This is only an anecdote, but I’ve always been an extremely slow reader, but worked hard to fully comprehend everything on the first read-through (at least for subjects that weren’t extremely subtle and required lots of time to chew over). An example of this is that when I took AP U.S. History, I could just read the textbook once and ace the tests. This isn’t just about having a photographic memory (which I don’t have), this is also about synthesizing facts into patterns and ideas as I read. I find this very helpful and do the same thing while following whiteboard talks (except I’m apparently a much faster verbal learner, or at least I don’t have trouble following talks in real time at all).
I’m not sure what direction this anecdote points in, but at the very least I’d personally be afraid to do speed-reading because it would mess up a pretty good system I already have in place.
I’ve experienced the same when reading philosophy literature for a class. With my slow reading I was also able to remember individual quotes and their locations well enough to retrieve them pretty well, and both write essays and answer multiple choice tests. I attribute this to taking as much time as I needed on a readthrough to “digest” the text and even pause and mull it over.
This is only an anecdote, but I’ve always been an extremely slow reader, but worked hard to fully comprehend everything on the first read-through (at least for subjects that weren’t extremely subtle and required lots of time to chew over). An example of this is that when I took AP U.S. History, I could just read the textbook once and ace the tests. This isn’t just about having a photographic memory (which I don’t have), this is also about synthesizing facts into patterns and ideas as I read. I find this very helpful and do the same thing while following whiteboard talks (except I’m apparently a much faster verbal learner, or at least I don’t have trouble following talks in real time at all).
I’m not sure what direction this anecdote points in, but at the very least I’d personally be afraid to do speed-reading because it would mess up a pretty good system I already have in place.
I’ve experienced the same when reading philosophy literature for a class. With my slow reading I was also able to remember individual quotes and their locations well enough to retrieve them pretty well, and both write essays and answer multiple choice tests. I attribute this to taking as much time as I needed on a readthrough to “digest” the text and even pause and mull it over.