Re: Speed Reading, Photo Reading

Til Eulenspiegel (til_e@aloha.net)
Sun, 19 Apr 1998 16:51:05 -1000 (HST)


At 21:24 +0200 19 04 98, Holger Wagner wrote:

>A friend of mine recently pointed me to Speed and Photo Reading.
>Currently, I read at about 250 words per minute. I found some companies
>trying to sell "Learn PhotoReading" kits for about $250 through
>MetaCrawler, and I'd really like to know what that's all about.
>
[claim deleted]
>
>Anybody with experience on that?
>
>Thanks for any information!
>
>later,
>Holger

I have read a "teach-yourself" PhotoReading book from the originating
company. I no longer own this book; perhaps their courses are better.

Briefly, their method involved studying the book's structure, reading for a
definite purpose, using your finger as a visual-aid and outlining. This is
all pretty standard for improved reading skill courses. Their claims of
enormous speed come from their one novel suggestion: soft-focussing on a
book's pages
and turning them at a steady rpaid rate supposedly allowing the
"subconscious" mind to absorb the information.

I got no real benefit, but I read naturally at about 400-600 wpm or better.
This varies with the material's difficulty and familiarity, of course. "How
fast can you read?" is as meaningful as "How fast can you drive?". A
familiar road under the best conditions allows high speeds; a well-loved
book with an interested reader also allows high speeds.

My (unsolicited) advice is to read "How to Read a Book," by Mortimer J.
Adler. I don't know where you can find it auf Deustch, but amazon.com may
sell it. This text covers reading skills other than speed techniques.
Instruction on these can be had from just about any "read fast" book on the
market.

Hope this helps.

Til Eulenspiegel
<til_e@aloha.net>, <til_e@hotmail.com>

Sometimes the delete key is your best friend.