My mother used this lamp to light her way to bed.
WPM, Smoke and Mirrors.
By M’reen
In my opinion, wpm (words per minute read) scores
are nothing more than smoke and mirrors - a way of ticking a
spurious box.
Speed Reading appears to be a generic term that reflects any sort
of reading
that takes a form different from when you first learned to decipher the squiggles on a page.
There appears to be two main branches which, naturally, borrow from each other.
These are Speed Reading and what I term as InnerMind Reading
You really need to view these Indigo Children connect with the
book’s author.
Turbo Charged Reading finds a home with the InnerMind Reading
programmes
and it borrows nothing from traditional speed reading.
1) There
is what I understand as Speed
Reading;
first created in the 1950s and this is principally composed
of exercises and drills that (in my opinion) force you to ‘see’ more words on the line at a faster speed.
I have found that the Speed Reading course I am receiving by instalments,
simply does not suit me as being slightly dyslexic my brain isn’t wired
to accommodate these exercises and drills.
Wikipedia:
“The World Championship Speed Reading Competition stresses reading comprehension as critical.
The top contestants typically read around 1,000 to 2,000 words per
minute with approximately 50% comprehension or above. The world champion is Anne Jones with 4,700 words per minute with
67% comprehension. The 10,000 word/min claimants have yet to reach this level”. I understand that the World Champion Speed Reader has held her title for a number of years.
The American, Howard
Berg, claims to be the world’s ‘Fastest’ Speed Reader,
as he reads at 80 pages a minute and states that he took a six hour exam in fifty minutes.
Gosh, I mostly can’t read my notes at the best of times.
He also claims to read at 25,000 words per minute
which is standard for novice ‘InnerMind’ reading Turbo Charged
Readers,
indeed Paul McKenna and others on the British Learning Channel were recorded as
PhotoReading 1,000,000 words per minute with 70% understanding.
I chose a page in a book at random that had 6 empty lines between
paragraphs and so it appears that Howard Berg is reading at 33,600 wpm,
therefore he is turning the pages at a shade faster than 1 per second which appears to be more like the first stage of InnerMind
reading rather than speed reading.
As like the third stage of Turbo Charged Reading he speeds
up and slows down (at some point?)
when it is appropriate for
comprehension and learning.
Reading without comprehension at the level you require is pretty
pointless
– as yet I do not know how comprehension is achieved when speed
reading
as I’ve not received those instalments.
Wikipedia:
Much controversy is raised over this point.
This is mainly because a reading comprehension level of 50%
is
deemed unusable by some educationalists (Carver 1992).
Speed reading advocates claim that it is a great success
and even
state that it is a demonstration of good comprehension for many purposes
(Buzan 2000).
The trade-off between "speed" and
comprehension
must be analyzed with respect to the type of reading
that is being done,
the risks associated with mis-understanding due to low
comprehension,
and the benefits associated with getting through the
material quickly
and gaining information at the actual rate it is
obtained.
2) InnerMind
Reading: Turbo Charged Reading comes into this bracket.
I understand ‘InnerMind' was first created in Australia? in the 1970s
and again in the 1980’s in America
and this method
of reading applies skills
we already
use in our daily life.
This type of ‘InnerMind’ reading claims WPM of 25,000
for a novice
to Paul McKenna and others on the British TV Learning
Channel
recording 1,000,000 wpm with 70%+ comprehension.
However, if you read their information a little
further
you will find that both Speed and InnerMind Reading
qualify their claims
as this depends on the individual, the material read
etc and, importantly,
how they define the test parameters.
Therefore I think that practical examples are more
applicable:
Using one of the InnerMind reading methods,
a PhD student read and then wrote his thesis in 3
weeks
whereas it takes others of his calibre 6 – 9
months to achieve the same results.
Another’s system’s testimonial states reading at
52,000 wpm
with 100% comprehension, but it doesn’t state whether
he read
e.g. 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 individual words or
pages.
Or if the lines of text were of a full page length or of the width of a very narrow column.
Or the lines broken down into readable chunks as in my blogs.
As a beginning Turbo Charged Reader I took 6 minutes
to complete the first stage
of the three TCR
stages and that is to prepare my body, brain, mind and energy systems
to
download 2-300 pages of a book into my innermind by bypassing my eyes and conscious
brain.
First I TCR the book upside down and back to front
so that individual words didn’t jump out at me
and then I TCR the book right side up from the front
cover to the back.
The second stage consists of doing
nothing (this depends on whether
you are reading emails / documents / reports /
newspapers (0 minutes),
novels (10 minutes) or non-fiction material (20
minutes to overnight).
During this period your brain gets to grips with the
downloaded material
cataloguing, cross-referencing it with the information
you already have
and then collating the material you want from this
paper of electronic source.
The third stage is bringing the
information wanted
into my conscious working mind. In order to write your
thesis.
I have chosen to use novels to give you an idea of my
progress.
because a non-fiction book cannot be universally known or be of a universal format.
I use the word ‘progress’ as reading is so
individual
depending on a great many factors.
