So I've always wanted to increase my reading speed. I have no idea how many words a minute I read but I've always felt it was too slow. I can do about 50 pages an hour on say a mass market paperback size book. I've looked into the idea of a speed reading program but it always seems like they are better suited to reading technical content and not fiction.

Lately I've been trying to read using iSilo's autoscroll feature. I try to crank up the scroll a little faster and see if I can keep up while still comprehending what I'm reading. I wonder if others on the board have tried techniques to increase their reading speed. I don't care to try and ramp it up to 2000+ words a minute. Heck if I could hit 75 or 100 pages an hour I'd be pleased.

It all comes down to too many books and too little time. And now with my iPaq and sites like blackmask, PG and manybooks it's depressing that I can't find a way to enjoy even more of them.

I don't know about you, but autoscrolling (iSilo, eReader) has always given me a headache.

I'd be very interested, too, to learn more about speedreading techniques!

I used to read speed reading books a lot when I was a kid. I thought a miracle could happen and I could read text books like history books for school really fast (I hated that reading!) But I realized it has more to do with how slow my brain comprehends plus picking up just enough hints on the parts that matter so you can skip over most of the parts that don't.

All that said, I do think the ideas can really help one learn to read faster and get good at skimming unimportant text. I probably devour stuff faster because of it, and if I remember right, one of the things you practice is not getting slowed down by certain passages of text. You're supposed to keep moving. Not practical in the real world, but I guess it helps you to learn the skills.

An autoscroll annoys me for novels because I want to skim some parts and be slow and careful in very interesting parts while my brain absorbs and enjoys it. I also find myself thinking about something else at times and then I have no clue how far I've gone since I zoned out. (Of course I do that sometimes even when I'm turning the pages manually!)

Am curious how many people actually use autoscroll on eBook readers, or if it's more of a marketing thing.

You're supposed to keep moving. Not practical in the real world, but I guess it helps you to learn the skills.
i didn't know about that. Will try to follow your advice next time I read a book. More info on that subject is *greatly* appreciated!

When I first started reading ebooks I insisted on autoscrolling which is why I went with iSilo. I converted sooooo many books from say LIT into iSilo format specifically because I wanted to use the autoscroll. Since then I've come to prefer simply paging the book myself. I've found I can comfortably hold it in one hand and press the downward motion on the main button of my iPaq (what is WITH the crazy capitlization of these products by the way! ;) )

So basically I'm just trying to speed up how quickly I read without missing anything. I can't skip around or skim when reading fiction because I feel like I'll miss something important. And of course if it's a particularly well written book (as opposed to something pulpy which almost begs to be breezed through) I want to savor the words.

Oh well. It's an interesting thought. I don't know if traditional speed reading techniques really work well on a pda. I did read somewhere that simply trying to read the words faster and not stumble and re-read is beneficial and may even 'train' your eye muscles. Not sure if that's true or not. I do know that our brains can process the information faster than most of us can read.

I don't know, I have always rejected this techniques, but I can't say why. Maybe it's just that I'm too lazy and envy the people who do read with this techniques.
Or it is that this sounds too goal-oriented. Since I'm not a student any more, most of the time I read because I want to read, and only that.
I don't know about you, but autoscrolling (iSilo, eReader) has always given me a headache.

I used autoscroll at the begining... but then I was pressing the page up and page down buttons more than ever before!!! This is because I don't read everything at the same speed, so I was adjusting the autoscroll speed all the time.
I finally stopped using it because I felt kind of dizzy after I stop reading. It was as if the whole world were "scrolling" on the opposite direction.

I finally stopped using it because I felt kind of dizzy after I stop reading. It was as if the whole world were "scrolling" on the opposite direction.

Hehe yea I had the same effect. Didn't bother me much since I read in the dark but when stopping it yea the words would always seem to continue moving but in the opposite direction.

I think I'm going to just try reading faster and see if I can get used to that. I wouldn't want to read Shakespeare that way but I'm reading a crime novel right now so I don't think I'll miss much.

But after this one I will continue re-reading the Thomas Convenant chronicles in anticipation of the new novel coming out. That's one that I probably won't be able to wait for paperback for like I usually do and I don't like to read those books very fast. Donaldson has a great visual and descriptive writing style that I've always enjoyed.

Now if only you could get the current series as (legal) ebooks.... <sigh>

Craig (who doesn't want to pull his Stephen Donaldson paperbacks out of _deep_ storage).

I remember seeing (mostly Asian) students at my university using something like a magnifier lense and a very close eye-book distance to speedread through their books. Does anyone know how that actually works?

Noone knows?

Apparantly not... :p

Craig.

Noone wants to share the secret art of speedreading :)

I was forced to do a speed-reading course at highschool, which was odd, because I was already reading 2000 words a minute, which was way faster than anybody else in my class. The teacher didn't quite know what to do with me. Anyway, one of the tips she gave us is to leave out the little words like 'and', 'the', 'it', 'is', etc etc, and also follow the line on the page with your finger for the first wee while. Once you're reading too fast for your finger to follow on the single line, draw it down the middle of the page. Once you're sorted with that, you don't need to use your finger anymore. That is really just a technique to train the eye, more than anything else.

Please don't respond to 4 year old threads. There's no point.

Please don't respond to 4 year old threads. There's no point.

If someone does respond; doesn't that mean there was a point (they're interested in the topic)?

Or, why not just delete all threads that haven't been replied to after x days.:shrug:

Please don't respond to 4 year old threads. There's no point.

Must admit I was about to add my experiences of speed reading, as it came up on the "new posts" button.
I hadn't noticed it was 4 years old either.

Sounds like a good idea to lock/delete threads after a while though.

It only happens once in a blue moon. Goodness knows why we got two in a row this morning :).

It only happens once in a blue moon. Goodness knows why we got two in a row this morning :).
It's the Similar Threads feature's fault. I still like it though.

The current similar threads box is offering the U.S. Army Chief of Staff's reading List. hmmmm....

I apologise. I didn't realise until after posting that the thread was so old, and could not delete my thread after doing so. However, I do not think that just because a thread is old is a good reason to discourage a reply to it. I had a valid point that could be useful :). And like others, yes, the reason this thread came to my attention was due to the 'similar threads' feature.

I apologise. I didn't realise until after posting that the thread was so old, and could not delete my thread after doing so. However, I do not think that just because a thread is old is a good reason to discourage a reply to it. I had a valid point that could be useful :). And like others, yes, the reason this thread came to my attention was due to the 'similar threads' feature.
No need to apologize. Anything that adds wierdness to our day is welcome.:)