Your Reading Speed

[Atunah]

I think I tried to take one of those reading tests before. They don't work for me for various reasons. First the texts they offer are not something I would read and when I don't want to read something, my brain wanders of. I also cannot read books of any screens like computers/tablets. Since I do all my browsing on computers, I would have to take such a text on it and again, my brain won't work the same way it does when I read a book on my kindle.

Only thing I would like to be able to is read more books period. Even on a good week when I can read maybe one a day, or one every other day, I still have so many good books I must read before I croak. Its not the reading speed that is an issue with me, its my puny human life span.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Only thing I would like to be able to is read more books period. Even on a good week when I can read maybe one a day, or one every other day, I still have so many good books I must read before I croak. Its not the reading speed that is an issue with me, its my puny human life span.

I feel your pain. Whenever I look at my thousands of unread books, I always hope they'll invent rejuvenation before I die...

Yes, speed reading would help me reading more books, but still, it would never get me through all of my TBR list in my remaining lifetime anyway. And it would make reading a chore, not a pleasure. No thanks.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I feel your pain. Whenever I look at my thousands of unread books, I always hope they'll invent rejuvenation before I die...

Hmmm... that would only work if you stopped adding to your TBR pile. At least with ebooks, you no longer need to worry about being found crushed under a toppled mountain of books.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes, speed reading would help me reading more books, but still, it would never get me through all of my TBR list in my remaining lifetime anyway. And it would make reading a chore, not a pleasure. No thanks.

While my reading speed is not quite in the speed reading range, it's always been the way I read as far back as I can recall. I have unfond memories of taking a reading test in school and being forced to retake the test twice before the proctors would admit that I was reading that fast and that I had excellent comprehension of what I read. I mean, how the <expletive deleted> can you cheat on a reading speed and comprehension test? Sheesh, they hand you a sheet of paper, you read it, hand it back and answer the questions on the next sheet of paper they hand you. Perhaps I had located a source for the tests and memorized all 20 different variants?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm... that would only work if you stopped adding to your TBR pile. At least with ebooks, you no longer need to worry about being found crushed under a toppled mountain of books.

Alas, I fear you're right...

As for being crushed under a toppled book mountain, that was actually the result I got when I did an internet quiz "How will I die" back in my paper book days.

[Paperbackstash]

There are several articles that state people naturally read slower on screen as well. Not sure of the truth of that but you may want to take that into consideration since these are online tests.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

There are several articles that state people naturally read slower on screen as well. Not sure of the truth of that but you may want to take that into consideration since these are online tests.

That makes little difference unless you want to know how fast you read on paper. I always read on a screen anymore, so why worry about my paper speed?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Apache

I have never cared about my reading speed. I read for enjoyment. As long as I am enjoying the book I do not care how long it takes me to read a book. I am not in a competition to be the first one done.
Apache

[Katsunami]

Reading speed is also heavily affected by font size and type. The font size (even when enlarged) and type in that test is not conductive to me reading fast.

Actually, for some reason, on an e-reader, I'm slower than I was on paper. It can also be because my nystagmus (which makes focusing on small details harder) got worse.

I set the Count Pages plugin to 2100 characters per page. This is 350 words per page.
I timed my reading speed at 30 pages per hour with that setting, or 0.5 pages/min.
That comes down to a reading speed of 175 wpm.

I'm sure I was much faster previously, but I'd have to actually read a paper book to be sure. Maybe I've gotten slower there as well, especially if said book has very small fonts.

[JeanPierre]

Originally Posted by JeanPierre

I am surprised to see that this myth about "speed reading" is still so prevalent in 2018.

I am particularly amused by the structure of that poll, with "201 - 300 wpm (8th grade level)" listed, which would seem to encourage users to be dishonest in their responses. 201 is the lowest rate that has been listed, and it comes with a judgment that this is the level that children read at on a site where, presumably, most users are adults, but for whom English may be a second language.

For those that have been taken in by what is, as stated, abusively framed marketing propaganda, I would encourage you to read the following articles and search for "reading speed" on scholar.google.com.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/make-r...ing-wont-help/
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/201...-reading-redo/

I would also recommend the book "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren to everyone.

When it comes to reading speeds, the skill of quickly skimming familiar or irrelevant information is an important one. However, when it comes to sustained reading speeds, the only texts that are worth reading at speed are those not worth reading in the first place.

