How do you read?

[Elastigirl]

I was talking to my nerdy college son last night and he told me how he managed to read so fast. He scans the whole page, reading it without comprehending. Then moves on to the next section, and while he reads it, his brain catches up and he comprehends what he had read in the section before. This method must work, he gets good grades, and remembers what he read.

 

I told him that I never heard of anyone doing that before and told him he was a quirk of nature(jokingly of course) He said probably lots of people read that way.

 

Which leads to my question. Do any of you read that way?

 

[Schmopey]

That was basically the gist of a speed reading study skills course I took in high school. Of course, that approach can make it harder to pick up the nuances of language, like redundancy.

 

I can do it, but have a really hard time if it is something I want to read; I then tend to read quite slowly and for enjoyment.

[Jothra]

My optometrist taught me how to speed read when I was 12. The degree to which I speed read is inversely proportional to how exciting, beautiful, or just plain interesting I find what I am reading at any given moment.

[Zee_]

I love reading and I've always been a fast reader. I think I read one of the Harry Potter books in about half a day. Think it was the bigger one (number 5?), it sure wasn't any of the first 3.

I don't know how I do it. My mum always used to ask me whether I actually comprehended when I read and always asked me questions about the book I was reading. I would always answer and I comprehended everything pretty well.

Never interrupt me when I'm reading though! Once I find a good book I have to read it until I finish it. Thank goodness I'm quick cause it only takes me half a day... only

[Zee_]

My optometrist taught me how to speed read when I was 12. The degree to which I speed read is inversely proportional to how exciting, beautiful, or just plain interesting I find what I am reading at any given moment.

Yes! I always read faster when I am excited about what I'm reading Sometimes I get upset though, if I finish a whole series, because it's all over and done within a few days =/

[Storm_Ike]

I actually never learned how to speed read because I apparently never needed to. My doctor said my brain processes info and thoughts much faster than most people. Just leave me alone for a day and I can blast through the Kite Runner and years later still tell you a majority of things that happened in the book. I started talking and reading earlier than most kids too. 

 

The only downside is that the apparent trade off is in mathematics. I'm terrible when it comes to higher math like Trig or Calculus. M

 

Money however is not an issue . 4 times out of five, I can figure out change before the register displays it.

 

http://rapgenius.com/1942198/Jay-z-somewhereinamerica/1-million-2-million-3-million-20-million-oh-im-so-good-at-math

[Briguy]

I've always wanted to be able to read faster. Some people say I am a east reader, but looking trying to figure it out I am around 300 words per minute, and that's average (apparently most people I know read slow) I have a lot of books that I want to read and be able to comprehend but have trouble if it doesn't have a storyline, and I always get them to learn stuff, then they sit around cause I loose interest be they are read.

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[Oramac]

I love reading and I've always been a fast reader. I think I read one of the Harry Potter books in about half a day. Think it was the bigger one (number 5?), it sure wasn't any of the first 3.

I don't know how I do it. My mum always used to ask me whether I actually comprehended when I read and always asked me questions about the book I was reading. I would always answer and I comprehended everything pretty well.

Never interrupt me when I'm reading though! Once I find a good book I have to read it until I finish it. Thank goodness I'm quick cause it only takes me half a day... only

 

This is me too.  I think I read Red Storm Rising in like a day and a half when I was around 10.  The only book that's ever taken me a long time to read was Atlas Shrugged, but I think that's because I wanted to take my time and think about it all. 

[Zee_]

It's pretty much impossible for me to read slow, even if I do love a book and want to take my time like that! The only time it will ever take me ages to read a book is if I get super bored with it & sometimes it takes me months to finish it. But when I do pick it up again I read it all pretty quickly. I need more books to read, I haven't read anything in so long (except for cookbooks lol)

[Oramac]

It's pretty much impossible for me to read slow, even if I do love a book and want to take my time like that! The only time it will ever take me ages to read a book is if I get super bored with it & sometimes it takes me months to finish it. But when I do pick it up again I read it all pretty quickly. I need more books to read, I haven't read anything in so long (except for cookbooks lol)

 

I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged.  I'd be willing to bet you can't finish it in a day and still comprehend it all.  

[Zee_]

I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged.  I'd be willing to bet you can't finish it in a day and still comprehend it all.  

Haha I might give it a go & see if I can prove you wrong. Maybe I'll buy it when I know I have a day planned with absolutely nothing on. If I get interrupted I get pretty grumpy lol

[Elastigirl]

I love reading and I've always been a fast reader. I think I read one of the Harry Potter books in about half a day. Think it was the bigger one (number 5?), it sure wasn't any of the first 3.

I don't know how I do it. My mum always used to ask me whether I actually comprehended when I read and always asked me questions about the book I was reading. I would always answer and I comprehended everything pretty well.

Never interrupt me when I'm reading though! Once I find a good book I have to read it until I finish it. Thank goodness I'm quick cause it only takes me half a day... only

That made me laugh. My son read fast when he was young too. And he was an early reader, so I was worried that he wasn't comprehending stuff. So I would always ask my son all sorts of questions about what he was reading, really annoyed him  

[Elastigirl]

I love reading and I've always been a fast reader. I think I read one of the Harry Potter books in about half a day. Think it was the bigger one (number 5?), it sure wasn't any of the first 3.

