Can I improve my reading speed in midlife?
May 14, 2018 2:37 PM Subscribe
I have always been a slow reader. For some reason it never bothered me until recently. Can I do anything about this?
I'm not a "whoever has read the most books before death, wins" type, but I suddenly have a number of things I think it would (to greater and lesser extents) enrich my life to read, and I barely touch them. To pick a recent though not wholly typical example--it's not a book I'm madly interested in--I picked up Nixonland one night and read a few pages and then thought "this is absurd; this would take FOREVER" and put it back on the shelf.
I sometimes read at a normal human quickness if I'm super, super into a book, but even then only if it's not very dense. Things that take more effort, I don't just read slowly; I space out a lot and lose my place. (No ADD diagnosis! But....probably!) That's its own issue I guess. The main thing I want to know is if there is some known way to read faster.
As a curious aside, I sometimes wonder if people who read slowly hear the words aloud, one by one, in their heads as they read. It might be like moving one's lips. It might mean I am a little dim. I bring it up because I'm certain it impeded my reading speed in Russian.
I'm not a "whoever has read the most books before death, wins" type, but I suddenly have a number of things I think it would (to greater and lesser extents) enrich my life to read, and I barely touch them. To pick a recent though not wholly typical example--it's not a book I'm madly interested in--I picked up Nixonland one night and read a few pages and then thought "this is absurd; this would take FOREVER" and put it back on the shelf.
I sometimes read at a normal human quickness if I'm super, super into a book, but even then only if it's not very dense. Things that take more effort, I don't just read slowly; I space out a lot and lose my place. (No ADD diagnosis! But....probably!) That's its own issue I guess. The main thing I want to know is if there is some known way to read faster.
As a curious aside, I sometimes wonder if people who read slowly hear the words aloud, one by one, in their heads as they read. It might be like moving one's lips. It might mean I am a little dim. I bring it up because I'm certain it impeded my reading speed in Russian.
Yup, there are things you can do. One biggie is listening to the audiobook at the same time that you read the paper/digital copy with your eyes. I have adult students who have dramatically improved their reading fluency and speed this way. There's been research done with children on the benefit of reading while listening, but AFAIK not with adults. However, I don't see why that wouldn't work for adults too.
When you mention the word-by-word thing, I actually do think that has an effect. I see this with my adult students with low literacy--they struggle to decode each word, and they decode each one separately, so they're not able to string words together into meaningful units. But when they listen to someone else reading, and read along, they can see how the words chunk together to form units of meaning.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:39 PM on May 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
When you mention the word-by-word thing, I actually do think that has an effect. I see this with my adult students with low literacy--they struggle to decode each word, and they decode each one separately, so they're not able to string words together into meaningful units. But when they listen to someone else reading, and read along, they can see how the words chunk together to form units of meaning.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:39 PM on May 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I (can, despite ADHD) read pretty quickly when I want to, though I usually don't when I'm reading a good book because "talking" pace gives me more time to process subtext and emotional content.
The two things that are different between the fast pace and the slower pace are not subvocalizing and reading in larger chunks, essentially. You can train yourself out of the former pretty easily. Simply count aloud while you read. Most people's brains can't both count and read verbally at the same time, so it helps you get used to absorbing the underlying ideas without "hearing" the words.
posted by wierdo at 3:44 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
The two things that are different between the fast pace and the slower pace are not subvocalizing and reading in larger chunks, essentially. You can train yourself out of the former pretty easily. Simply count aloud while you read. Most people's brains can't both count and read verbally at the same time, so it helps you get used to absorbing the underlying ideas without "hearing" the words.
posted by wierdo at 3:44 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
As a curious aside, I sometimes wonder if people who read slowly hear the words aloud, one by one, in their heads as they read.
I have always been a very fast reader, and it takes effort for me to read the way you describe here. I generally only read in this way if a chunk of text is really dense or technical or written in an unfamiliar dialect. Typically though, I can't really look at a sentence written in English without automatically absorbing its meaning. (This makes closed captioning really annoying sometimes, since I can't ignore it and I generally read it faster than I can hear the dialogue, and it sometimes spoils punchlines for me.)
