Fraters Libertas

Feeling The Need For Speed (to read)

In response to my post wondering about the merits of speed reading, I received a number of thoughtful responses (and one profanity laced e-mail from a John H. which advised, "You have to have an IQ over 50 to read a**hole. You don't qualify, you stupid s***") that featured a variety of opinions on the efficacy of speed reading.

Paul calls it a scam:

In high school my parents ponied up for a speed reading class. It really isn't reading. They tested me beforehand, and my comprehension at regular reading was fairly high, in the 95th or so percentile. My speed was above average for regular reading.

The class convinced me that the thing was a scam. When I finished, my speed had increased 5 -8 times as fast as I had been, but my comprehension fell into the 50's. They claimed that as I used it more I would get better, but I just quit as I didn't enjoy feeling dumber.

Craig says it works, but may not be worth the expense:

I took the old Evelyn Wood class back in my college years. Yes, it works. Yes, It's helpful. No, it's not worth the money -- if you like to read. You can master the basics in a couple of hours, it takes hours and and hours of practice to make use of the fine points and for very little additional benefit.

Basically, the course teaches you to read without subvocalizing the words. You start off by moving your finger at a steady pace under the lines of type (what you were told not to do in grade school). Keep your finger moving and you'll start to absorb words without "reading" them -- like you do when you see the 55 mph sign. Then you move you finger down the side of the column taking in whole paragraphs. Wizards make an x-shape across a page.

The classes also teach ways to prep reading. Before actually reading, read the first and last paragraphs of a piece, read the bold-faced heads. Read the first sentence of selected paragraphs. Then read the piece. With context, you can read faster and absorb more.

I still use the techniques to "read" research and the newspaper when I bother to sit at a table (required). You can't speed read with a martini in front of the fire. Most of the stuff I read, I love to mull over a good turn of phrase, so I don't use the skill -- and it is a "use it or lose it" skill.

Back when I was taking the classes I was reading almost 1,500 words per minute at 90 percent comprehension, which is about average for people taking the class. Normally I guess I read around 300 words per minute (based on what I did in high school and slow down for age). Most people read around 220-250.

Sean also took the Evelyn Wood course, but on someone else's dime:

I read your post asking about speed reading. Several years ago I took a speed reading course from my company's training department. I have always been a good reader but I was being asked to read an enormous volume of technical data and it seemed like it might be worth the try.

I found to my surprise that it actually worked. In a single day I was able to triple my reading speed, and my comprehension, as measured by simple tests, was improved. The course I took was the one from the Evelyn Woods school, which is one of the oldest around. It has been proven and improved over the years. To make a long story short, it was probably the single day of training that changed my life more than any other.

This course included tests of reading speed before and after the class. I started out reading 700 words per minute, which is pretty fast. They promise to double your speed, but I was reading at 2000 wpm after the class. What I found is that if you push yourself you can actually read an entire page of text at a glance. It is, however, quite exhausting. It requires a lot of focus, and I don't recommend it for pleasure reading. However, some of the skills that you learn do transfer to all reading, and you can certainly improve your speed and comprehension of all reading if you take one of these classes. As with anything, moderation is important. You can suck in lots of information if you force yourself, but there is a difference between comprehension (basically memorization) and reflection.

Steve claims that thanks to Evelyn Wood, "my reddin' has improvd 100 prcent":

Evelyn Woodhead was right (despite the classic SNL bit I parrot in the title of this note).

You practice and you get better at anything. I took a speed reading course in the late '70 when I was maybe 12 years old. My mother decided it would be good for the family to take the course together. My father opted out so it was me, my mother, sister and brother draggin' ass to the local community college every Tuesday night. I don't remember much about the course except we read excerpts from Leon Uris' Exodus. I wouldn't want my 12 year old to read that crap.

I don't remember anything from the course and don't consciously use any of the techniques. I still read dramatically faster than my much smarter wife. I haven't measured my reading speed since then but I can plow through books very quickly and made it through law school, while working full time, without too much pain.

I'll take that as an endorsement. I guess.

pkoberg is also sold:

I cannot help you with all of your questions, since the speed reading course I took was a part of the curriculum at the private school I attended 30 years ago.

But I can say that the course was effective in increasing the speed at which I read. At my peak, I could read about 850 words a minute. I'm not sure what it is now, but I read about 3 times faster than everyone else I know.

The class I took not only emphasized speed, but put a lot of focus on retention, too. That was the most important benefit to me. I tested out of that class reading 800 words a minute with an 85% retention rate.

If you have to read in volume and retention of what you have read is important, try to find a course where retention is a major emphasis. As far as reading purely for pleasure, I am able to slow down the rate of speed to a point where I still get a lot of pleasure just from what I am reading, but still read quickly enough to be able to read more than I would have been able to before the course.

Good luck.

As is Greg:

I am using the eyeQ program and have experienced a sustained improvement of about 38% in reading speed. I pop up over 100% and expect to continue improving as I work through the program. I use a single lesson for several weeks until I feel I plateau and then move to the next lesson. The program also tests speed against comprehension and these results are also significant. I have set a pretty high goal for the year and plan to use the program to get there. My reasons are similar to yours, much I want to read and too little time to get to it all.

I started with the online program but moved to the program on my laptop because I travel all the time. When I am diligent at using the program my improvement is consistent. The only drawback is you have to have the CD in your computer in order to run the program.

I would recommend this program and actually have purchased the 10 license version for my children to use.

Jo is just about ready to take the same plunge:

I saw your post regarding speed reading courses...

As I finally ordered the one Eye-Q system that Prager keeps plugging, you would think I would have some input on this.

I still need to take it out of its package. Damn, I'm surprised at my own laziness sometimes.

As soon as I get going on it, I'll let you know what I think.

Finally Jeff adds a new wrinkle to the discussion:

See if you get any comments on photoreading. Their headquarters is near Minneapolis. I've never figured out if it's for real or not and I'd be interested to see if anyone tells you anything useful about it. Especially anyone with sober experience with it. Part of their book is online here.

Sober experience eh? Sounds like a job for Atomizer.

Meanwhile, I'll have to take in all this feedback and see where it leads me. It seems pretty clear that there are advantages to speed reading, but questions remain about the best way to learn the skill and how to employ it. I definitely have some more research to do.