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Slashdot Asks: What's Your View On Speed Reading?

Posted by msmash on from the to-speed-read-or-not dept.

Wouldn't it be great if you could read a novel in an hour or two? Certainly, many people do that. The phenomenon of speed reading is nothing new with plenty of people claiming that they have grown habituated -- or taught themselves into -- reading things in an accelerated fashion. Not everyone -- including yours truly -- is a fan of this. There are several studies that suggest that 'speed reading' result in people missing out on lots of tidbits. A New York Times article, published Friday, also suggests the same. Jeffrey M. Zacks, and Rebecca Treiman, in an op-ed, citing a recent article in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, claim that "it's extremely unlikely you can greatly improve your reading speed without missing out on a lot of meaning." They write: Certainly, readers are capable of rapidly scanning a text to find a specific word or piece of information, or to pick up a general idea of what the text is about. But this is skimming, not reading. We can definitely skim, and it may be that speed-reading systems help people skim better.Which brings us to the question: What's your view on speed reading?

5 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. From a previous comment on /. by BlackPignouf · · Score: 5, Funny

    I took a speed reading course where you run your finger down the middle of the page and was able to read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It's about Russia.

  2. My view by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot Asks: What's Your View On Speed Reading?

    I think more should be spent on determining the correct limits for different roads, and that red light cameras make things worse. Next question?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. my view on speed-readers is by turkeydance · · Score: 4, Funny

    that they can use any public bathroom with which they identify.

  4. TLDR by darkain · · Score: 5, Funny

    TLDR

  5. I can't believe I actually read that by mandy2tom · · Score: 3, Funny

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