I read a lot and, like most people, would like to read more in less time (here I’m not talking about reading for pleasure). Over the years I’ve done extensive research and practice into different reading methods and ways to improve reading speed and retention. Here’s an overview of what I have discovered (obviously from a subjective perspective, so don’t take this as the ultimate word on any of these methods):

Speed Reading
Most people have heard of the idea Speed Reading, which is basically a combination of techniques and methods aimed to increase one’s reading speed (how many words you read a minute) as well as comprehension. It involves training one’s eyes to see more of the page in one glance, such as an entire sentence or paragraph, and reducing poor reading methods, such as going back over words you have read and reading words out loud in your head (subvocalisation). It also consists of ways to remember what you have read normally through some sort of pegging system. When these techniques are integrated, one’s overall reading speed is said to increase.

Tony Buzan
I’ve read a few books on Speed Reading, including a few of Tony Buzan’s interesting but not very practicable books on the subject. Buzan is a well-known ‘creative-thinker-turned-celeb’ (a lot of his creativity is in him reworking books into new editions and titles), who writes on improving mental performance and mindmapping.. On the topic of Speed Reading, he generally provides exercises for you to expand your vision (glancing on ever increasing words and numbers for an instant and writing down what you thought you saw), vocabulary increasing techniques, and pegging systems to jog your memory. Personally I find it difficult to achieve mastery on a subject just by reading a book and doing a couple of exercises (unless you let your subconscious do all the work). I assume most people who read books like this feel the same, and soon lose interest in both the subject matter and exercises.  Nevertheless, Buzan’s books are worth reading if just for curiosity sake, as they come with quite interesting anecdotes about mental athletes and histories of mental science and performance. They once gave me the idea of having a world Olympics for mental performance (variations of which exist already in one form or another), which I might pursue when I have enough money to do so (when you have enough money, you don’t need enough time ).

‘Mega’ Speed Reading
With a title like that, how can the gullible fail to be impressed? This is a study package by Howard Stephen Berg (who claims to be the world’s fastest reader) and infomercial extraordinaire Kevin Trudeau (famous for his ‘MegaMemory’ series on memory improvement, his technique being to have his annoying infomercial repeated so often on television that even those with the poorest memories remembered him). I ashamedly say that I bought this course in the mid 90s with great expectations. It comes in this impressive big hard box and opens up to a few cassettes (well in those days) and a ’study’ book thinner than The Olsen Twins. I went through the course, doing all the techniques, and came out with sore eyes and a not much faster reading speed (straining of the eyes, incidentally, is the main reason why speed reading is not sustainable). The techniques are quite vague, not even as comprehensive as Buzan’s, and will certainly not make a sustainable difference to your reading speeds.

PhotoReading
Continuing with my research a few years ago, I came across something called the “PhotoReading Whole Mind System”. This system uses a completely different approach to the traditional ones by improving our reading and comprehension by working through the subconscious mind (the right and at the moment mysterious part of our brain) instead of the ‘conscious’ one. The idea is that our subconscious mind is believed continuously to take in virtually all data experienced through our senses, filter it, make sense of it, and store it. (Many people in this age who speaks of the subconscious, its workings, and its abilities are considered quacks or pseudo-scientists but I think this will start to change as scientific research into this area becomes more mainstream.). PhotoReading takes this idea and asks the reader to relax, defocus the eyes, flip through a book at a page a second without trying to ‘read’ anything, and just allow the subconscious to absorb the text. Then the reader is asked to allow the subconscious to ‘process’ the information (people tend to speak in computer language when they don’t understand how something operates) for about 24 hours and then ‘activate’ the information through a series of techniques. Obviously the assumption is that any text is captured at all (although there is scientific evidence to show that the brain does capture all or most of what it takes in). After the ‘activation’ period, the person is said to have a holistic understanding of the book or material he or she ‘PhotoRead’. I have gone through this process several times and generally am as perplexed about the book or material afterwards than when I began. However, I think in principle this is a far more effective method of absorbing information than traditional speed reading because it tries to replicate how the mind actually absorbs information. The fact that it doesn’t work (there are many unverified claims that it does work though), tells me that the system, rather than the principle, is under-developed and needs more work. I think in time, and as we learn more about the brain and mind (whether there is a difference is left for another post), variations on PhotoReading that actually do work will develop. I commend Paul Scheele (the author of the system) for starting us on this path, even though it doesn’t lead anywhere yet.

(This post doesn’t really have a conclusion, because different methods work for different people. You need to find a conclusion for yourself.)

posted by rowanp at 6:30 pm & filed under ranting, technology |