starting point when she took speed reading lessons. It’s only one data point, but it may be worth keeping in mind if you’re thinking of training your ability.
How meaningful is it to assign a single number to your reading speed anyway? I would estimate that mine varies by at least a factor of ten or so depending on what I’m reading (I might top 1100 WPM at the high end, but only for very basic text.)
her reading speed decreased noticeably from its very high starting point when she took speed reading lessons
I experienced a visceral feeling of terror when reading this. I wasn’t aware that just training could hurt innate skills (I assumed it required some sort of crushing corporate environment).
It’s not that meaningful to assign a single number, true. I gave my speed for “normal” text—comments, blogs, newspaper articles, “light” books (business/best-sellers), fiction (if I have to/feel like reading it quickly). When I read scientific papers, the speed drops considerably until I am used to the terms used in the field.
Thanks a lot for that comment though, I have less incentive to try training it further now… I am pretty surprised that anything could decrease significantly from trying to train it though. I would suspect other effects at work (like now she is reading a different kind of text, or had previously never measured herself, or the training was nonsense, etc). Any idea what caused the decrease?
If you naturally develop a technique, you may not be consciously aware of it at all. But take some training, and all of a sudden your conscious brain is butting in going “this is the way to do it”.
And, well, your CPU is going to be less efficient than a well-optimised RPU (Reading Processing Unit)
I can only speculate, but I would guess that the techniques she was taught in the speed reading class were less efficient than whatever she was already doing without thinking about it, so she regressed towards the average speed for a person with speed reading training, which was lower than where she started. She said that her reading speed decreased noticeably while reading similar text in similar situations, although of course it’s possible that she was experiencing selective perception.
I talked to a person a few months ago who mentioned that her reading speed decreased noticeably from its very high starting point when she took speed reading lessons. It’s only one data point, but it may be worth keeping in mind if you’re thinking of training your ability.
How meaningful is it to assign a single number to your reading speed anyway? I would estimate that mine varies by at least a factor of ten or so depending on what I’m reading (I might top 1100 WPM at the high end, but only for very basic text.)
I experienced a visceral feeling of terror when reading this. I wasn’t aware that just training could hurt innate skills (I assumed it required some sort of crushing corporate environment).
It’s not that meaningful to assign a single number, true. I gave my speed for “normal” text—comments, blogs, newspaper articles, “light” books (business/best-sellers), fiction (if I have to/feel like reading it quickly). When I read scientific papers, the speed drops considerably until I am used to the terms used in the field.
Thanks a lot for that comment though, I have less incentive to try training it further now… I am pretty surprised that anything could decrease significantly from trying to train it though. I would suspect other effects at work (like now she is reading a different kind of text, or had previously never measured herself, or the training was nonsense, etc). Any idea what caused the decrease?
One possible explanation is simply awareness.
If you naturally develop a technique, you may not be consciously aware of it at all. But take some training, and all of a sudden your conscious brain is butting in going “this is the way to do it”.
And, well, your CPU is going to be less efficient than a well-optimised RPU (Reading Processing Unit)
I can only speculate, but I would guess that the techniques she was taught in the speed reading class were less efficient than whatever she was already doing without thinking about it, so she regressed towards the average speed for a person with speed reading training, which was lower than where she started. She said that her reading speed decreased noticeably while reading similar text in similar situations, although of course it’s possible that she was experiencing selective perception.