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:09 PM on May 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
I have always been a very fast reader, and it takes effort for me to read the way you describe here. I generally only read in this way if a chunk of text is really dense or technical or written in an unfamiliar dialect. Typically though, I can't really look at a sentence written in English without automatically absorbing its meaning. (This makes closed captioning really annoying sometimes, since I can't ignore it and I generally read it faster than I can hear the dialogue, and it sometimes spoils punchlines for me.)
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:09 PM on May 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Another naturally very fast reader, and I also don’t “hear” every word aloud except when I’m just starting to read. After a few minutes, I get into sort of a zone where the words just seem to flow into my brain like a river. I was diagnosed with ADHD only a couple years ago, but I’ve been a fast reader since I first started to read, and my reading speed did pick up about 12 years ago when I spent a bunch of time unemployed and had nothing to do BUT read. This suggests that practicing reading helps. But for me personally, reading has always been my “thing” and insofar as its relation to ADHD, all I can say is that it is my preferred distraction—my problem is tearing myself away from the book, not focusing on the book.
That being said, my reading speed slows way down with dry material, and I tend to skip most non-fiction for this reason. But having recently gotten into audiobooks, I would suggest that as an alternative, if not to increase your reading speed (although it would be worth trying and seeing if it did) but also because a good narrator can make otherwise dry text really come to life. If there’s a book that sounds really interesting but you know it would take an eon to page through, see if there’s an audio version.
I like to listen to audiobooks when I’m driving (maybe not recommended if you find that you focus intently on the narration), when I’m getting ready for bed, and when I’m doing housework that requires my eyeballs but not my full attention (e.g. vacuuming, laundry). It’s a nice way to experience a story, and since the story is measured in hours instead of pages, you know how long it will take to finish it.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:13 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
That being said, my reading speed slows way down with dry material, and I tend to skip most non-fiction for this reason. But having recently gotten into audiobooks, I would suggest that as an alternative, if not to increase your reading speed (although it would be worth trying and seeing if it did) but also because a good narrator can make otherwise dry text really come to life. If there’s a book that sounds really interesting but you know it would take an eon to page through, see if there’s an audio version.
I like to listen to audiobooks when I’m driving (maybe not recommended if you find that you focus intently on the narration), when I’m getting ready for bed, and when I’m doing housework that requires my eyeballs but not my full attention (e.g. vacuuming, laundry). It’s a nice way to experience a story, and since the story is measured in hours instead of pages, you know how long it will take to finish it.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:13 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
As an ESL student, I was taught to read a little more explicitly than most. There are three steps in reading:
(1) recognize which words are printed on the page
(2) parse that sequence of words into a meaningful statement (vocabulary and grammar)
(3) understand the information conveyed by that statement
It's the difference between, e.g., reading bad handwriting, reading really sesquipedalian prose, and reading mathematical theorems.
Speed-reading classes mostly address the first step.
For the second step, it helps to have a larger vocabulary and familiarity with the relevant grammatical constructions. Modern conversational English has mostly dropped the subjunctive mood, for example, but it still comes up in formal, idiomatic, or historical usages. If you don't have to stop to puzzle over "sesquipedalian" or "Oh, would that it were!" you'll be that much faster.
The third is hardest to train, since it requires domain-specific knowledge, but it gets at your idea of "density." For leisure reading, it's probably not worth trying to train this step.
Anyway, for me it was mostly a matter of reading a lot. I used to find a long series at the library and read every book, just left to right on the shelf. I think I've read all or almost all of the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Animorphs, Boxcar Children, and Babysitter's Club books. Then I moved on to the reading passages in PSAT, SAT, and ACT exam prep books, which are nice because they also have comprehension questions afterward.
posted by d. z. wang at 5:16 PM on May 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
(1) recognize which words are printed on the page
(2) parse that sequence of words into a meaningful statement (vocabulary and grammar)
(3) understand the information conveyed by that statement
It's the difference between, e.g., reading bad handwriting, reading really sesquipedalian prose, and reading mathematical theorems.