I don't know how I do it. My mum always used to ask me whether I actually comprehended when I read and always asked me questions about the book I was reading. I would always answer and I comprehended everything pretty well.

Never interrupt me when I'm reading though! Once I find a good book I have to read it until I finish it. Thank goodness I'm quick cause it only takes me half a day... only

I actually never learned how to speed read because I apparently never needed to. My doctor said my brain processes info and thoughts much faster than most people. Just leave me alone for a day and I can blast through the Kite Runner and years later still tell you a majority of things that happened in the book. I started talking and reading earlier than most kids too. 

 

The only downside is that the apparent trade off is in mathematics. I'm terrible when it comes to higher math like Trig or Calculus. M

 

Money however is not an issue . 4 times out of five, I can figure out change before the register displays it.

 

http://rapgenius.com/1942198/Jay-z-somewhereinamerica/1-million-2-million-3-million-20-million-oh-im-so-good-at-math

 

Do you just read fast the normal way-scanning as you read or do you do the speed way? I am a fast reader, but just the normal way. 

The funny thing about my son is according to him this is the way he has always done it, it wasn't something that somebody taught him

[Zee_]

That made me laugh. My son read fast when he was young too. And he was an early reader, so I was worried that he wasn't comprehending stuff. So I would always ask my son all sorts of questions about what he was reading, really annoyed him  

Hahaha it did get very annoying, I most likely will end up doing the same though when I have kids ;P I was an early reader as well. My boyfriend reads everything super slow & he hates books, so it's interesting really. The more you read the better you get I guess!

[Noitca]

From left to right....

 

or with my eyes shut (reading puts me to sleep)...

 

 

I am a slow reader.  Takes me forever to get through a book that I read for pleasure.  That said, I also tend to remember what I read for a long time.  I can pick up a book that I am in the middle of without reading it for a month and remember what happened up to that point. 

 

 

[SevenofSeven]

I love to read! However I have very little time to do it so find I read quite fast. Two of my lads taught themselves how to read, my 15 year old read all three LOTR when he was 10, my now 10 year old is re-reading the Hobbit after seeing the first two movies, and loves David Gemmell, just like me. My eldest spent his first 12 months of homeschooling devouring book after book after book, not bad for a kid who we were told could not read at 12. None of us speed reads we just read fast, the old fashioned way.

[insanity]

With my fingers....

[tomocalypse]

I used to read very fast, but the faster I got the more frequently I would read through a paragraph, then realise that I had missed something, or failed to take some information in.

Had to spend quite a while deliberately forcing myself to slow down. Now my reading speed is somewhat more average, but I know I'm not missing a thing.

Which was both a blessing and a curse doing my degree in English Lit. Took forever to do the required reading, absolute pain in the ass. But I took it all in, which I suppose is the idea.

Got to balance speed with comprehension.

[Storm_Ike]

Do you just read fast the normal way-scanning as you read or do you do the speed way? I am a fast reader, but just the normal way. 

The funny thing about my son is according to him this is the way he has always done it, it wasn't something that somebody taught him

I read fast in a normal way. Just blast through a page line after line. I never needed to learn any special techniques. 

[Elastigirl]

I love to read! However I have very little time to do it so find I read quite fast. Two of my lads taught themselves how to read, my 15 year old read all three LOTR when he was 10, my now 10 year old is re-reading the Hobbit after seeing the first two movies, and loves David Gemmell, just like me. My eldest spent his first 12 months of homeschooling devouring book after book after book, not bad for a kid who we were told could not read at 12. None of us speed reads we just read fast, the old fashioned way.

One of my favorite things about homeschooling my son was that when he was totally absorbed in a book, I could delay starting school, I figured why interrupt him learning ? I have great memories of us both sitting on the couch curled up with a book and reading.  My best friend's daughter was a late reader. Now she is 12 , and is reading the Three Musketeers.

 

With my fingers....

interesting  

[SevenofSeven]

One of my favorite things about homeschooling my son was that when he was totally absorbed in a book, I could delay starting school, I figured why interrupt him learning ? I have great memories of us both sitting on the couch curled up with a book and reading.  My best friend's daughter was a late reader. Now she is 12 , and is reading the Three Musketeers.

 

 

My youngest is turning seven very soon and he has only just started sounding out letters, he can guess words like minecraft and zombies by using the first couple of letters but is definitely not a reader. If he were in school no doubt we would be having those silly teacher is concerned meetings, I just figure, like a couple of his other brothers, he will do it when he's ready.

[Frost of the Gloaming]

Like the lot of you I'm a fast reader; I can read entire books in one day however when I'm reading a tech book or anything that has numbers I will run my left hand fingers over it almost like it was braille.

[Briguy]

Still not reading as fast as I want but... I guess I have to at least pick up a book first.

I was held back in kindergarten because I read, and didn't read for about half of my second year, according to my mom after I started reading I was helping tutor other kids with. A couple of weeks, I guess it wasn't as much that I couldn't as I didn't want to ( I did the same with walking, started at a late age, when I did start I didn't have these awkward first steps, just walked like a normal 2 year old (however normal that is)

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