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From: robison@lzwi.UUCP (R.T.D.ROBISON)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Speed Reading
Message-ID: <381@lzwi.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Oct-85 13:59:41 EST
Article-I.D.: lzwi.381
Posted: Mon Oct 28 13:59:41 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 04:21:46 EST
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Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft
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Summary: Speed-reading skills are flexible

I learned some Evelyn Wood speed reading skills.  I do not agree with
the claims geenrally made for speed-reading, but consider this:

I can read with my finger moving along the page (line by line, or vertically)
to control the speed that I am reading at.  There is no ideal speed; I adjust
for the type of literature, and the degree of comprehension I think is
necessary.  When you read the traditional way, it is very hard to think about,
or control, your speed.  It's easy to slow down far too much.  The finger
control makes it easy to know what you are doing.

Through Evelyn Wood exercises, I have increased the degree of comprehension
I get for many different reading speeds.  You learn to develop, and turn on,
certain kinds of deeper concentration.  There is nothing magical here -- you
have to practice to keep the skill up, and I suspect that for most people
comprehension increases by a modest factor, not, say, by a factor of 10.

The speed-reading work helped me to be much more conscious about how much
comprehension each type of reading requires.  I read good fiction slower
than I used to.  I don't want to miss much.  I read bad fiction very fast,
if I suddenly realize that the only thing interesting about the book is how
the plot turns out.  Magazine articles and textbooks have their own appropriate
tempos.

-- toby robison (ihnp4!picuxa!tdr)