Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here could give me advise on which of the Speed Reading / Photoreading courses they have found to work. I'm mainly interested in home study rather than instructor lead courses, down to cost.

Thanks

Peter Craig

Hi Peter,

I found the book, PhotoReading, by Paul Scheele a helpful and straightforward guide for the techniques, and a very cheap alternative to the courses on offer. After that its a case of practice and applying what you've learned.

Have fun

Cam

I first got excited by Paul Scheele but after a while was questioning it's effectiveness. I think a good start is to know what you want out of the book. Cut out the little words. Starting taking in chunks of words at a time. Make detailed mental pictures to remember things because as human beings our memories are so bad and we don't even realize.

thanks for the advice folks

Hi there,

I am going to do the full course on the 19th July as I think there is more to learn than just reading the book. I can give you an update after my course if that helps.

Thanks,

Kubi

The 'Photo-reading' method seems a bit pointless to me. The problem I can see is that the process is a very effective way to teach your brain to feel like it has a greater comprehension of the material that it actually has. It does increase confidence. If the point is increased comprehension (which I thought was the point of reading in the first place) then it fairs very poorly when tested. If you just want to feel like you know a lot then it might be the one for you! This is why people come out raving about it because their confidence in its effectiveness is increased. So do not use it for anything important like exams!!

I haven't looked into 'speed reading' which I believe is a different method (and slower than photo-reading) so cannot comment on that one. Make sure when you evaluate it you are evaluating based on test scores for comprehension rather than testimonials. It is really easy to construct weak tests that appear to confirm effectiveness. Weak tests also amplify the confidence which is why they are used often.

I personally find that the 'slow reading' method is most effective if your purpose is more skill and understanding. The slower I read the more I seem to be able to use in real life. I often go back through a book many times and understand levels I didn't spot before. Maybe I should trademark and market 'snail reading'. Trouble is although highly effective, I don't think I would get many takers!!

I think photo reading it is another name for what used to be called skimming. i.e. getting an overview of the book so that you know where things are and which areas to read in depth.

southnick wrote:

I think photo reading it is another name for what used to be called skimming. i.e. getting an overview of the book so that you know where things are and which areas to read in depth.

Unfortunately, its a little more sophisticated than that. If you just skimmed your confidence in your level of knowledge wouldn't increase as much as it seems to do with Photo-reading..

mrlimbic wrote:

I personally find that the 'slow reading' method is most effective if your purpose is more skill and understanding. The slower I read the more I seem to be able to use in real life. I often go back through a book many times and understand levels I didn't spot before. Maybe I should trademark and market 'snail reading'. Trouble is although highly effective, I don't think I would get many takers!!

I absolutely adore snail reading. When I was in grad school, it got me in trouble, but nowadays, I can spend a whole day on three pages, and get so much more out of what I read!

If you market the course, John, I'll buy it!!! Or perhaps, I could be a contributor to some of its methodology...

mrlimbic wrote:

I haven't looked into 'speed reading' which I believe is a different method (and slower than photo-reading) so cannot comment on that one. Make sure when you evaluate it you are evaluating based on test scores for comprehension rather than testimonials. It is really easy to construct weak tests that appear to confirm effectiveness. Weak tests also amplify the confidence which is why they are used often.

I bought a book on speed reading years ago, I think it was by Tony Buzan. I trebled my reading speed very quickly just with the simple techniques then stopped practising. One of the problems I found with speed reading is that certain words, mostly those I was not familiar with, acted like speed bumps. So when reading a technical text speed reading can be a little jerky, I found it best for reviewing material I had already covered in detail. I think the claim in the book was that anyone could reach speeds of several thousand words a minute whereas most people are normally between 200 and 400 ish. Even at several thousand words a minute the speeds pale in comparison to photo reading. A friend of a friend that I met told me he photoread several textbooks on EI then wrote his own book which is now published. Opinions on how good it is vary

For a deeper explanation of speed reading it might be useful to read the mind gym books. I have found these to be useful in may areas including speed reading. It would appear from what they are saying in there that a course is not necessary. I have followed their advice and have found it to be very helpful

Hi Peter,

I have been to a Photo reading course and I found it fantastic and good way to read books fast and get through things done quickly.

Please go to PhotoReading Courses UK, Speed Reading Courses UK, Speed Reading Courses London, 2 Day Speed Reading Course UK

Any questions let me know.

