How does speed-reading work? Have been curious about it. Thanks! :-D?

Question

Please serious answers only.

Answer 1

It takes a while to retrain your brain how to look at written material.
When we first learn to read anything we are taught to look at each letter in order or break down the word and sound it out right? Well, in speed-reading you look at the entire word first then work up to seeing two words at the same time... It's almost like you are learning to read including your peripheral vision... sort of.

For example... a sentence like " The dog ran up the hill"... most of us read "The", "dog", "ran", "up", "the", "hill"... each word.. okay?
In speed reading you first learn to see "The dog", "ran up" , "the hill".
Next step.. "The dog ran", "up the hill" (you see "The" and "ran" while looking at the word "dog".) Basically you learn how to see more in shorter time until finally you look at the sample sentence in the middle of it and actually see and understand the whole sentence in a fraction of the time it would take to read it traditionally.

I took a speed-reading workshop years ago but I'm not disciplined enough to go through the entire course... I did learn alot and it has helped me read more efficiently but I was almost finished school and didn't have to keep it up... in other words I would have time to read.

Hope this helped your curiousity.. I think kids should be taught this immediately after they learn to read sentences.. For me as an adult I would have to retrain my brain after years of one way of learning... guess I'm lazy.

Answer 2

Phoenix is pretty much dead on.
1 you don't have to read EVERY word to pick up the important points of a story or article.
2 30+% of your reading time is spent going from the end of 1 line to the start of another so they use a finger or slider to mark the line
It is worth the time to take course if you get the opportunity

an Evelyn Wood Graduate

Answer 3

Never heard of it but I generally read faster than anyone else in my class. Speed reading might be just skimming through the lines picking up details here and there?