In addition to the above, the articles linked below are both timely and edifying.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-maryanne-wolf
https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/27/1...-brain-changes

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

That makes little difference unless you want to know how fast you read on paper. I always read on a screen anymore, so why worry about my paper speed?

I bring it up because the OP said they were surprised that their score was lower than they figured it would be.

[Paperbackstash]

I've tried to increase my reading speed at times (already read a decent speed), but my eyes start aching from the faster movement and it's harder to get into the story as fully. Besides finishing more books at a quicker speed, I'm not seeing it as worth it.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I bring it up because the OP said they were surprised that their score was lower than they figured it would be.

It is the psychological effect of having the results so unevenly represented. An average adult (#2) should be close to the middle of choices depending on how you calculate. But that is not the case here. Being average sounds horrible since everybody wants to be above what is "merely average." Average is where you fit right in with the majority of all your other peers. Now OP scored slightly above average, but according to the chart it appears he barely scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

[Deskisamess]

It can also be because my nystagmus (which makes focusing on small details harder) got worse.

I have mild nystagmus, caused by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, and am not too bothered by it, unless I'm very tired. Narrow columns help me, as does wider line spacing. Horizontal tracking, like that used in many video games, is very tough for me.

Are you bothered by animated icons etc. online? I am, to the point where I have to block moving ads etc. on some sites in order to use the site. There is someone on this forum with an animated ant on their avatar, which sends me right out of the thread.

A few years ago one of our son's was playing with a hearing test app, and it sent me to bed for 2 days. No one could hear what I could, it was like a silent dog whistle.

I went to school in the 70's with a classmate who had very serious nystagmus. He had to almost lay his head on the desk beside his papers to be able to read them.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I have mild nystagmus, caused by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, and am not too bothered by it, unless I'm very tired. Narrow columns help me, as does wider line spacing. Horizontal tracking, like that used in many video games, is very tough for me.

Are you bothered by animated icons etc. online? I am, to the point where I have to block moving ads etc. on some sites in order to use the site. There is someone on this forum with an animated ant on their avatar, which sends me right out of the thread.

A few years ago one of our son's was playing with a hearing test app, and it sent me to bed for 2 days. No one could hear what I could, it was like a silent dog whistle.

I went to school in the 70's with a classmate who had very serious nystagmus. He had to almost lay his head on the desk beside his papers to be able to read them.

I'm not bothered by moving icons or flashing things online.

I know about the hearing thing. I'm closer to 40 than I am to 30 nowadays, but my hearing is *still* better than that of the average adult or even younger person. My GF both has very good vision and very good hearing, but even hers can't begin to compare to mine.

I hear lightbulbs and fluorescent lights whistling and buzzing, I've sent numerous monitors back for high pitched whining noises (even though many reviews said they were silent), and other people's computers and laptops, which they describe as 'almost silent' sound like tornado's to me. Compared to most other people, I basically hear everything.

Despite all of that, even I am noticing that my hearing has deteriorated in the last 20 years. Just imagine what I was capable of hearing as a kid, teenager and in my early twenties...

With regard to your classmate: nystagmus often goes hand in hand with short-sightedness, which I also have. Despite having glasses for computer use, I always read without glasses, because focusing on running text from a distance is just too hard. The bigger the distance between my eyes and the text, the harder it becomes to focus. The smaller the text and the closer the lines are, the harder it is to keep following the line.

So, reading speed is heavily affected by the used font, line spacing, font size, contrast between background and font, distance from eye to text, and sometimes, even how I'm feeling.

[Deskisamess]

I hear lightbulbs and fluorescent lights whistling and buzzing, I've sent numerous monitors back for high pitched whining noises (even though many reviews said they were silent), and other people's computers and laptops, which they describe as 'almost silent' sound like tornado's to me. Compared to most other people, I basically hear everything.

This is me as well. My oldest son once said I could hear blinking lights. Loud restaurants make me want to run away. I have no filters...cross-talk makes me crazy. We had an AIO with a buzzy fan and I gave it to my daughter. Flickering buzzing fluorescent lights will make me leave a store. Not many people in my life understand it. I've always wondered if it would be classified as "hypercussis".

I have bad vision, I'm very nearsighted. I can see very clearly up close, and read without my trifocals when in bed, with my Oasis about 7" from my eyes. The closer it is, the more narrow I like the text column. Tracking text on a tv etc. is difficult and brings on eye muscle twitches.

I'll be 60 next year.