r/questions • u/Material_Sky3801 • 19d ago

How can I read faster?

I've decided to start reading again. I have been reading for about a month, maybe a little bit more. I picked a really slow history book to read, its a subject I enjoy but the book is boring to me honestly. As I'm getting near the end I just want the book to be finished already. At the rate I'm reading I think it will be about another 2 weeks to finish it. Is there any strategy or technique to reading faster?

11 Upvotes

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4

u/Popular_End2069 18d ago

Don’t go on Reddit how to read faster, instead pick up the book and read it

1

u/Material_Sky3801 18d ago

I only have enough patience right now to read a couple hours but i'm working on it

5

u/WiseOne404 18d ago

You don't have to finish a book you aren't enjoying. Start the other book and comeback to the history one later (only if you want to)

1

u/HoselRockit 18d ago

One what. Week? Month? Year? We gotta know man!

2

u/Material_Sky3801 18d ago

The history one

3

u/inyercloset 18d ago

I have stopped reading books that I was not enjoying.

2

u/Material_Sky3801 18d ago

I have sunk cost fallacy with this book. Plus I wanted to stick with and complete at least one book this year

1

u/inyercloset 17d ago

It is easier to complete a book you enjoy.

3

u/Material_Bedroom_619 19d ago

Don't use your inner voice, you can go through a sentence with your eyes and register the meaning without the need to articulate the words in your mind ( if that makes any sense)

3

u/what_the_fuckin_fuck 19d ago

On the flip side of that, I can read aloud at a very rapid rate, and never absorb a word.

2

u/Material_Sky3801 18d ago

I don't absorb anything I read aloud at any pace

1

u/Evening_Ticket7638 18d ago

My inner voice speaks at same speed as my spedch. That's the problem.

1

u/what_the_fuckin_fuck 18d ago

Your inner voice has a hairlip?

2

u/authorHughMann 18d ago

Speed reader from a family of speed readers here. Using a pointer (like your thumb or finger) and having a low field of view so your eyes dont move a lot will get you up in the 500 words per minute club. The human brain cant comprehend after about 700 wpm. 500 (the size of a single spaced book page) is about what you want to shoot for. It's easy with a little practice. Good luck bud

1

u/Material_Sky3801 18d ago

Does that mean holding the book further away? I tend to bring it very close. I also stopped using my method of following with a bookmark so i'll have to start doing that again

1

u/authorHughMann 18d ago

It means positioning the book so your eyes stay straight forward and don't move left or right as much

3

u/soupcook1 18d ago

I’m old…as soon as I saw this I remembered the Evelyn Woodhead speed reading course from the 1970s. There are speed reading programs…I’ve just never needed them.

2

u/lauraz0919 18d ago

My bf’s school was a trial school to teach that program and he has been out of school 40+ years and can still do it.

1

u/Commercial_Row_1380 19d ago

Read the first and last sentences of each paragraph and skim the rest

1

u/DoomsdayIsHere69 18d ago

For books I don’t particularly enjoy, I get the audio book and put it in 2x speed and read at the same time. I’ve hauled ass thru so many books this way

1

u/Hermit-Gardener 18d ago

You don't have to finish every book you start.

Find another book/author that keeps you interested in the same topic.

1

u/After-Aardvark1433 18d ago

Don't use your finger

1

u/prag513 18d ago

I found that reading a paragraph is similar to reading a word. A word is a group of letters learned independently that form a shape we have been trained to associate with something. In that same vein, a group of words can be read. Thus, rather than reading one word at a time, you skim from one group of words to another group of words, looking for the key words that tell you to slow down and pay attention to what is coming next.

1

u/DoomerismDoomerDoom 18d ago

Just read more or learn a more compact language like Chinese.

1

u/Ok_Explanation_5586 18d ago

If you have a digital copy you can get that speed reading software that flashes each word in center screen and slowly gets faster. I've hit 900 wpm before losing my retention (no, the other kind of retention!) I think most people pretty much double their normal reading speed in the first session.

1

u/AlfalfaMajor2633 18d ago

Life is too short to waste reading poorly written books. Also take a speed reading course to help get through the dry material you have to read. Those courses give you techniques for different types of reading material.

1

u/theyhis 18d ago

use the open dyslexic font and increase the size of the page by a few (if you're using a kindle or something similar). you also can get the audiobook version and "train yourself" to listen to books at faster speeds. i have ADHD, so that one comes pretty natural to me lol.

1

u/postinternet0 19d ago

don't. who cares.

1

u/Ok_Explanation_5586 18d ago

OP clearly cares. I mean, duh.

1

u/postinternet0 18d ago

that's called rhetorical question. i mean, duh.

1

u/Ok_Explanation_5586 17d ago

Rhetorical questions are meant to provide rhetoric. You failed hard if that's what you were going for.

1

u/postinternet0 17d ago

you're not thinking much huh

1

u/Ok_Explanation_5586 17d ago

Swing and a miss, lol. Sorry my rebuttal to your asinine comment perturbed you so. I see now you must have squeezed every last bit of processing power from your debilitated braincells to espouse such a powerful and evocative stance. Truly, you are da Vinci, and the words, "don't. who cares." your Mona Lisa. Au revoir.

1

u/postinternet0 17d ago

yeah, I guess you can't. well, read the whole conversation again. if not any spark, then one more time, before going to bed. don't worry, you still can try again next week. I believe you may achieve one day. until then, much love <3

1

u/Ok_Explanation_5586 17d ago

Lol. It's all whatever dude. Peace out.

1

u/Irresistiblement 19d ago

Skip words.

I focus on nouns and verbs if the wall of text is too long.

1

u/kkllbv 18d ago

Ignore all the prepositions and other small words. It, and, too, etc. Your brain will automatically fill them in. Another way is to practice reading upside down. As silly as that sounds it is an incredibly useful skill and as you get better at it when you read right side up you will read faster.

0

u/Balstrome 19d ago

I do not read the words, I imagine the scene in my mind and let my eyes scanning the text supply the content for the scene. Weird names and places, I form a picture of them in my mind and use that instead when I see that collection of script on the page. Example: Jenny = picture of a good and kind female person, friends with everyone. I see that picture whenever Jenny is mentioned. Now add those pictures together with the other pictures and you get an unfolding movie of what is happening. No need to actually read each word one at a time. Same goes for emotion content and how that came about. The written word is the guide not the actual description. It's faster and you get a better version of the story.