Hi all, I wasn't quite sure where to put this, but I thought the lounge was best. I am notoriously slow at reading, especially for a writer (130wpm), and I was seeking to improve my speed a little. So I discovered a nice article which helped me loads - now I read at 360wpm, which I know is still slow for the vast majority, but it's a huge improvement for myself. It sounds like spam, so I won't add to it by giving a link; just Google "how to read faster" and click the first website. Whatever your reading speed, you will improve. Let me know of your success stories in the comments, folks!
Thomas, Add it as a Resource in the Resource Area! It's not spam, it just belongs over there. Please, I encourage you to do so. The forum voted to have that Resource center and I think people are a little unsure as to how to use it, what should go there, etc. I think this article would be perfect there. Go. Do it. Please! Wrey
Is reading faster really that helpful? Shouldn't we be more concerned with comprehension and retention?
Yes, but it increases speed while also retaining comprehension. This is going into the Resource section soon, anyway.
I used to speed-read when I was in high school. Eventually I realized how much I hated it. It was fine, I guess, for plowing through hundreds of the science fiction books and magazines I was into at the time, and for reading stuff for English class, but when I finally started sampling the stuff in my Dad's bookshelf, I found myself slowing down a lot - the prose of some of those writers was just too good. There were passages in writers like Steinbeck, Melville, and Wodehouse in which each sentence was a polished gem, and trying to read them fast was like fast-forwarding through a Beethoven symphony. Speed reading is valuable for me still - I speed-read news stories, blogs, and other run-of-the-mill stuff, but never good literature. When the writer is an artist of prose, I like to read the work aloud.
"I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia." - Woody Allen I agree with minstrel that speed reading is valuable in some cases. I usually skim news or magazine articles, but that's about it. Don't get me wrong; I think speed reading is a great tool, but it's not something I would personally spend too much time learning (I think I'm a fast enough reader). I'm sure the methods are effective, though, because I've heard of many cases where people are reading 600+ words a minute. There are a few cases of people reading 1000+ words per minute as well. On a side note, have you guys heard of Kim Peek? He can read an average-length book in one hour and has 98% retention, which is more than double that of your average person. He supposedly reads two pages at the same time, which is remarkable. He was born that way, though. It's not something you can teach.
no one who wants to be a writer should be trying to read faster, imo... working on increasing comprehension, if you're lacking in that area is certainly a 'must'... but not speed...
When I used to be 130wpm? It took me weeks just to finish Clash of Kings. I understand that comprehension is most important for writers, but when I was that slow, it was just bordering on the ridiculous.
