# Speed Reading Courses



## ChristopherPaul (Jan 27, 2006)

Has anyone ever taken any speed reading courses?

How effective are they?

My grandfather gave me two self study courses from an "As Seen on TV" source. One was _Mega Memory_ and the other _Mega Speed Reading_. I am a bit of a skeptic I suppose, should I spend the time these programs require? Do they help?

All I can think of is the infomercial where the people are flipping pages every second and claiming to comprehend everything they read. I think there is a difference between reading as fast as one can and actually comprehending what is being read. So along with speed reading, one would need a speed comprehension course too no?

Thoughts?

Recommendations?


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## crhoades (Jan 27, 2006)

Check out http://www.acereader.com/acereader.html
They have free trial software. The principles that the software reinforces makes sense. Trains your eye to scan pages properly.


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## ChristopherPaul (Jan 27, 2006)

> _Originally posted by crhoades_
> Check out http://www.acereader.com/acereader.html
> They have free trial software. The principles that the software reinforces makes sense. Trains your eye to scan pages properly.



Thanks.

Have you used this program? Did it work?


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## crhoades (Jan 27, 2006)

> _Originally posted by ChristopherPaul_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by crhoades_
> ...



I played with it for a few days and I could tell that it would help. The reason I didn't keep up with it is a general lack of stick-to-it-ness and A.D.D. that i cave in to.


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## satz (Jan 27, 2006)

I have had some speed reading training i found it helpful. The principles being taught seem genuine and i don't think it is a fraud or anything of the kind.

Still, it is hard to keep using the techniques as we are just so used to our normal way of reading. Like Chris i found myself not really using what i learnt.

I found one problem i faced was; if what you are going to read is important, say it is part of the job, i have problems 'trusting' the technique and believeing that will not miss any important details. On the other hand, if what you are reading is for recreation, you probably want to savour the words and not apply those kinds of techniques. So in the end you end up just using your skills on things like the newspapers etc.


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