Photoreading

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Trustme

No one is bitching here. People are a little sceptic - that's all and that's healthy. If Steve feels attacked he will come out and defend himself. No reason to get emotional here.

Theres a fine line between the two, you however, were bitching. It's like someone wants to buy an icecream cone with the flavor "Heavenly Paradise", and you dont know what it tastes like, but 12 dollars is a little too much for you to spend on a flavor you haven tried. However, since your friend knows the Ice Cream Man, he cuts you a deal to 5 bucks, but you dont care because the original price was 12 bucks...waayyy too much.

It sounds much more like you are trying to provoke a response from Steve, then curbing your skepticism. At least to me. If you wanted to allay your skepticism, there are multiple ways of doing it.

- Buying the course (half price) and trying it for 5 1/2 Months before deciding to send it back (full refund)
- Splitting the cost of the classic pack with a few people (30 bucks), who all get to try it for 5 1/2 months before deciding who thinks it is a good idea.
-Go to the library (free) and get the PhotoReading book and see how much you can learn on your own, before deciding if you like the system, if you think it works, or if you want to progress further.
-You could even push into grey area and see if the course is availible for download somewhere...though that really makes no sense because you can get the full materials for half a year. No risk of quality/incomplete material.

Multitudes of options, yet you are still stuck on the original price, and that a website reccomended it.

I didn't get emotional, just trying to help you to stop wallowing in your skepticism and try and do something about it.

[Trustme]

great post!

[Alex w/Learning Strategie]

Originally Posted by Lucas

ANYWAY, back on topic for the photoreaders here.

Last night I photoread "The Power of Now", and am going to activate it today. Is it ok to photoread like 2 or 3 books before bed or throughout the day? Since I am letting my mind absorb them for 24 hours, thats a ways to wait, so can I pack myself full of information to activate later?

Yep, It's okay... You might be in for some interesting dreams though.

Also, after stating purpose and previewing...is it best to write out goals and questions, or is it ok to keep them mental?

Once you know your purpose you only need to have one or two questions. It becomes like a discussion. You get your first question answered then that brings another question to mind and a the reason to continue activation.

Don't get bogged down looking for too many questions. Keeping them in the head works fine. Mind map the ones you asked and watch it build.

Alex

[cloud]

I bought photoreading (regular, not deluxe) at steve's recommendation, and recently completed course. Except for mind mapping and the actual process of photoreading, everything else was familiar to me because I had used the same techniques of previewing, outlining, and scanning/super reading and dipping throughout school. I've also been meditating for a while, and had unknowningly played with the photofocus state since childhood (what I mean is that I often focus/unfocus my eyes for no reason). So most of the course, for me, was presenting familiar information in a new way, as a coherent system.

Now that I've been photoreading for a couple weeks, I'm loving it . Photoreading a book, or a couple books, gives me a boost of energy, and causes a pleasant brain buzz that lasts about an hour . Some books have even improved my emotional/vibrational state for a day or more, like Ask And It Is Given.

One thing I realized is that you have to approach it as information acquisition, and not so much as reading. Photoreading lets you extract essential information in a fraction of the time it would take you to actually read.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by cloud

Some books have even improved my emotional/vibrational state for a day or more, like Ask And It Is Given.

It's fascinating you mention this, since I've experienced a similar effect with some "high vibration" books, even if I only do the PhotoReading stage but don't do any activation yet. It's like the energy or ideas of the book affect me subconsciously, even before I activate and understand the material consciously. If I PhotoRead an uplifting book one night, I may feel good for the next day or two.

I don't know if this is purely a psychosomatic effect or if it's actually a result of PhotoReading, but either way I've enjoyed the effect.

This reminds me of Masuru Emoto's work with The Hidden Messages in Water, where frozen molecules form different crystals depending on what type of "energy" they were exposed to while in a liquid state. Emoto's work suggests that even holding the book for a while (no PhotoReading involved) might produce the same effect.

[emreakbas]

I was about to buy the classical set just because Steve recommended it. But before that I did a quick google search, and came up with this page at wikipedia: Speed reading - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In summary, science says "don't enroll in such courses blindly".

I don't know what's the difference between speedreading and photoreading but after reading those things (at wikipedia), I changed my mind about buying the photoreading set.

--
Emre Akbas

[Alex w/Learning Strategie]

Speed reading is no fun. I tried it too and actually ended up reading slower.

