Comments on: How to Speed Read Like Theodore Roosevelt

By: Ayla87

Ayla87 — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:17:34 +0000

I know I’m a bit late to the coversation, but I would just like to say that the Z method is fantastic! I practiced this technique immediately with this article and I was amazed with the quantity of what I understood. I’ll definately use this tactic in the future. Thanks!

By: Tas von Gleichen

Tas von Gleichen — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:55:31 +0000

Trying to improve my reading skills. Nice article to get better.

By: Kris Madden

Kris Madden — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:47:27 +0000

In response to “antonio”:

If you’re still looking for more research, you can check out the Bibliography section in my new book: “Learn To Speed Read”. It’s got about 20 pages of resources you dive deeper into, if you’re interested. I’ve been researching for the book over the past few years, and the 366-page course book is culmination of that research. Hope it helps.

-Kris Madden

By: Thad

Thad — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:51:05 +0000

I trained myself to speed read while an undergrad … it helped to have teachers assign 1000 pages of reading a week per class!

I am going to link to this for my current students who may need some help reading faster …

By: krist

krist — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:50:28 +0000

Glad to read this article. I read really slow, i need to pick it up!

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:46:29 +0000

wow, that really helped a lot, I read this article so damn fast! I couldnt really to the z method. but the fast scan and counting 1234 friggn worked like a charm!!! Thanks a ton!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:37:21 +0000

Great article. And there have been some interesting and useful comments posted. I backtrack often. But that’s mainly because I have a difficult time comprehending what I’ve read. Any suggestions on that?

By: Joseph M. Orellano

Joseph M. Orellano — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:47:04 +0000

I’ve been a reader for the entirety of my life, though I do not read books quite as much as I used to. That all changed when I became a journalist for a local newspaper. I stopped reading so many books and writing creatively and for fun, for the most part, once I got home, since the vast majority of my day became all about writing the news. I’ve learned how to skip over the fluff and focus on the meaty things like Roosevelt, but I’ve got that nasty problem of subvocalizing! (I am very happy to finally know what that is called!) If I could simply stop myself from doing that, I’d imagine I’d be able to enjoy reading again. I tried it out by reading the remainder of this article, but found myself slipping here and again, and now I’ve got a headache. But still, a fascinating read, as always!

By: antonio

antonio — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:14:18 +0000

funny how i was actually researching up this very topic for self improvement a few back to find it conveniently summarised here. nonetheless, thanks for the good article!

apart from the above gems, here are some others which might be useful to you and other readers:

1. many reading materials contain “filler” materials. filler materials just serve the purpose of bulking up the gist of the article. extract the crux of the article and briefly understand the fillers. you can return to them later if you so wish.

2. quality speed reading requires focus. abstain from multi-tasking. works for some, but i guess i dont belong to that “some”

3. people have different levels of comprehension and speed when it comes to different topics. technical information usually requires more time to devour as opposed to light topics. a person’s own interests and aptitude in the subject matter also do play a part. in short, speed reading is not a constant for all articles.

4. understand the basic structure of an article: title, subtitle, abstract, introduction, body, diagrams and figures, summary, appendices etc. it’s always useful to glimpse the summarised gist to get an overall understanding before dwelling it in deeper details. also, it’s very useful to read and understand diagrams first before reading the prose.

5. there are different levels of reading. “i’ve read this book” doesn’t need to apply to reading it only once. i enjoy glimpsing through a novel, and if i do enjoy it, i will consider a further more in depth read. if not, it shall pass. extracting the gems of an article doesnt need to be once. quite on the contrary, you extract some gems through multiple re-reads and revision. there’s always hidden gems that you failed to uncover or appreciate (at that point in time) that you can find upon re-reading (or revising a textbook)

6. treat reading like watching a movie — you can rewind what you missed. in other words, eliminate back skip. it’s a good method to accustom yourself to this generally time wasting habit. you can make exceptions if it’s technical matter or something critical to understanding of the entire prose.

7. imagine your reading focus as a circle. main focus in the centre and it’s peripheral vision near the circumference. practice reading all the words in this circle of focus, and slowly improve on expanding the circle.

i hope this helps.

By: Chris W.

Chris W. — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:03:52 +0000

Great article. I work for a speed reading software company and a lot of what has been put here is quite accurate. I was curious for a number of years about how fast I actually read and wondered if any program would help me. You can take a free demo of our product and found out how fast you reading, before and after a exercise of our program. Check it out at http://www.eyeqadvantage.com, and while your there enter to win a free iPod touch.

By: Alex Chebykin

Alex Chebykin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:32:56 +0000

Wonderful article in that it inspired me to learn a new skill.

I did some searching and stumbled upon a program called Mental Photographing. As far as I understand it, it it s similar to speed reading in that it allows you to read a lot faster. The creator claims it increases reading speed to anywhere from 25,000 wmp to 100,000 wpm, which sounds impossible.

I am almost sure that its a hoax, but just to be certain I want to ask the respectable members of this community if they know anything about mental photographing. Did anyone use mental photographing and find it useful? Or is it just a scam?

By: Sir Lancelot

Sir Lancelot — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:09:09 +0000

“I used to speed read when I was growing up but the Internet ruined my concentration. (fast, quick information). I need to get back into it. It was a lot of fun to knock back a bunch of books in a day.”

What this man said. The Internet has made me cut back my “actual” reading. The possibility of accessing endless sources on information at a click of the mouse is too tempting and makes it harder to pick a book and singlemindedly focus on it

By: Katherine Taylor

Katherine Taylor — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:50:34 +0000

In the information age, speed reading can be a very valuable skill, however, you should also be able to comprehend what you are reading or else it is no use.

By: Kartikey

Kartikey — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:20:13 +0000

Read without fear and don’t be bother if you con’t comprehend.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:18:10 +0000

I’m constantly trying to increase my reading speed At the moment I primarily read text books and instruction books. I usually read these types of books a little slower to further soak in the information so I’ll abbreviate frequently repeated words to save some time.