[extropy-chat] Self-Enhncmnt: data acquisition at high speed

[Samantha Atkins]

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 19:57:17 -0500
David Lubkin <extropy at unreasonable.com> wrote:

> At 03:07 PM 1/21/2004 -0800, Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> 
> >Normal reading speed is perhaps 240 wpm (though this was from the net, not 
> >the GBoR so ByrBwr).
> >         :
> >Now, speed reading is great (though I would question the 2000 wpm number
> >as another source said only 1000 wpm -- which is closer to high speed
> >listening capabilities).
> 
> We had a thread on reading speed a few years ago. A lot of people chimed in 
> with their data points. Few on the list were as slow as that 240 wpm mark. 
> I'd expect that peak reading speed is correlated with IQ given that 
> response times for elementary tasks seem to give the best measure of IQ. On 
> this list, I'd guess the least impressive participant would have no problem 
> passing Mensa's 1:50 threshold (2 SD); the list median is at least 1:1000 
> (3 SD).

My understanding is that reading speed, especially at the slow end, is strongly correlated with learned reading habits that are less than optimal.  It hasn't much to do with IQ except when reading material that requires a bit faster intellectual uptake.  My average speed is around 400wpm if I am not being mindful of the techniques or reading difficult material.  If I am being more mindful I get up around 1500wpm.   If I spend long at the higher speeds over a period of a few days I notice that conversations become painfully slow to participate in. :-)


> 
> I peak at a little over a second a page, or around 12,000 wpm. It's too 
> exhausting to continue for long, and no fun, but useful in a pinch. My 
> sustainable rate is still quite high though. There's no way that an 
> auditory input can compete. Also, I learn *much* better visually, so even 
> if the rates were identical, comprehension would not be. And reading, you 
> can scan, skim, skip, repeat, and compare easily. Hard to do that 
> listening. Not to mention pictures and charts....
>

At what kind of material do you get these speeds?  To sustain that over even technical material would afaik require a near photographic memory or a high level of training.  What training have you had?  Is this just natural for you?

- samantha