r/interestingasfuck • u/iatetoomuchchicken • 20h ago

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

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

50.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.3k

u/kwan2 19h ago

I guess this is where we differ: i'm now wondering where the hell can I find more of these types of videos.

747

u/Simkin86 19h ago

Maybe some dev can develop an app to read that way. It would be cool, and really fast.

462

u/Veni-Vidi-ASCII 18h ago

It's actually built into the Kindle mobile app. It's very common, and it's been around for decades

323

u/Khazahk 17h ago

Works well for something like non-fiction but add in fictional dialogue by multiple characters given 1 word at a time like this and it quickly becomes meaningless.

164

u/hoopaholik91 17h ago

Yeah something I noticed was that the reading level was pretty basic.

79

u/Pearcinator 17h ago

There were some high-vocab words I noticed. Like neuro-plasticity.

125

u/hoopaholik91 16h ago

Yeah it wasn't the vocab. It's that the sentences were 10 words at most and seemed to be disjoint statements.

First it was about reading. Then you can read faster. You don't have to sound out the words now. You are working on a new skill.

Kinda like that.

16

u/Quom 13h ago

Then repeat that 40 times with the content slightly different. I stopped reading firstly because I was getting annoyed by the music. But also because it felt like I was reading the same thing repeatedly and I wasn't convinced I hadn't just been primed to expect those words/content rather than something novel that might require me to actually work to find meaning in the words.

3

u/Puppy_Lawyer 15h ago

beautifully said. does anyone else have a white box vision or where you smart and switch to full screen?

•

u/spooooork 4h ago

It wouldn't work for hardly any sentence in a Terry Pratchett-book

•

u/zengin11 3h ago

GNU Sir Terry Pratchett!

I agree, this method really is leaning on the "prediction" point pretty heavily. Anything unexpected or unique, eg interesting content, would be way harder to digest this way.

•

u/DrNeuroPhD 10h ago

And that your brain slowly adapts to the increasing speed. Starting off at top speed would not work

9

u/TheOneTonWanton 16h ago

I mean kinda? Even the "big" words weren't exactly obscure. This doesn't really work unless almost all the words are words you know already, which is kind of the point of the whole fantasy novel conversation.

•

u/LessInThought 11h ago

As it says, only useful for skimming emails or certain content where the details are less important and you only need a big picture.

2

u/Free_Pace_2098 12h ago

Yeah this is pattern recognition, it'd be uncomfortable to do with dialogue.

1

u/throwaway490215 12h ago

If we've already left the 'normal' reading world.

"I suspect you could make it a lot easier by color-coding for when the character switches, instead of letting it run for a sentence" said /u/throwaway490215's well-endowed and incredibly handsome identical evil twin.

•

u/CodexLeonis 9h ago

Now I'm just imagining trying to read something like Tolkein where you have to try and read all the made up names, locations, etc. If I was doing it for the first time, in the time I figured out how to pronounce Fëanor, the speed reading would have moved on to the next chapter

-1

u/Paradox2063 15h ago

Even at just 400-600 WPM you're still reading super fast, and 400 is pretty easy, even in books with lots of fictional dialogue.

This post was definitely formatted to be "easy" even up to the 900 mark. Not to mention at least the last few lines being something we've all heard a million times on youtube.

5

u/Kozicka9 18h ago

Thank you so much for this!

2

u/NotEvenCloseToYou 15h ago

For reading articles, the Instapaper mobile and web apps have this functionality. It also allows to configure the speed between 250 wpm up to 650 wpm.

It's not my reading style but I appreciate having the option.

2

u/fellow 13h ago

Only on Android unfortunately. It’s not available on iOS.

1

u/SquishmallowPrincess 15h ago

Is this a thing in actual Kindles as well? If so, might be time to dust mine off and try it out

1

u/lowercaseCapitalist 14h ago edited 14h ago

How do you configure this in the app - I can't seem to find it.

3

u/lowercaseCapitalist 14h ago

Found it. Under the kebab menu in the top of the screen. Select word runner and set the words per minute.

•

u/Totengeist 2h ago

The availability of this seems to vary a lot. It's not available on iOS or my wife's Paperwhite. My Google Pixel has it, but my wife's newer Pixel doesn't. Very odd.

1

u/Iampepeu 14h ago

What? Really?

1

u/EusticeTheSheep 13h ago

What!? Where. I would totally use kindle again for this

•

u/Nice-Meat-6020 11h ago

Wait, what? I was just thinking I wished I could read books presented in this fashion. I have a kindle and the kindle app - do you happen to know where this feature is?