What grabbed me about PhotoReading was the ability to get through 3 books in the same time I used to get through one as a beginner. I felt there was a lot of benefit in that ability. The beauty about PhotoReading is it is a relaxed approach. Soft focus on the page. Not pushing the eyeballs across the page faster than the conscious mind can comprehend. PhotoReading takes advantage of your non-conscious minds ability to process information before building conscious comprehension.

The reward for using the whole system is better comprehension. Better recall of the books you've read and you get it done a lot faster.

I love it for being able to dump reading material that is redundant. Like stuff I read before perhaps by another author or even the same author. You zip through that to the stuff that is relevant for your purpose. I don't spend money on books that I regret buying anymore. I just PhotoRead them in the bookshop and check in with myself and know whether to look for more in the book or just shelve it.

And I'm not reading books just 3 times faster I spend between 5 minutes to 90 minutes with a non-fiction book and have way better comprehension of the information. I now can even enjoy novels. These I loved to read in one sitting so 12 hours was the norm. Now I spend 3 or 4 hours with a novel at my leisure.

There is one big disadvantage though. Have you ever carried 10 books in your carry on to tide you over a 36 hour international flight? I started and finished a novel in the 3 hour flight between Sydney and New Zealand along with having a sleep.

AlexK

[emreakbas]

How do you measure your comprehension? Wouldn't it be better if a 3rd party measures your comprehension? I think the comments of the reader about his/her comprehension is not very reliable.

Are there any scientific publications (I mean papers from peer-reviewed conferences and journals) about photo reading?

--
Emre Akbas

[gberardi]

Originally Posted by emreakbas

How do you measure your comprehension? Wouldn't it be better if a 3rd party measures your comprehension? I think the comments of the reader about his/her comprehension is not very reliable.

I think you have a good question. I found that some textbooks have questions and quizzes (meant for formal schooling) which can be helpful, and others might have questions or bullet point summaries at the end of chapters. Otherwise, it seems that some books could be better written with photoreading in mind. B-)

If you don't have someone to quiz you, I think you either have to continue activating and rapid reading until you can convince yourself that you got everything you need/want, or you just have to trust that you did. I believe somewhere I read the suggestion to rapid read your first books just to convince yourself.

[emreakbas]

Yes, this is the point. If your comprehension level is not measured by something/someone other than you, then it shouldn't be reliable.

So, as far as I understand from the messages in this forum, we are unsure if photoreading makes you feel a psychological hallucination, in which you "trust" yourself that you understood far more better than traditional reading, or not.

--
Emre Akbas

[babuji]

How would PhotoReading help in the case of a standardized test? For example the reading comprehension sections on the SAT, ACT, GMAT, etc..

Has anybody used these techniques for such a purpose as time is a huge factor for these exams?

[Alex w/Learning Strategie]

Yes, PhotoReading has been used for schooling and test.

How do you know you've achieved comprehension with traditional reading? Merely reading the words does not mean you understand. How do you even know you are comprehending most of the post on these forums?

Your existing reading skills, self confidence and experience tell you that. When you use PhotoReading you don't lose any of those skills you develop them even more.

While comprehension tests are one way of testing I've found that it's much more convincing to have someone apply PhotoReading to their own book then after spending 35 minutes with the book. Have them talk about it for 2 minutes. (we have to limit them I've had them spend 4 to 6 minutes telling me about what they learned from the book in that 35 minutes.) They are surprised by this experience. We then check their reading speed on the first night and calculate what chapter they would have been up to using traditional reading skills in most cases they would have been about 60 to 90 pages into the book in that time.

Are they finished with the book? No not always. The technique allows you to get as in depth as you need.

If you happen to have poor comprehension skills with traditional reading then I also recommend using PhotoReading. The solution to poor comprehension skills is "read more" and you must learn to use self questioning to help understand what you are reading. People who have developed their reading comprehension skills rarely notice that they are asking questions as they read because it has become a natural habit. It can be seen that the participants of forums are articulate readers and have few problems with comprehension. If they don't understand they continue to ask.

As already said you don't lose these skills when you learn PhotoReading. you build on them so if your comprehension skills with traditional reading are sound then you will know when you have reached comprehension using PhotoReading.

AlexK

[rossio]

Hello

Someone mentioned about learning languages with Photoreading earlier and I just wanted to make a suggestion.

I think it would be difficult to actually learn a language with this technique, but I think it would be simply AMAZING for your vocab.

Personally, I think a combination of using Michel Thomas' courses to learn how the language actually works, and then using Photoreading for the depth of vocab you could seriously knock over a lot of languages in a VERY short space of time. (I am incredibly excited about this! I hadn't even thought of photoreading for languages before!)

I am not a Michel Thomas salesperson or anything, but seriously this could be really effective.

The CD courses are only 8 hour-long sessions, so if you added on a couple of hours of Photoreading of a language dictionary, or vocab book on the end of that you would be pretty much good to go after 10 hours total!

I squeezed in 7 of the 8 learn spanish CDs before I went to Mallorca a couple of years ago and had great fun speaking spanish (although Mallorcans thought my accent was funny!).

Anyway, just a suggestion
Ross

PS. Michel Thomas' life story is a really interesting read too

[Bruce Achterberg]

I'd just like to make a quick status update for those who have contacted me with interest in the PhotoReading Report/Log I mentioned earlier in this thread (you can find the post where I mentioned it here).

My PhotoReading course has arrived

First of all, I'll say that I have indeed received my PhotoReading Deluxe course. It took 28 days (! ) for it to arrive, but you can probably put that down to the fact that it had to be shipped from the United States to Australia (I live in Australia).

I'm yet to start the course, but I anticipate I should be able to begin it sometime in January 2007. Technically I could start the course right now without too much difficulty, but it's not my highest priority at the moment and I'd like to take care of some other things first so when I do start the course I can do a little bit of it every day without any interruptions. I feel I'll have a better learning experience that way, although I could be wrong -- we'll have to see.

Update, 14/March/07:
January 2007 has come and gone. I do indeed still intend to post the logs I mentioned as I go through the PhotoReading course. I was originally planning to start the course and the accompanying logs sometime in January 2007, but some of my higher priority projects have been taking longer then expected, the end result being that the January 2007 projection wasn’t very accurate.

I'll honestly admit that at the time I bought the course I didn't really need more things to work through as I had plenty of other tasks to take up my attention, but it was such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up.

At present I’m mainly focusing on bringing in greater organisation and clarity to the different areas of my life so I’m hesitant to give another projection until I know I can meet it for sure. As soon I have some more stability and clarity to work with I’ll be sure to start the course and the accompanying logs, or at the very least, announce when people can expect to see the logs.

Don’t wait for me to post the report/logs if you want to use Steve’s discount

Those of you who were hoping I'd begin the course sooner so you could decide whether or not you would buy PhotoReading (using Steve's discount) based on my log/review will have to either buy it now with Steve's discount, buy it later at full price, or find another discount code on the internet as mentioned here as well as here. I'll still do the log/report, just not before the discount expires on December 31st (2006), which Steve mentioned in his Personal Development Insights Newsletter that he sent out yesterday (Source: click here to view a screenshot of the small portion of the newsletter that mentions PhotoReading, image hosting curtesy of ImageShack). You can of course always buy the course without the discount later on if you deem the course to be worthwhile after I make the logs/review.

Additionally, if you'd like to get make use of Steve's discount, you can buy the course now, extend the 30 day money back guarantee to 6 months (you simply have to email Learning Strategies within 30 days of your initial payment and ask them to extend it - more info about how to do that here), try it out, and if you're not satisfied with it you can ship it back. That to me is a good option to have available, especially if you are live in the US since shipping isn't so crazy expensive.

That option isn't as good if you are an international customer (eg. I had to pay approx. $40 AUD shipping, and if I shipped it back because I didn't like the course, I'd have to pay that much again), but still not such a bad deal. Best case scenario is you could learn how to read approx. 3 times faster then you can now (as they claim). Worst case scenario is you try out the course, maybe get a few good ideas but find you don't really like it, and then just ship it back. You'd lose a bit of cash on shipping/delivery (especially if you're an international customer), but that's the nature of taking a risk. At least there is a money back guarantee and you aren't stuck with the product if you aren't satisfied with it.

My thoughts about how I’ll do the report/log and what you can expect from it

As for the report/log, I've decided that a daily log would be the most comprehensive and accurate way of presenting my experiences with the course. Since I plan to be doing it daily, you'll be able see things from my perspective on any given day which should prove to be interesting, depending on the quality of the pacing used in the course. To give you an example of what I mean by "pacing", the course may start out as a 2/10 and pick up later and end up finishing on an 8/10.

It's rare that any sort of system, including a learning system such as the PhotoReading course, delivers a solid, consistent experience. Usually the experience fluctuates a bit, or a lot, depending on the quality, and while an individuals' experience is largely subjective, you can still make some pretty good generalisations as an external observer. I intend to really put the PhotoReading course through the wringer since I’m pretty critical when it comes to the quality of a system (I’ve already got some qualms with the initial packaging, which I consider to be very much part of the experience, but I’ll save that for the log).

Since I'm not just going through the course and writing up one big report at the end (instead I plan to do a daily log as I said before), you'll be able to see things from my perspective as I go through the course each day, so at the very least, you should find it interesting to read about my experiences, but I do hope to make the logs somewhat informative and among the best (if not the best) available on the internet (which shouldn't be too hard to do since I don't think anyone has done anything quite like this with PhotoReading before). I can see that these logs could be useful not only to people looking to buy the course, but also those who have just started the PhotoReading course and want to compare their learning experience to mine to see if they could improve something they are doing.

What you can do to help me improve the logs

Anyway, as I said in my previous post about the log/report that I linked to earlier, if you have any specific requests, ideas, or anything you’d like to see me cover in the logs, send me a forum PM and I’ll take them into consideration. Additionally, any suggestions, hints, tips, or any other information that you think would be helpful to me before I start the log, that would also be appreciated.

I'll largely being doing this using the ready-fire-aim approach (that Steve talks about in his Do It Now article, for those who don't know what it means), although I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, so you can expect I'll take the effort to make the logs really high quality in terms of writing, content I include, formatting, and so on. If I have any further updates on the log between now and when I start it, I’ll make another status update post in this thread.

Thanks for your interest so far, guys!

Note: I may or may not respond to all PM's people send me, but if you give me a really good idea or information that I can use to improve the logs, I'll probably give you credit somewhere when/if I make the logs.

[officelurker]

Well, I have had the Deluxe course for three weeks now. Done every step. Listened to every CD. Watched the DVDs. Still nothing.

Done the five day test. Nothing still.

Its as if I have not done anything at all. All I remember is from what I previed and postviewed and the super reading and dipping. Nothing from photoreading the book.

I asked someone to ask me questions about the book I photoread for the five day test. I came up with "huh" answers. Absolutely nothing so far.

Funny think is, all the steps expect for the "flip flip flip" are in Mortimer Adlers classic and very good book, How to read a book.

I am not giving up on this yet. I want it to work for me. It has for some people so what not me? I mean, at Amazon.com there the system is taking some real head shots. Many on the web and dismissing it. Calling it a scam. I am not one of those. I am just telling you my experience so far.

[Alex w/Learning Strategie]

Have you called the office for coaching? Remember that the course comes with coaching you can email or telephone the office with your questions.

AlexK

[officelurker]

No I have not. Thanks for the suggestion. I will do that right now. Though I am still open to any suggestions here.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by officelurker

Well, I have had the Deluxe course for three weeks now. Done every step. Listened to every CD. Watched the DVDs. Still nothing.

Done the five day test. Nothing still.

Its as if I have not done anything at all. All I remember is from what I previed and postviewed and the super reading and dipping. Nothing from photoreading the book.

I asked someone to ask me questions about the book I photoread for the five day test. I came up with "huh" answers. Absolutely nothing so far.

Funny think is, all the steps expect for the "flip flip flip" are in Mortimer Adlers classic and very good book, How to read a book.

I am not giving up on this yet. I want it to work for me. It has for some people so what not me? I mean, at Amazon.com there the system is taking some real head shots. Many on the web and dismissing it. Calling it a scam. I am not one of those. I am just telling you my experience so far.

I learned to photoread, and I don;t have the course. I checked out the book Paul Scheele wrote about it, and learned it from there, with a little help from Alex.


What problems are you having?

[officelurker]

Hi Lucas. Thanks for offering to help.

Well, I did the five day test. I did as was suggested. I also activated as it was suggested.

Then I had someone ask me questions from the book. That is where I drew blanks. It was as if I hadn't even (photo) read the book.

[Steve Pavlina]

One thing that made all the difference for me was getting clear about my purpose before PhotoReading a book. I find it essential to phrase my purpose out loud or even to write it down before PhotoReading. If I don't set a clear purpose, I don't retain well. If I have a clear purpose, I tend to absorb and retain what's relevant to the purpose. This also means that I won't normally retain what's irrelevant to my purpose.

In order for this to work, I need to care about the purpose for PhotoReading a book -- I have to have a good reason. If I don't truly care about a book's content and then PhotoRead it, I don't retain because my mind knows it's irrelevant.

Although some may consider this a drawback, I've found that PhotoReading has made me more selective about what I read. Learning PhotoReading helped me realize that even when I slow-read books, if I don't have a truly compelling purpose for absorbing the material, I'm not going to remember the book in a year even if I read every word. But if the information is important and my purpose solid, I'll retain and apply it. PhotoReading makes this even more obvious, forcing me to ask, "Do I really, really care about the information in this book, or is reading it just a waste of time?"