Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

85thOwl · 10-17-2007, 11:23 AM

Hi,

I have a question to all of you who have tried or mastered photoreading. I have completed the photoreading course a month ago at home and had no trouble with the dictionary game and other components, however when it came to photoreading history books I just can't seem to be efficient. Everything in the book seems to be important and while speed-reading everything seems to grasp my attention.

I am photoreading a book on the Christian Century in Japan by Boxer (514 pages) and I stated that my purpose was to find out why Christianity didn't really succeed in Japan during that time. Well it took me nearly an hour to get through 100 pages because it was so filled with details that were essential to my understanding. However at the rate I'm going 100 pages and hour will take me about 5h to complete the entire book...and even then I'm not really sure of how much information I have retained.

Do any of you have experience with photoreading history books? How long would it take you to photoread and activate lets say a 400-500 page book? I am studying to become a historian of ideas and reading history books is crucial to my education and future profession for I'll be burying my nose in books for the rest of my academic life!

Also I have heard from some people that they are able to photoread more then one book in a day! For me that seems to be beyond my current capabilities, however I'm wandering if someone here might share their experience when photoreading more then one book and perhaps some tips on how it can be best accomplished.

Thank you for your time.

The David · 10-17-2007, 05:41 PM

100 pages of history in an hour? You sound like a pretty good reader to me. Then again, my reading comprehension is about 20%.

PhotoReading, if I understand it right, has a lot to do with programming your mind to understand the material before you go through it. Just frolicking through thounsands of years of human history all willy-nilly like isn't really a good idea. You will need to read it 'normally'. However, if PhotoReading works, then you will have absorbed a lot of it subconsciously, so when you do read through it you will understand it easier.

ticktockclok · 10-17-2007, 11:53 PM

I'm reading some dense books on economic theory with Photoreading, and it is definitely a slower process than getting through PD books, which are filled with tons of fluff. Try to relate your purpose of reading the book towards the purpose of your life, as opposed to just saying "I want to learn about Christianity in Japan".

Sam988 · 10-18-2007, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 85thOwl

Hi,

I have a question to all of you who have tried or mastered photoreading. I have completed the photoreading course a month ago at home and had no trouble with the dictionary game and other components, however when it came to photoreading history books I just can't seem to be efficient. Everything in the book seems to be important and while speed-reading everything seems to grasp my attention.

I am photoreading a book on the Christian Century in Japan by Boxer (514 pages) and I stated that my purpose was to find out why Christianity didn't really succeed in Japan during that time. Well it took me nearly an hour to get through 100 pages because it was so filled with details that were essential to my understanding. However at the rate I'm going 100 pages and hour will take me about 5h to complete the entire book...and even then I'm not really sure of how much information I have retained.

Do any of you have experience with photoreading history books? How long would it take you to photoread and activate lets say a 400-500 page book? I am studying to become a historian of ideas and reading history books is crucial to my education and future profession for I'll be burying my nose in books for the rest of my academic life!

Also I have heard from some people that they are able to photoread more then one book in a day! For me that seems to be beyond my current capabilities, however I'm wandering if someone here might share their experience when photoreading more then one book and perhaps some tips on how it can be best accomplished.

Thank you for your time.

I'm afraid you wasted your time on photoreading. They have good skimming techniques, but don't expect that hocus pocus "photoreading step" to work and make you know what's inside the whole book as well as if you read it normally

Jim11 · 10-18-2007, 01:29 AM

There is no trick to make photoreading as effective with history reading as other types of books

You might as well just read the index if you don't want all the detail

85thOwl · 10-18-2007, 08:42 PM

Thanks for your replies. I do actually believe that photoreading works especially the photoreading step for today in history class I forgot to revise and when the teacher asked as some questions the answers suddenly flashed before my eyes! I especially saw the dates very clearly and guess what? They were correct!

I also devised a way how to get the information that I need. For example in the book I'm reading there is info on Christianity but also an piracy and trade. While I need both the first time passing through the book I simply only extraced keywords from the parts that devoted themselves to trade and read everything on Christianity that seemed important with more care.

Having finished the book I then stated my purpose to find out how trade affected Christianity and what kind of role it played. When I did this I skipped through nearly half the book not rereading the parts about Christianity but super-reading the parts where trade was mentioned. This way I managed to pick up the details that weren't essential to my first purpose when reading the book but essential to my second purpose.

I rather like this technique, it's a bit time consuming but then again I managed to finish in a couple of hours while it would have normally taken me a week to get through it.

clazzimoo · 10-18-2007, 09:23 PM

Hi,

I have been some problem with photoreading, too. I think the process goes like this.

00. get the books

01. close eyes and state my purpose (usually I just tell myself that I want to undertsand whatever the author is talking about, its very abstract )

02. skim: the 1-sec page turning thing bothers me because, as soon as I get to the next page, I forget what i had just read - the chapters, subtitles and everything.

break: I have no retention of what I have read so far so I usually go back to the contents page and try to construct the main ideas. Then again, I forget about the subtitles that make up the chapters. So I often skim twice.

3. Dip: read more into it. I like this part because I get more into it. But I would get so much into it, I think I understand but then when I'm asked to summarize what the book is about, I cannot do that. I have to manually open the book and reconstruct.

4. Photofocus. Like this part the most. I often get too involved with one particular section/chapter.

5. Activate. Don't really do it. I often skip this part because by the time I have finished reading, I have spent too much time reading and I would get tired.

I think even after I have done all these, my comprehension is still verty low. If somebody were to ask me to summarize the book i had just read, i could give him/her the main abstract idea but it's hard to give details like how many chapters, what are they, how they connect to each other. Most of the times, i would even forget more about the details after a few hours/days after reading the book.

