The Speed at Which you Read and how to Improve

[Clopin]

So recently I stumbled upon a thread on here about reading quickness and comprehension/speed reading and the like. A certain member (I think JBI) indicated his average reading speed was one hundred pages per hour, obviously allowing for variance in difficulty of language, font size, etc; and since then I've been very interested in the speed at which people are able to read compared to myself.

Hemingway supposedly read quite rapidly and quite a lot, and Sartre apparently read three hundred(!) books per year, Tolstoy claims to have read hundreds of books in a summer (albeit trashy French romance novels) and according to Rousseau his hunger for reading was insatiable and rapid. Now I read quite a bit and my own speed is probably only forty pages per hour, though it's often even less if what I'm reading is more difficult or convoluted than what would be considered more straightforward prose which means that I'm lucky to cover eighty to one hundred books in a year even with what I would consider pretty strenuous reading.

I'm still young so I think there's time to correct myself and train myself to read more rapidly and I'm looking for suggestions on how to achieve that as well as to open a dialogue about reading rapidly, and comprehension. I'm not interested in speed reading or how to glean a paragraph rapidly to get the meaning without touching on every single word.

Anyway my main concern is that the way I read isn't even like how other people on this website are reading. I tend to narrate every word to myself at the speed of which someone could reasonably expect to orally convey the information to me. For example it seems incomprehensible to me to read dialogue in a play, or a novel any quicker than it would realistically be spoken aloud. Do some people experience dialogue and conversations as chunks - a sentence being processed as a whole and then quickly moving on - without silently speaking aloud every word to themselves as they read it? Or are people reading with the same technique as I am but sped up like a fast forward?

I would appreciate any helpful responses since there are literally hundreds and thousands of books I want and need to read and at my current rate of information digestion it will simply take too long to accomplish this.

[EvoWarrior5]

Funny how you should mention talking speed when reading. My everyday thinking consists of thought processes at talking speed. Well, actually I sort of have multiple layers in my mind... First I hear something and my mind processes at very rapid speed, but simultaneously I am also think in talking speed. Also when I am just thinking to myself at any given point, I cannot really move on quickly through thoughts, I always think in talking speed. Is this a normal phenomenon for people to have? Perhaps even everybody thinks in "layers"?

It is the same in reading for me I suppose, so unfortunately I cannot help.

[Vota]

I wouldn't worry about reading speed. Your ability to read X number of books in your lifetime is likely more influenced by how much total spare time you are willing to spend reading than your actual reading speed. I read about 30 pages an hour for an author like Dostoevsky, and up to about 60 for basic sci-fi/fantasy. When I read I say every word in my mind much as you do. I can scan sentences pretty rapidly and go through a page and get a decent idea of what happened on that page, but my recall will be limited; Not only that, but my immersion is non-existent reading like that. I have to read at about the speed I speak. If I come across a sentence or paragraph that I realize I didn't understand then I go re-read it, possibly even slower than normal to make sure I understand it.

There's an old saying that it's better to read 50 great books very well, and re-read them, than to read countless books well. I believe there is quite abit of truth to that. Now everybody does read differently and some people do not have to say the words in their mind to read silently, but not everyone can do that. I can look at the word STOP on a stop sign, and not have to say STOP in my mind for it to register, but to read a novel, to be absorbed by it, or to grasp and comprehend exposition requires me to say the words in my mind as if I am listening to a recording. This reminds me of the Homeric epics that are meant to be heard. I do hear them every time I read them because I say the words in my mind.

One great thing about this is that I can change the sound of my voice when reading to myself. Characters voices and inflection change subtly from my own. It's much like recalling the voice of a famous celebrity, for example, Michael Jackson. I can hear his voice in my mind if I imagine him just quietly talking to someone, as he used to do in the few interviews he gave. This is an immersion increaser and I am not sure people that can silently read and grasp the word/symbols instantaneously without having to say it in their mind get this benefit.

I would add that increasing your speed is a good thing so long as it doesn't detract from your comprehension and enjoyment. That's my take.

[MANICHAEAN]

I'm not sure if it is a bad habit or not, but the amount of reading I was obliged to cover, up to and including my first degree, resulted in my ability to speed read to such an extent that I could gut and get the essence of a book within a very short period.

With the pressure of exams behind me, I'm now able to slow it down, taste the words, especially with someone like Edward Gibbon who it is impossible to rush.

[Vota]

That's a very good point. There is a big difference between wolfing a book down and savoring it.

[DaveGalt]

That's a very good point. There is a big difference between wolfing a book down and savoring it.
Probably the difference between wolfing a video down at regular speed and savoring it in slow-mo.

[YesNo]

I read at talking speed much as EvoWarrier5 mentioned above and I can't think in layers or read in chunks. Although I haven't measured it, I probably read at Vota's speed or slower. I don't think I've ever read 100 books in any one year. That would be one book every 3 or 4 days. Even watching one movie per evening, something conceivably achievable, that would still only be 365 movies a year.

But does it matter how many books one reads? Reading seems a lot like eating. One doesn't have to eat every kind of food that is available to be adequately nourished.

[Vota]

Probably the difference between wolfing a video down at regular speed and savoring it in slow-mo.

Your comment is both not-witty, as well as twisting something I said that is rather common sense. I suspect you are one of those theoretical types with little practical real world experience in matters.

Also, I suspect this is an alternate account of someone's. If not, your comment is even dumber. Either way, I will not respond to you again if you feel the need to continue on with your worthless comments.

[MorpheusSandman]

This book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/073520019X/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=) is the best I've read on the subject. The thing is, and I stressed this in the other thread, one really has to understand the relativity behind speed reading. If I'm reading non-fiction or fiction that I only read for plot (like Dickens), I can comfortably speed read at 800-or-so words per minute (about 120 pages per hour). However, if I'm reading Joyce, Shakespeare, or most poetry, then I not only have to slow down, but I WANT to slow down to savor the taste of the language on my tongue and in my head. When I read poetry, especially great poetry, it's not uncommon for me to only manage about 20-30 pages per hour. I tend to think that speed reading is more important for people who HAVE to read a lot, who need to understand the techniques of taking in and understanding the maximum amount of information in the least amount of time, like academics or even businessmen/women who read tons of memos and letters and proposals. When you read for pleasure the most important thing is to read at a pace that is comfortable and fun for you. Speed reading poetry ruins the reason why I read poetry; on the other hand, speed reading most non-fiction and fiction makes it much more enjoyable for me as I feel I can better grasp and retain the major plot points or major bits of information, since speed reading stresses that you get the "big picture" first, and then read for details as necessary or as desired. YMMV.