Speed-reading classes mostly address the first step.
For the second step, it helps to have a larger vocabulary and familiarity with the relevant grammatical constructions. Modern conversational English has mostly dropped the subjunctive mood, for example, but it still comes up in formal, idiomatic, or historical usages. If you don't have to stop to puzzle over "sesquipedalian" or "Oh, would that it were!" you'll be that much faster.
The third is hardest to train, since it requires domain-specific knowledge, but it gets at your idea of "density." For leisure reading, it's probably not worth trying to train this step.
Anyway, for me it was mostly a matter of reading a lot. I used to find a long series at the library and read every book, just left to right on the shelf. I think I've read all or almost all of the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Animorphs, Boxcar Children, and Babysitter's Club books. Then I moved on to the reading passages in PSAT, SAT, and ACT exam prep books, which are nice because they also have comprehension questions afterward.
posted by d. z. wang at 5:16 PM on May 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm a very fast reader (which sometimes has drawbacks, too). We had a semester in Speed Reading when I was in seventh grade, and I'm pretty sure that's a big part of why I can both read fast and retain the information reasonably well, even without officially "speed reading." I don't know where one looks to find speed-reading classes, but that would be my recommendation, too.
posted by lazuli at 7:17 PM on May 14, 2018
posted by lazuli at 7:17 PM on May 14, 2018
One biggie is listening to the audiobook at the same time that you read the paper/digital copy with your eyes. I have adult students who have dramatically improved their reading fluency and speed this way.
According to my parents, this is what they did with me and I'm a speed reader now. I apparently figured it out when they read aloud to me.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:07 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
According to my parents, this is what they did with me and I'm a speed reader now. I apparently figured it out when they read aloud to me.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:07 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
When I'm reading something with easy language and content, I don't hear every word in my head. When I'm reading something difficult or something I really want to work to retain, I slow to the point of hearing every word in my head. I read slower than my partner, but when we discuss books/articles afterwards, I tend to retain more fine detail, though she's fine on the broader topic. If she takes notes during or afterwards, she retains more.
One tip that students learning a foreign language are given is to read extensively rather than intensively. Extensive reading involves choosing material that is interesting and relatively easy to understand so you can focus on content rather than on grammar, vocabulary, etc. Intensive reading is when you read slowly and carefully, maybe looking up words, identifying parts of speech (especially for foreign language learning). The idea is that you read a lot of material extensively, acquiring grammar and vocabulary, increasing your speed and your comprehension. So it may be helpful to find books or material where you can read without hearing every word in your head--even if it's very simple material--and work your way up to more difficult material.
And this doesn't help with reading speed, but I started listening to audiobooks several years ago and am able to read more by listening to books when I'd normally not be reading--when doing the dishes or laundry for example, or commuting. It won't speed you up, but it does mean you're reading more!
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:10 PM on May 15, 2018
One tip that students learning a foreign language are given is to read extensively rather than intensively. Extensive reading involves choosing material that is interesting and relatively easy to understand so you can focus on content rather than on grammar, vocabulary, etc. Intensive reading is when you read slowly and carefully, maybe looking up words, identifying parts of speech (especially for foreign language learning). The idea is that you read a lot of material extensively, acquiring grammar and vocabulary, increasing your speed and your comprehension. So it may be helpful to find books or material where you can read without hearing every word in your head--even if it's very simple material--and work your way up to more difficult material.
And this doesn't help with reading speed, but I started listening to audiobooks several years ago and am able to read more by listening to books when I'd normally not be reading--when doing the dishes or laundry for example, or commuting. It won't speed you up, but it does mean you're reading more!
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:10 PM on May 15, 2018
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"Subvocalisation" is definitely seen as a contributor to slower reading speeds, and it's one of the things that speed reading techniques try to prevent people from doing. Speed reading classes do help some people, so it might be worth enrolling and seeing where you get. This episode of Oh No Ross and Carrie gives some first hand impressions of a speed reading class from a sceptical perspective, so it might be interesting if you're thinking about trying that approach.
posted by howfar at 3:33 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]