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Do you have to be a savant in order to speed read?

Nocturnal

Nocturnal

Lifer
There are people who say "I've never ever said the words aloud in my head while reading, ever."

How in the world does that happen? I need to know this. Can I do this or do you have to be born a savant?
 
You don't have to be any kind of savant. I used to be able to sort of do it - I could look at a sentence and "read" it as a whole without thinking about each word really.
 
I'm no savant and I speed read. LOTR series in three days, Harry Potter books 1 through 5 in six. Just depends how early you started reading and your aptitude for it.
 
ever? dunno

but its doable, just takes practice, get a book on speed reading (they have excersises and methods to practice) or take a class. its definitely doable, seeing and reading all the words is the easy part, its comprehending it, which still just seems to take practice and regular reading to keep up the pace.
 
Originally posted by: Heisenberg
You don't have to be any kind of savant. I used to be able to sort of do it - I could look at a sentence and "read" it as a whole without thinking about each word really.
Click to expand...

:Q I've been reading like that since I could ever remember. I thought it was how everyone else read.
 
You can improve your speed with some conscious practice. You learn to look at a few words as a whole and take them in at once, instead of word-by-word. There are books and courses on the subject.
 
As others have said, the key is to take in multiple words at once. Your brain will process them and, if you read one word at a time now and learn to take in groups of words, your comprehension will actually improve along with your speed.
 
Originally posted by: xSkyDrAx
Originally posted by: Heisenberg
You don't have to be any kind of savant. I used to be able to sort of do it - I could look at a sentence and "read" it as a whole without thinking about each word really.
Click to expand...

:Q I've been reading like that since I could ever remember. I thought it was how everyone else read.
Click to expand...
When I used to read novels all the time that's what I did. Since I started having to read physics textbooks instead I had to make myself read every word, so I kind of got out of the habit.
 
I don't consider that speed reading, that is normal for many, many people (myself included).

I'm not sure what the difference is between those who can & can't read that way, though I suspect much is due to how they are taught. I'm pretty sure my parents stressed that when they were teaching me to read & I have always been fast (as is my dad).

My dad used to pick up novels (relatively small, like Louis L'Amour stuff) in stores & end up reading the entire thing standing in the aisle.

Viper GTS
 
Originally posted by: Nocturnal
There are people who say "I've never ever said the words aloud in my head while reading, ever."

How in the world does that happen? I need to know this. Can I do this or do you have to be born a savant?
Click to expand...

I know someone that learned to speed read. And it's true. he says you people simply know they way they were tought. It's very inefficient. You must unlearn to learn.....

But it works, it's not BS ... bla bla bla
 
I'm thinking about picking up Evelyn Wood's DVDs from Amazon. Supposedly she is the person who invented speed reading.
 
Speed reading is only good for when you have to read a sh*tty book for class you dont want to read, or reading through a newspaper article really quick. Or getting through all the garbage on this board.

Otherwise, read slowly and enjoy, or learn.
 
Originally posted by: yllus
I'm no savant and I speed read. LOTR series in three days, Harry Potter books 1 through 5 in six. Just depends how early you started reading and your aptitude for it.
Click to expand...

i read the LotR each on successive nights .. . . and Harry Potter while at the Bookstore 😛

1st of all, you have to LIKE to read and [2ndly]read a LOT.

You train your self to read GROUPS of words as a SINGLE word [just as you read many letters to form a single word]. Eventually, you read a single sentence as a single word [or thought] . . . then a paragraph at a glance and finally a page . . .

practice

[in school i got up to my max - 2,500 wpm] . . . .

made studying a breeze 🙂
 
Originally posted by: BD2003
Speed reading is only good for when you have to read a sh*tty book for class you dont want to read, or reading through a newspaper article really quick. Or getting through all the garbage on this board.

Otherwise, read slowly and enjoy, or learn.
Click to expand...

as others mentioned, its possible to read at a blazing pace and take pretty well everything in enough to know whats going on, enjoy it and comprehend it.

my normal pace is about 450 wpm or so, if i go for speed i can do 900-ish but my comprehension takes a hit since i dont do it very often.
 
Originally posted by: apoppin
Originally posted by: yllus
I'm no savant and I speed read. LOTR series in three days, Harry Potter books 1 through 5 in six. Just depends how early you started reading and your aptitude for it.
Click to expand...

i read the LotR each on successive nights .. . . and Harry Potter while at the Bookstore 😛

1st of all, you have to LIKE to read and [2ndly]read a LOT.

You train your self to read GROUPS of words as a SINGLE word [just as you read many letters to form a single word]. Eventually, you read a single sentence as a single word [or thought] . . . then a paragraph at a glance and finally a page . . .

practice

[in school i got up to my max - 2,500 wpm] . . . .

made studying a breeze 🙂
Click to expand...

Do you have any tips?
 
Originally posted by: remagavon
Originally posted by: apoppin
Originally posted by: yllus
I'm no savant and I speed read. LOTR series in three days, Harry Potter books 1 through 5 in six. Just depends how early you started reading and your aptitude for it.
Click to expand...

i read the LotR each on successive nights .. . . and Harry Potter while at the Bookstore 😛

1st of all, you have to LIKE to read and [2ndly]read a LOT.

You train your self to read GROUPS of words as a SINGLE word [just as you read many letters to form a single word]. Eventually, you read a single sentence as a single word [or thought] . . . then a paragraph at a glance and finally a page . . .

practice

[in school i got up to my max - 2,500 wpm] . . . .

made studying a breeze 🙂
Click to expand...

Do you have any tips?
Click to expand...
since i taught myself, i would find it hard to lay out a method . . . my way took LOTS [and lots] of reading - i read a book every day - starting in elementary school.

the principle is to learn to recognize groups of words as a single idea [exactly like you recognize single letters to form words - very very few people spell out each word as they read] and then increase the size of the groups until you are taking in the contents of an entire page at a glance.

there are probably lots of courses on the 'net and pobably lots of free info as well.
 
Generally, how I read relates to the content and my mood. FI, I can read my physics book much faster than I can read a novel.

Also, Google is your friend/enemy. You can buy courses and stuff for speed reading. Unless I need to read a thousand pages a day or something, I don't see the benefit though.

Lastly, with all this stuff about reading groups of words at a time...you mean to say most people don't do that? I don't read that fast (well, OK, anybody know of an online test, so we can try to see about that? 🙂), but how can you possibly even manage a newspaper if you only read one word at a time? That would suck.
 
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