Thank you for your highly detailed opinion. I feel like you have steered me in the right direction. I would like to get faster at reading because I have so many medical books to read. I also need to retain so much information, that it sometimes overwhelms me.
I remember buying a book by Tony Buzan years ago on speed reading. For members who don’t know who Tony Is, he created the World Memoriad competition.
It had numerous styles of speed reading and was a very reasonable $20/£14
Instead of relying on anecdotal or subjective evidence for the efficacy of speed reading, you might want to look at the science.
Here are some studies that address the efficacy of speed reading:
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Carver, R. P. (1990). Reading rate: A review of research and theory. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
In this book, Carver provides a comprehensive review of research on reading rate and comprehension. He concludes that while it is possible to increase reading speed, doing so often leads to a decrease in comprehension. -
Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(1), 4-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267
“Many people wish to read faster by finding a special form of reading in which they read more quickly with excellent comprehension, ideally without much effort or training. In this article, we have seen that there is no such magic bullet. There is a trade-off between speed and accuracy in reading, as there is in all forms of behavior. Increasing the speed with which you encounter words, therefore, has consequences for how well you understand and remember the text.”
https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.12552209.v1
“Speed reading courses are not scientifically proven to be effective.”
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Extensive-Reading%3A-Speed-and-Comprehension.-Bell/12f10caba81be9aa363fe1d92d4aac97fc025d55
“Speed reading courses tend to cause readers to suffer lower levels of reading comprehension.”
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Speed-Reading-Balota/2891876a511811d460a702f3807086b8f784a0c8
“Speed-reading training programs are unlikely to pay off as advertised because of well-established empirical facts about reading.”
Science is such a party pooper. 
Richard
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I have seen many people talk about reading comprehension but to be honest, I don’t necessarily view the topic as cut and dry.
I hated reading books to the point that I didn’t in my own spare time. I was never a fast reader at school and books would take an eternity to finish.
Cut to me around 25 years old, and I started to get into memory techniques, and it seems the desire to find other areas I might boost my cognitive abilities. Thats when I found Tony Buzans book on speed reading. So many different styles but I ended up using the most simplistic method. Use a pointing object and jump 3 words a time using peripheral vision to read in phrases.
Well, forget the whole idea of comprehension because what happened was a total eureka moment. I started reading Terry Pratchett novels on my way to work. Most journeys were 2 hours long and I would read 1 book going and 1 book coming back.
I did NOT remember everything in the books, but I saw them in my mind like a movie almost. I was able to visual scenes and occurences easily.
Why was 100% comprehension not important? Because I got the gist of the story without having to have each and every nuance. I must have read 100 books in the first year. Before that none whatsoever.
I still remember Granny Weatherwax and her natural abilities that was more powerful than any sorcerer, I remember Captain Vimes and his ability to know where he was in Ankh Morpork just from the different feel of the cobblestones. Oh and of course when he gets married to Lady Sybill who was quite frankly the making of the man. The list of memories goes on and on.
That was the power of speed reading. Oh and that was 27 years ago. Only read each book once but I still have strong memories of each.
If I read a book normally I can guarantee my comprehension will only be as good as the speed reading 1 week later…
Memories fade, and so do most of the novels sentences.
I realize this is a very old post. But I’m considering the Kwik class. Wanting to confirm- did you ever actually purchase it? If not, are there other free alternative options? I struggle so much with reading comprehension. I truly could benefit from a reading class.
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Ramon Campayo has a good book on the subject, speed reading is simply when you are looking for certain vital information for something, remember that you lose the reasoning in depth on a topic you do not know when you go very fast, that is only works if you know the subject as it is unnecessary regression, also serves to get a general idea about what is certain material, if or if you will have to reread.
Some aids are very good as for example to train the eye to widen the peripheral vision, to avoid subvocalization and regression (regression depends on how much you can understand the material and that the words are familiar to you, otherwise it will steal your attention).
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