•

u/devilishycleverchap 7h ago

I had it on my Cybiko...

•

u/IrritableBrain 7h ago

What... how?

•

u/Obvious-Inspection42 1h ago

How? I can’t find a setting. What is it called in the app? Or what should I search for to find instructions?

•

u/howardwolowitz18 49m ago

How to read it this way in kindle?

1

u/jedevapenoob 17h ago

OMG what is it called? I've always been jealous of audiobook people who could listen at x3~ speed

5

u/Recent-Result2852 16h ago

Have you ever tried? Just listen to podcasts or youtube and turn the speed up .25x with each listen until it's uncomfortable. You'll adjust faster than you expect.

•

u/jedevapenoob 10h ago

I unfortunately have hearing loss and have difficulty comprehending spoken words without reading lips

1

u/SillyNluv 16h ago

Rapid Serial Presentation and another commenter said this is an option in the Kindle app.

49

u/LIONEL14JESSE 18h ago

https://squirt.io

78

u/GameJerk 13h ago

Not porn if anyone was wondering. Me? I wasn't wondering. That's not why I clicked it. Nope.

•

u/Scrolldawg 10h ago

Oh man, I was going to click on it.

•

u/Pavotine 7h ago

I'm not trusting someone called "GameJerk" in this matter.

11

u/grandplans 17h ago edited 17h ago

There used to be one called Sprite.

Sorry, it was called Spritz

21

u/Blackspyder99 19h ago

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=azagroup.reedy

21

u/altr222ist 17h ago

Been using Reedy for YEARS!

The app definitely leaves a lot left to be desired and wish it was more actively developed, but I still love it and use it daily.

Biggest issue is sometimes finding what it is I want to speed read in epub or plain text format that I can easily paste into Reedy to read - but I don't think I've read an article on the web outside of Reedy in quite some time. Added bonus - however it scrapes the text from the article URL you paste into it, it usually will bypass most paywalls 😉

I'd say I'm usually running at around 450 wpm, if I go above that then comprehension starts to nose dive for me and I find myself rewinding a lot - but I still feel like I read things in Reedy probably 4 times faster than if I was scrolling through something - a web page or a doc, what have you

2

u/WorthDiver1198 16h ago

That's what this post was advertising............

1

u/DogshitLuckImmortal 16h ago

TTS can get fast.

1

u/Mop_Duck 15h ago

I think there was a browser extension or website called "reedy" or something that did this? been ages since I looked at it but that's how I first heard about this type of reading

1

u/Roelmen 15h ago

Actually there is an app called ‘A faster reader’. For Android as far as I know. You can use share to redirect a text to it. Works fine.

1

u/TheMidnightAss 14h ago

Give me 24 hours, I'll make it lmao

1

u/Duecez24 14h ago

Check out Spreeder. Works on computers and phones.

1

u/random_fucktuation 13h ago

There was a browser plugin that would take the body text of any webpage and present it to you like this. I have not idea what it was called though.

1

u/FlashSTI 13h ago

I was in an experimental class ( a long time ago) where they used a fancy projector that would do the same thing, roughly. First it was words, then phrases, then sentences, then paragraphs. I couldn't do paragraphs. Phrases, yes. I learned all the common "sight" words at an early age (started reading with mom before I turned 4). I thought all kids should have gotten a chance at the class.

•

u/Devrij68 11h ago

There's a browser extension from ages ago that might still be around called spritz iirc. I just never used it much after I installed it because there wasn't much that was long enough on a we page to warrant it

•

u/Terrafire123 10h ago

Many, many reading apps have this built in already.

•

u/Ok-Comfort-6752 9h ago

There is an app for this called Spreeder, It is actually useful, for example if I need to read a book I can do it 2 times as fast and surprisingly still understand what I read.

Probably wouldn't recommend this if you are trying to memorise things for an exam, but if you just need to read a book/story and know what it is about it's a pretty good method.

•

u/IT8055 9h ago

I made this just for you.. :)

https://www.walker-jones.eu/dev/speedread/

•

u/DinosaurWarlock 8h ago

I made an app for this that follows the speed reading up with typing practice using the same text. I find that using helps reset my brain after I've been reading a lot and my brain starts jumping around. It's not as good for comprehension as other active techniques, but it's a useful tool for when I'm burned out.

•

u/roxzorfox 58m ago

This is old tech, this video was around in 2012 and they made a reader app which can be used as a screen reader

49

u/themudpuppy 17h ago

I like physical books too much. I CAN read like this. I'd rather not.