Thanks,

Kubi

i will give u Steps of speed Reading :

1-survey : carefully per-read the chapter look at the title , subtitle , and italics , graphs and diagrams , summary and / or conclusion and question at the end of the chapter

2- question : reading is thinking process , inquiry makes you an active reader . From ulate questions befor u read . Convert titles , subtitles , etc into questions . wright these dowen

3- Read : thoroughly read the chapter and fill in the answer to ur question as u go along .

Important : Read for meaning , not only the answers ! wright dowen any information u sense is important .

4- Recite : talk to ur self , Read ur questions , answer and notes out loud - translate key ideas and new terms into ur own words , research any answers or information that do not seem clear enough .

5- Review : Read ur notes as often as possible , frequent review enables u better retain material

BE Flexible

at first go through SQ3R Step by Step , and leter a alter it to suit own purposes and style .

........

hagar

Speed reading and photo reading are utterly crap

However, they are also brilliant!

As long as you take the "reading" part out of the title.

Use the techniques, but not for reading comprehension

They are for food for imagination and thought. They can be excellent for searching for ideas in general. And they can give you a general (imperfectionism is healthy) overview.

So if you are knackered at the end of a day of lectures and library, just photoread a book that you feel might involve something inspiring to help you with your course.

Flick the pages, sniff them, lick them, sleep with the book under your pillow, whatever allows you to get into the basic notion of the book.

Get into a curious state of mind

Look at the general scenarios, locations, people, etc

Have a good search around the imagination

Have another flick around

Have a nice little mental wandering/think

Have another flick

Write down whatever ideas you have.

Go for a stroll around the library, smell the books, try not to read the labels on the spines, and kid yourself you can read a gazillion words per minute or a library per hour

Inspiring stuff! Basically SR and PR are just book supported imagination methods, with a bit of searching thrown in.

Handy enough if you know the real deal

One other thing is to point at the words with a finger/pencil. Doesn't do much of anything at all for your reading, but it looks flash!

Rich

I just got my hands on the...

Reading Genius 2.0 course.

Reading Genius 2.0 -- Speed Reading with Comprehension.


Looks very promising!

I am reading:

Speed Reading for Professionals - H bernard Wechsler and Arthur H. Bell only 131 Pages $8.99
Increase speed reading, Concentration and retention.

I bought it to get a better understanding of what I was reading so quickly as did the other reviewers on Amazon.

I also bought The Memory Book - Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas $6.99

read with speed and greater understanding
Learn foreign words and phrases with ease
file numbers, data, figures and appointments into your head
shorten study hours
remember important details.

both had great reviews

Just got them, worth a try by reviews, content and cost.

Hope this helps.
Nadia.

Hi Nadia,

Thanks for the recommends. Always greatfully received. Will give them a try.

Wendy

I spent over 4 hours with my Reading Genius 2.0 course, so far I HIGHLY recomand this product.

They use the power of the mind to train your brain to read pages at a time, alot of NLP and Hypnotic tools are at play with this course. I do own a speed reading book and 98% of books our there teach you techniqe. For example they all tell you to move your figners faster, thats what its basicly all about.

Reading Genius 2.0, goes beyound that...WAY WAY WAY beyound that... haha

What i found is all of the system has one thing in common
1. purpose

If you have interest in the book nothing will come in the way (speed or comprehension ).

i have all the programs and read and listened to all of them. expect name and some steps explained differently everything is same.

You have to read with eyes and mind open thats it.

If you have any questions please free to ask me.

thank you.
Srinivas Reddy

****UPDATE***
Speed Reading for Professionals - H.Bernard Weschsler and Arthur H Bell

I have begun to read this book and am already astonished at how easily my reading has improved it is noteworthy that I already read/Study a couple of books a week (depending on time) and have been known to have 3 on the go at a time.

My usual rate is around 450 WPM and with just the few techniques I have learned whilst sleepily reading before bed last night I have picked up the pace amazingly to probably around 550 wpm.

My focus now is on retaining more of of the information, the small quiz at end of each reading segment helps.

The Authors recommend practicing for the next 30 days at 30 mins a day and ask you to commit before reading.

For me it is not a competition, I was just looking to find something which would cut down my reading/study time or enable me to read/study more each day in less time.

For $8.99 I happily recommend at the very least as a starter Book.

Nadia.