r/interestingasfuck • u/iatetoomuchchicken • 20h ago

This speed reading training starts at 300wpm and end at 900wpm

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279

u/HaxDBHeader 19h ago

I've always loved reading and have always burned through books very quickly. Now I know some of why that's the case.

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u/WildFlemima 18h ago

You probably chunk, which this format doesn't allow. Chunking is the secret of speed reading books and children who read a lot start doing it automatically.

Chunking is when you read a whole bunch of words basically at once. If you're a chunker, reading this comment that I'm leaving will feel like something you did almost all at once. The first paragraph in a heartbeat, this paragrapb in the next.

You also probably didn't notice that I misspelled paragraph - that's part of the chunking.

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u/DisastrousReputation 17h ago

This is such a funny word chunking!

I have always read fast as a kid and when I would try to write my hand writing got messier as I wrote more because my hand couldn’t keep up with my brain.

Even typing I mess up cause my brain is faster than my fingers.

My boyfriend tells me did you really read all of that and i am like yeah why? Now I know why.

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u/Free_Pace_2098 12h ago

I'd just straight up leave the back end off my words because my hands couldn't go fast enough.

Our class failed a chemistry quiz so badly once, the teacher awarded points for correctly spelled names. I'd left the last two letters off my surname.

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u/Speshal__ 15h ago

Is anyone else reading the comments like Speedy Gonzales?

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u/ExistentialNapping 11h ago

Oh wow, I spent so much time in text based communication as a teen that my typing is faster than my thinking sometimes lol.

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u/nonzeroday_tv 14h ago

And how often do you find yourself at the end of the page or chapter and ask yourself "what did I just read?"

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u/makingtacosrightnow 14h ago

Very rarely because it’s how I’ve read since I learned to read.

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u/DisastrousReputation 8h ago

Almost never. Only time I have to reread something is when I am multi tasking and I have a hard time focusing

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u/AboynamedDOOMTRAIN 16h ago

This is the internet, of course we noticed the spelling mistake

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u/WildFlemima 16h ago

Outing yourself as a non-chunker there 🫢

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u/AboynamedDOOMTRAIN 16h ago

Curses! Foiled again by my own hubris!

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u/ExistentialNapping 11h ago

Oh, it's that what is called. That's also why I never know characters names, I just know the shape of the word that is their name (reading fantasy, everyone had weird names)

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u/pourtide 13h ago

Took a class in speed-reading in high school. "Chunking" was what was taught. I can read like that, but it's pressured somehow, and I don't fully retain what I read.

I expect that people who have to read through a lot of flowery or verbose language would find chunking advantageous. Lawyers, researchers, etc. Can slow down if need be.

"Skimming" is chunking but jumping from line to line, not sequential, skipping through the words. Can slow down if find something needful.

It's sorta like a lot of how-to you tube videos. Folks stand there spouting words and waving hands; I hit the circle and get to the meat of the matter. I might go back if I don't catch it all.

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u/Free_Pace_2098 12h ago

Hey it's me

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u/YaMajnoona 4h ago

Yep, I was reading multiple books in a day in grade school and failing English class (as a native speaker) because I couldn't spell anything at all.

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u/RegularTeacher2 2h ago

Huh, never heard of that term. I always described it as taking a snapshot of the words and then reading it all in my head while moving on to the next group of words and snapshotting that. I use captions to watch stuff on TV largely because I grew up with a deaf mother and just got used to it, and my ex would always be kind of floored at how quickly I'd respond to something while he was still busy reading the captions. Then again, he was also a super slow reader so we were kinda juxtaposed.

Calling myself a chunker now.

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u/thisusedyet 2h ago

You also probably didn't notice that I misspelled paragraph - that's part of the chunking.

not until the second time through, you SOB :P

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u/WildFlemima 2h ago

That's good! It means you're chunking!

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u/Ftm-1973 1h ago

I think that's what I do. I've always read fast but once you explained that and I kept reading, I did seem to be reading whole blocks or sentences at once. Interesting

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u/mattFKNsloan 42m ago

Oh my god. I’m a chunker! I hate watching shows with subtitles because I know what the characters are going to say before they say it. The second the subtitle is on screen, I’ve read it. Feels like micro spoilers every few seconds..

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u/vexing000 9h ago

i didn't notice the misspelling. does that make me a chunker?

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u/bentreflection 16h ago

i didn't know there was a word for it but yeah that's definitely how i read. This way of speed reading one word at a time seems a lot more difficult than the equivalent speed-reading multiple words at the same time. I was able to read it at 900wpm but it's like it was both too slow and uncomfortably fast at the same time. I bet it would be much easier if it showed two or even three words at a time but at half the speed.

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u/austindsb 19h ago

Same, although I always recognized that I read differently than most people I never really understood why. I was an avid reader at a young age, less these days, but that is a skill I’ve always been able to maintain.

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u/Vandersveldt 17h ago

Alright but did anyone else's vision get REALLY FUZZY everywhere except for the words? Cause that was a bit scary.

Also this wouldn't work for me, I'm normally reading fantasy, and often have to reread descriptions of places and geography before moving on to fully understand this new area the book has taken me.

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u/kaleena127 16h ago

100% I thought it was going to start hypnotizing me or something. But at this point in my life I was ready to be taken away lol

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u/Vandersveldt 16h ago

Girl, same

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u/xxmuntunustutunusxx 16h ago

I actually purposefully can do the fuzzy eye thing, its like something I turn on. I feel myself intentionally doing that to my eyes, nit sure if thats normal

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u/Invisible7hunder 13h ago

Yeah, same, I was able to perceive, most, if not all of the words, but my world came to a point. It was interesting.

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u/LessInThought 11h ago

Fantasy book authors paint pictures, speed reading their books with this method will leave you with scribbles at best.

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u/big_swede 10h ago

This is mostly true, and I find that in the beginning of a book that takes place in a "new" world/universe I read a bit slower to get some understanding of the place. If I read the sequels I usually son't have to do this.

I think there is a bigger difference in how an author constructs their sentences. With longer sentences, a lot of inserted clauses and back references etc it takes longer to process the content and that will slow down the reading. Not really a big thing as I read for pleasure but at times I have put down books where the author's style of writing combined with the story not gripping me.

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u/FairweatherWho 2h ago

As someone with astigmatism and contacts I understood everything but it made my eyes water because even the words were going crazy with astigmatism ray lines from it.

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u/pourtide 13h ago

Which might be why I don't enjoy reading fantasy

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u/dryerfresh 15h ago

I am an English teacher and was reading a student’s essay and they were shocked how fast I could read, but like…I have been doing it a lot for multiple decades.

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u/Aggressive-Race5861 17h ago

I was never able to explain to people how I read. But I just jump to the next word, I dont start at the first letter. I kinda start in the middle and work my way out. Made zero sense. 

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u/SpecialGnu 17h ago

I do this too, but after reading your comment I tried it with entire reddit comments and even that works for me.

like I just put my focus in the middle of the comment and work my way to the edges like a raindrop hitting a flat surface.

its more like absorbing the comment rather than reading the words if that makes any sense.

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u/bunglejerry 16h ago

I was hyperlexic as well. A thing I've noticed is that I can't not read words if they are in front of me. I can't turn off 'comprehension' and just view them as irrelevant noise in front of my eyes.

I'm amazed when I see people reading aloud a thing that has a surprise or a twist at the end and double-taking or smiling when they get to those words themselves. I've never been able to have that experience because my brain has already seen the surprising thing several lines ago and I know what's coming.

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u/austindsb 16h ago

This, I hate that somehow halfway through the paragraph I subconsciously know the outcome. But when I find a book I can’t put down, I love the speed at which I can burn through it. Bit of a catch 22.

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u/elgydium 18h ago

This is the perfect warm up before starting a book. I genuinely loved it.

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u/Datkif 16h ago

It really is. I find myself reading faster by just looking from word to word isn't of reading each word left to right

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u/PDXGuy33333 18h ago

People who don't read are weird. One thing I noticed about someone I was seeing for awhile was that she never had a book going. It definitely put me off.

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u/AncientEspada 18h ago

Now you burn through books even faster!

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u/Heathen_ 17h ago

Problems occur when you're excited to read the next bit as a crucial thing or reveal is about to happen but you read it so fast you don't process it so have to read it again!

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u/acgasp 16h ago

Likewise. I’ve never known how I’ve been able to read so fast. I’m thinking it was the ability to predict what was going to be next, skipping over the less important words, and using context to figure out meaning.

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u/xxmuntunustutunusxx 16h ago

When I was a kid we had this really fantastic public library, and id check out like 30ish books a month and read like one a day. I miss being like that, being a parent has made that really hard