Something a little different...

[King_Louis]

Perhaps you can help? I am conducting some research into people's reading techniques and would like to know if you use any special strategies when reading. My assumption is that most people using this forum spend a fair amount of time reading each week and as such are above average readers.

So are you conscious of what you are doing when you are reading? If so please feel free to share your experiences here and please accept my thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[CaRaMeLPoleDoll]

I was actually talking about this the other day. I am a slow reader but i find it's because i tend to imagine and picture what i am reading... especially when it comes to stories or novels etc.
I used to have a friend who was a speedy reader... I often wondered how much of the text she took in and if she read or felt the text the way i do. For boring school text she used to tell me she learnt how to be a skim reader so she only read every couple of words (or however it worked) and she'd be done in no time. it didn't seem to effect her grades so must have worked.

maybe my reading will get faster the more i read... but for now i just like to get lost in the story by imagining and visualising it.

 

[sunandshadow]

I think being conscious of what you are doing when you are reading slows your reading down. I'm not conscious of my reading process unless I'm having difficulty due to bad lighting, environmental distractions, or really difficult text. When you're into your reading you get in that 'flow' state where your body, the room, the words on the page, none of that exists, just the story happening in your mind like a movie or maybe a dream.

(For statistical purposes, yes I'm an above average reader. I can read a novel a day if I don't have anything else to do that day. My reading speed is something over 50 pages an hour, though of course it depends what the text is.)

 

[coastal-boy]

depends...if I am reading for fun I can easily become immersed. But even then, I still am very aware of what is happening around me if that makes sense.

 

[jimburr35]

Reading Style

Like most people, my speed varies with the content of whatever I'm reading. The more interesting the content is the more I seem to slow down to savor it. Since finishing grad school, though, I can read at least 400 words a minute. Maybe the speed reading class in 7th grade really did work.

 

[culloden]

Depends on what I'm reading. Novels, I just plow through, often not entirely getting the names of the characters straight. Technical reading I take my time with, though, re-reading as needed to fully understand.

 

[mentionME]

I actually read fluidly and somehow it all makes sense and actually becomes more vivid in my mind as i walk away and reflect. however, i could never quote anything i read but i can recognize quotes if u quizzed me on it lol

 

[illunzipu]

Conscious of what I am doing? Yeah!!! As far as speed it depends on the material. There are some things that I just can't force myself to read. Text book type material is just impossible for me to read.When I read the stories here I can develop a picture in my mind of what's happening,kind of like a private movie. I never get so into it that I lose my perspective on my whereabouts.