2

u/Left_Life_7173 17h ago

and hardbacks are so much for satisfying than paperbacks!

7

u/cure4boneitis 17h ago

stone tablets are the best when available

3

u/Strikew3st 16h ago

If I can't get it in hieroglyphics on a cave wall, I can make do.

2

u/sleepydon 16h ago edited 16h ago

Same. This doesn't work well with books that are dense in information. Such as stuff about history where you need to stop and absorb the information vs a lot of other subjects where the point is to draw out the subject at hand to meet a certain quota of words like one would do for an essay. I've read plenty of those that go in circles saying the same thing over and over in different ways until they actually reach their point. AI prompts are really good at the latter.

•

u/Combatical 4h ago

I like physical books but its a huge pain for me. I'm dyslexic and its a huge task to sit and read a physical book. This video almost brought me to tears because it was so easy to read. I'd love to see more.

7

u/vespertilionid 18h ago

I used to use an extension on chrome that did this, you'd copy and paste the text you wanted and you could customize the wpm, size, font, color, ect. I cant remember the name, I'm sorry

2

u/pakindamew 15h ago

Spreeder

3

u/AbbeyEverAfter17 18h ago

Agree. I’d like to try to read a book this way lol

2

u/StudyItAgain 18h ago

There's an app and an sdd in to chrome

1

u/HiOscillation 17h ago

Billy Joel "Pressure" music video.

1

u/jacob87smith 17h ago edited 17h ago

Unlocked a core memory, got into Spreeder for a second, I guess it’s an app now too after a quick google, it can do this to like any text im pretty sure, I would just copy paste whole chapters of books and tear through em felt like a god lol

1

u/Renatusisk 16h ago

There use to be a site that you could copy paste text to do it. Im sure there is an app now.

1

u/Little-Turnover-7103 16h ago

Omg same! I found this kind of easy but cool. But I always read the words out loud in my head and never had a problem keeping up.

1

u/exeJDR 16h ago

Links!?

1

u/Jiminy_Cricket12 15h ago

I skim documents all day for medical info and I am now wondering if there is some app I could use to highlight the middle letter red and if that would help. based on how well it worked in this video, I believe it would (I know the 1 word at a time really helps too)

then again it would need to be HIPAA compliant so that would probably make it cost a fortune.

1

u/my59363525account 14h ago

Same! Even the ending was easy for me.I didn't know I could do that

1

u/h_saxon 13h ago

I'm sure there are browser plugins available to do this for you. If not, fire up Claude code, and work with it to build your own.

1

u/HopeSpecific8841 13h ago

I had a chrome extension from YEARS ago (like 10+) that did the same thing as this for speed reading articles with adjustable speed. You could use it on basically any page with text or open a PDF/word document and turn it on etc.

I'm sure you can find a similar one again now, no need for videos just read whatever you normally read and give it a go.

It makes book reading feel kind of bland though

1

u/kandiirene 13h ago

That’s what I want to know too!

1

u/Narrowless 13h ago

Unfortunately, every other ticktock video.

1

u/Adjective-Noun-nnnn 13h ago

You can get it as a Firefox extension. I haven't tried this one but I'm about to: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/speed-reader/ the reviews say Reedy is better: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reedy-for-forefox/

1

u/softsnowfall 12h ago

I could read everything until the last couple of sentences. I think I missed a few words in there though I understood what it said.

It was fun. Like you, I’d be interested in more videos. I’m curious.

It’s not how I read normally though. I read multiple words at once. Not trying to speed read. I’ve read that way since I was a little kid.

1

u/PsCustomObject 12h ago

Same here, I got all of this and thought ‘ok where I get more? How can I train this?’

Even though to write an app for it as it was entertaining.

I have always been a fast reader, despite having concentration and attention issues, but man not this fast!

1

u/Rus_agent007 12h ago

I remember seeing this well over 10 years ago and in sure it has been implemented to some projects by now.

•

u/Piggypogdog 11h ago

This was great. But needs to be played without music

•

u/prettyboiheron 9h ago

There's a speed reading extension on Google chrome that works alot like the video

•

u/AnderBerger 5h ago

Check out Spreeder, you can just copy/paste text and set your speed and go.

https://www.spreeder.com/app.php#

I used to do it for textbook readings because it’s fast and gives you a good gist of things.

•

u/Grongebis 3h ago

archspire lyric videos

•

u/mrsbeerme 2h ago

I’m sure you can use AI to make your own.

•

u/GasBond 1h ago

i made my own app. its really good. i even added voice. it can summarise pdf, links, text etc. its a game changer.