I think I'm still not understanding this whole idea of photoreading fully. I think photoreading works. I have a person photoread a book. Somebody would then take over the book, open up any page and ask him question about that particular page. He could give details like which line number, diagram and picture, and stuff like that. Eventually I want to be an effective reader like him.

Sam988 · 10-19-2007, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clazzimoo

I think I'm still not understanding this whole idea of photoreading fully. I think photoreading works. I have a person photoread a book. Somebody would then take over the book, open up any page and ask him question about that particular page. He could give details like which line number, diagram and picture, and stuff like that. Eventually I want to be an effective reader like him.

You know this person? Have you see it with your own eyes?

10-17-2007, 11:23 AM	#1 (permalink)
85thOwl Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 5	Photoreading History Books Hi, I have a question to all of you who have tried or mastered photoreading. I have completed the photoreading course a month ago at home and had no trouble with the dictionary game and other components, however when it came to photoreading history books I just can't seem to be efficient. Everything in the book seems to be important and while speed-reading everything seems to grasp my attention. I am photoreading a book on the Christian Century in Japan by Boxer (514 pages) and I stated that my purpose was to find out why Christianity didn't really succeed in Japan during that time. Well it took me nearly an hour to get through 100 pages because it was so filled with details that were essential to my understanding. However at the rate I'm going 100 pages and hour will take me about 5h to complete the entire book...and even then I'm not really sure of how much information I have retained. Do any of you have experience with photoreading history books? How long would it take you to photoread and activate lets say a 400-500 page book? I am studying to become a historian of ideas and reading history books is crucial to my education and future profession for I'll be burying my nose in books for the rest of my academic life! Also I have heard from some people that they are able to photoread more then one book in a day! For me that seems to be beyond my current capabilities, however I'm wandering if someone here might share their experience when photoreading more then one book and perhaps some tips on how it can be best accomplished. Thank you for your time.

10-18-2007, 09:23 PM	#7 (permalink)
clazzimoo Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 11	Hi, I have been some problem with photoreading, too. I think the process goes like this. 00. get the books 01. close eyes and state my purpose (usually I just tell myself that I want to undertsand whatever the author is talking about, its very abstract ) 02. skim: the 1-sec page turning thing bothers me because, as soon as I get to the next page, I forget what i had just read - the chapters, subtitles and everything. break: I have no retention of what I have read so far so I usually go back to the contents page and try to construct the main ideas. Then again, I forget about the subtitles that make up the chapters. So I often skim twice. 3. Dip: read more into it. I like this part because I get more into it. But I would get so much into it, I think I understand but then when I'm asked to summarize what the book is about, I cannot do that. I have to manually open the book and reconstruct. 4. Photofocus. Like this part the most. I often get too involved with one particular section/chapter. 5. Activate. Don't really do it. I often skip this part because by the time I have finished reading, I have spent too much time reading and I would get tired. I think even after I have done all these, my comprehension is still verty low. If somebody were to ask me to summarize the book i had just read, i could give him/her the main abstract idea but it's hard to give details like how many chapters, what are they, how they connect to each other. Most of the times, i would even forget more about the details after a few hours/days after reading the book. I think I'm still not understanding this whole idea of photoreading fully. I think photoreading works. I have a person photoread a book. Somebody would then take over the book, open up any page and ask him question about that particular page. He could give details like which line number, diagram and picture, and stuff like that. Eventually I want to be an effective reader like him. Last edited by clazzimoo; 10-18-2007 at 09:42 PM.

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10-17-2007, 05:41 PM	#2 (permalink)
The David Family Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Murfreesboro, TN Posts: 1,155	100 pages of history in an hour? You sound like a pretty good reader to me. Then again, my reading comprehension is about 20%. PhotoReading, if I understand it right, has a lot to do with programming your mind to understand the material before you go through it. Just frolicking through thounsands of years of human history all willy-nilly like isn't really a good idea. You will need to read it 'normally'. However, if PhotoReading works, then you will have absorbed a lot of it subconsciously, so when you do read through it you will understand it easier.

10-17-2007, 11:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
ticktockclok Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 330	I'm reading some dense books on economic theory with Photoreading, and it is definitely a slower process than getting through PD books, which are filled with tons of fluff. Try to relate your purpose of reading the book towards the purpose of your life, as opposed to just saying "I want to learn about Christianity in Japan".

10-18-2007, 01:29 AM	#5 (permalink)
Jim11 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 213	There is no trick to make photoreading as effective with history reading as other types of books You might as well just read the index if you don't want all the detail

10-18-2007, 08:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
85thOwl Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 5	Thanks for your replies. I do actually believe that photoreading works especially the photoreading step for today in history class I forgot to revise and when the teacher asked as some questions the answers suddenly flashed before my eyes! I especially saw the dates very clearly and guess what? They were correct! I also devised a way how to get the information that I need. For example in the book I'm reading there is info on Christianity but also an piracy and trade. While I need both the first time passing through the book I simply only extraced keywords from the parts that devoted themselves to trade and read everything on Christianity that seemed important with more care. Having finished the book I then stated my purpose to find out how trade affected Christianity and what kind of role it played. When I did this I skipped through nearly half the book not rereading the parts about Christianity but super-reading the parts where trade was mentioned. This way I managed to pick up the details that weren't essential to my first purpose when reading the book but essential to my second purpose. I rather like this technique, it's a bit time consuming but then again I managed to finish in a couple of hours while it would have normally taken me a week to get through it.

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums

Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums