Good book recommendations on speed reading?

[The David]

Or just generally improving your reading skills. Please, no books that focus entirely on learning to skin. I find that overly simplistic and an insult to some of the books I read that aren't 99% fluff.

I looked at the photoreading program and am wary of it. Not skeptical, just wary. I don't have the money for it even if I got the 59% discount. I would prefer to look to more affordable sources right now.

Note: I am still interested in photoreading. If it is as good as some people say it is, then I should get it immediately, before I go back to college. So any personal experiences, criticism, responses to criticism, etc., would be of great value to me.

[albertlee25]

Hi David,

I have not tried the photo-reading. But if majority says it is good, there must be some substance in it.

Personally I have bought Tony Buzan's "The Speed Reading Book" which is very good with exercises at the end of each chapter, helping you to train your reading speeding by going easier from earlier chapter to getting more advance reading methods in later chapter.

Btw, Tony Buzan is the inventor of Mind Maps and the world's leading authority on the brain and learning.

But the most difficult part of speed reading or Photo-reading is, you have to totally abandon your traditional reading method you have been using since you know how to read! Imagine kicking an old habit you have since childhood!

You have to keep practice practice practice everyday until you get used to it.. it can takes a long time and most people are not able to do it though..


Albert Lee

[The David]

If it would make me read faster I would do it. Reading is my main hobby right now but I do it poorly.

[Jayne]

I've used Howard Berg's program with a lot of success. You might be able to find something a little less pricey, but I can definitely recommend this one. Howard Berg's Maximum Speed Reading by Howard Berg

[abbylearn]

I saw you post about your desire to learn speed reading. As someone who has taught speed reading for 20 years, I'd like to suggest you consider reading my book 10 Days to Faster Reading and then getting the AceReader Pro software to practice with. Though photoreading works for some people, it is quite etherial and unconventional for most to easily grasp. For any software you buy, if it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee, use that time to evaluate it. if you don't like it, return it with no love lost. It if works, keep it! We also have software called Rev It Up Reading that helps you read faster in just 30 minutes. It is just the speed strategies but very effective. If you have any questions, please email me at abbylearn@gmail.com. Good luck with whatever you choose!
Abby Marks Beale

[RT Wolf]

There's a Photoreading book, too, called Photoreading Whole Mind System by Paul Scheele, I think. Significantly cheaper. Thsi is not a recommendation of the program (at least yet), just letting you know that that is an option, too.

[The David]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

There's a Photoreading book, too, called Photoreading Whole Mind System by Paul Scheele, I think. Significantly cheaper. Thsi is not a recommendation of the program (at least yet), just letting you know that that is an option, too.

Can you learn photoreading from the book? Reasonably? I don't know if I want all the fancy stuff or not.

[RT Wolf]

Photoreading

A few of the people that thread apparently have learned it from a book.

I can imagine it taking a bit more time (and requiring more self-drivenness) but I figure that's not a problem for anyone persistant enough.

[The David]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

Photoreading

A few of the people that thread apparently have learned it from a book.

I can imagine it taking a bit more time (and requiring more self-drivenness) but I figure that's not a problem for anyone persistant enough.

The thought of saving all the money (the book is one buck on Amazon/half.com) should eliminate the need for any kind of 'self-drivenness'.

[RT Wolf]

A penny saved is a penny earned. Good luck!

[Brendon Colby]

I think you can definitely learn from the book. I have had the book since 2001 and once Steve started advertising the deluxe package at a deep discount, I purchased it. My problems have been not taking action and putting the system to use and fearing that it won't work for me (grandiose expectations). Once I started doing so recently, I found that the system felt very ordinary! I guess I had expectations of magical results (thanks in part to their marketing, which seems to have given MANY that wary feeling). Perhaps this "ordinary" feeling comes from familiarity with the system I don't know. I do know that I didn't get it until I actually started using the system. It just seems like the logical way to get through reading materials!

My advice is to grab the book for a buck if you can (or full price, it isn't too much), read it and just put it to use immediately. Play with it. You probably won't flip through a book at a "page per second" and have instant photographic recall (if you do, I'll be jealous! ) but you definitely will learn some knew reading and studying skills. If you consistently use these new skills, you will probably start seeing some pretty decent results pretty fast. I think the trick is to start with a "beginner's mind" in that you have to completely re-architect what reading means to you. You will probably be confused as heck at first, which is why I say keep playing with the system and definitely don't be too hard on yourself. This is a main point of the entire system, a foundational concept, because getting frustrated and upset seems to disrupt the learning process. The Photoreading system teaches you to build conscious comprehension in layers over time (less time than conventional reading) rather than reading and comprehending the text word for word. This seems to confuse a lot of people.

If you really work at using the system you could probably be skilled enough to use it with your college textbooks by this fall. I've read a lot of posts about this on their forums. The general response seems to be that you really want to start on other materials and NOT your textbooks when you're learning Photoreading. There are several other tips on Photoreading textbooks in the book and on the forums.

Hope this helps.

Brendon