I hope that you recognise my painting as being Aslan
the creator of Narnia.
As an example of the memory of material Turbo Charged
Read
of these books or perhaps seen the film of
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
The books are around 100 pages long
and the language and plot is easy to comprehend.
I used these books to give an example
of how one might read their course books for the year.
Then I chose Chaos
and Order by Stephen Donaldson
to give an idea of the speed or more accurately the
amount I can read in a given time.
You could easily read less or more.
This material is ‘difficult’ for me to read as he uses
many words I didn’t know existed
and when I looked some up,
before instantly forgetting their definition,
however I found that in the context
of the sentence I understood their meanings
in the same way that I understand
new traffic signs and road markings in their environment
but could not
describe them to you without that background.
Also, I don’t usually read sci-fi so a lot of the terms and concepts passed me by.
There are four books in the series, all with 600+
pages,
there are also a large number of characters, each with
their own story line.
There are mini-chapters to explain the technical,
political, philosophical etc. aspects of the series.
And there are many repetitions of the plot from an
individual’s
perspective and assumptions that make the text
unsuitable
to plot my memory of the material TCR for this
exercise.
However, this repetition aids understanding and is an
excellent memory aid.
1st 25
minute reading of Chaos and
Order
all from different chapters of the book.
Preparation: 0 minutes
Intention: 0
TCR the material: 0 minutes
Each word read the
material: 25 minutes
Pages read: 14 (I
was shocked that I‘d read so little.)
Memory after 1 day: None.
2nd 25
minute reading
Preparation: 35 seconds
Intention: To read the material quickly
TCR the material: 0 minutes
Fast read the material: 25
minutes
Pages read: 41
Memory after 1 day: Like
a faded dream.
3rd 25
minute reading
Preparation: 35 seconds
Intention: To read and remember the material.
TCR the material: 1 minute 27 seconds to TCR 100 pages
twice
a) back to front and upside down
b) front
to back and right side up
2 minutes and 2 seconds to reach this stage with a 10 minute break for the information to mature.
Fast read the material: 25 minutes
Pages read: 96
Memory after 1 day: I’m satisfied with my memory of
the material read.
These results are:
1st )
14 pages with no memory. Preparation. 0 minutes + 25 minutes reading
2nd )
41 pages with a fading memory. Prep. 35 seconds + 25 minutes
3rd )
96 pages with a reasonable memory. 35 secs + 1 min27secs+25 min
Therefore for an additional 2 minutes and 2 seconds I
read 82 more pages
and this is the same as reading seven times faster
than if I’d just picked up the book and started
reading it.
Please remember that these are the speeds achievable
by most novices.
And also remember, that reading in this way is the
SLOWEST way to TCR
and is only used when you want to read every word
sequentially.
You could try reading for 25 minutes or even 12½
minutes
Then count the number of pages you have read
and multiply that number by seven.
I choose 25 minutes because it gives plenty of time to
be distracted.
In fact my only distraction during readings 1 and 2
was to wonder if I’d switched on the timer.
During the third read through someone sounded their
car horn
and frightened the life out of me as I was that
absorbed in my reading.
Did I find this a satisfying experience? No and Yes.
I was pleased with the increase in the pages read
I was pleased with my level of concentration.
I was pleased that after the 3rd reading session, and much later,
I remembered more and my ‘videos’ in my head were
richer.
However, I was not satisfied with my emotional
experience.
In future, as in the past, I would spend the
preparation time
The first read was rather like being
in a waiting room
as I was just filling in time pleasantly,
However if you was waiting for a meeting,
The second read was rather like
gobbling food as fast as I could
before I ran out of time; it satisfied my need
but was not enjoyable.
The third read (because I had made
the material familiar to my innermind)
was like going down a long smorgasbord where I rushed
a little
and didn’t enjoy it to the full, simply appreciating
the possibilities
and savouring only a small amount that was on offer.
Ordinary each-word reading a novel is the slowest way
of reading
as each word is read by your eyes and sounded out in
your mind.
Unless you are like my friend who can read a novel in
half an hour
and take master mind questions a few days later.
Actually, he doesn’t think that he sees every word
(consciously).
When Turbo Charged Reading a novel it is still the
slowest way of TCR
as you FAST read each, or at least most, of the words
on every page.
When TCR other material from an email to a 3 inch/8cm+
manual
you read it in a particular way depending on the
content
and what you want from the material therefore you do
not read
each individual word unless you wish to do so for some
reason.
Because of the sequence of Turbo Charged Reading,
comprehension, memory and long term recall is build
in.
Imagine, if you would, that you are skiing.
You need a pair of skis and you are more able with two
ski poles.
With TCR you also have four supportive and
interlocking strands
and these are:
Your body,
Your brain,
Your mind,
Your energy system.
So, is Turbo Charged Reading Smoke & Mirrors?
No, because I do not make isolated claims
taken out of context for publicity reasons.
You have available my experience of memory
when reading The Chronicles of Narnia.
The amount of material read during a timed period
when reading Chaos and Order.
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