Do you speed read?

I'm still a fast reader but these days I also find myself mentally skipping over sections even as my eyes scan over them... just too easy to get distracted sometimes! I miss being able to get completely absorbed in the book I'm reading.

I’m fast but don’t read anywhere as much as I used to. Too many distractions these days. I do skim a lot of passages though and if I like a book I’ll read it several times - and find things I missed the first time. I probably read about 80 last year but only really read in bed or the bath these days

I read around 60 books a year but I’m certainly not a speed reader. Sometimes if I’m really, really enjoying a book I take a bit longer to read it. I use my local library to borrow most of the books I read these days as it’s free and don’t have to store them.

I'm so jealous! I'm not a fast reader at all. I definitely used to be faster when I was at school but now it takes me so long to get through a book!

Are there ways to improve reading speed?!

I can hammer through books when the mood takes me but will revisit favourite titles pretty much annually. The good ones I can recall but some I will finish and mentally discard (sounds better than forgetting)

No one buys me books for Christmas anymore as I'd finish them by the end of the day without being antisocial about it.

DW on the other hand seems to take ages to read anything but once she's done, that's it. Off to the charity shop. The oddball.

It's interesting about spotting typos. Me and another person are doing a task at work where we have to input information from forms that customers fill in into a database. My boss commented that on days that I'm doing it there's never an error and I think that's partly because I can scan the handwritten form and then scan the form on screen very quickly and see any differences. It's hard to explain but I'm seeing them rather than consciously reading.

I am not a speed reader as a norm, but if I a reading a pretty straightforward book a can often speed read. But right now I am reading a very meaty book, there is no way I could speed read it. Tbh I quite enjoy savouring books rather than skimming them and tend to only skim through when I just want the book over, so tend not to be enjoying it!

However a good friend of mine really does speed read. She will easily read a book in a day and if nothing else to do, 2. She often reads 300+ books a year.

I'm a very fast reader but have a poor memory which means I could look at a title I've recently read and recall very little till I go back to the synopsis then I do remember! This can be very infuriating. I'd perhaps do better if I slowed down... Thanks to lockdown and ill-health I read over 200 books last year, and probably the same the year before although I'd not counted till last year (I was given a reading journal for Christmas). I seem to 'chunk' in the same way as others have described above, but yes I do skip ahead with boring bits too! And, like pp, I can re-read several times before being able to recall most things.

I'm really good at spotting typos too. I think it is because many speed readers pattern recognise rather than decode and a typo jars the pattern.
I don't forget anything I've read either. I like to reread books, but I recently read a book that I know I read on a plane 17 years ago (because I bought it in the US in a particular second hand bookshop, and then handed it over to my grandmother) and it all flooded back as soon as I started, inc 'whodunnit'

I wonder if word-by-word readers tend to pick up typos and other errors more easily.

I read in paragraphs. I’m fairly quick at grasping the meaning of whatever I’m reading, and finish books quickly without skimming or skipping. However, my brain will often autocorrect errors without my noticing.

I’ll spot something jarring - mistakes that make the meaning of the text unclear, or the wrong word being used in the wrong context. I don’t always see typos or small errors, though, especially if I’m reading fiction and am immersed in the world the writer has created - I subconsciously substitute the right word or letter without breaking my absorption.

I’ve done some copy editing for work and it isn’t my strong point! Even though I have reasonable written English and communication skills in general.

I read fast, but don’t ‘skim’ — I realise if I try to analyse it that I don’t move my eyes along each of the lines of print, I seem to scan whole paragraphs at one go, working in diagonal sweeps from the top left down to the bottom right and then on to the next paragraph.

I think I may have started this — I think of it as ‘gulping’ words — because my parents were only semiliterate in my childhood and reading was considered ‘lazy’ so if I wanted to read something, I needed to cram it in ASAP before someone stopped me.

Evelyn Nielsen Wood (January 8, 1909 – August 26, 1995) was an American educator and businessperson, widely known for popularizing speed reading,

May help as she created a speed reading course

I read 52 books a year and don't speed read I just set aside time every day to read, usually before bed!

I usually slow read but when needed I try skimming, it varies on the purpose of the text

When I'm reading I visualise and I have a good memory for what I've read because of that. I remember books in the same sort of way that I remember films. I also have a good memory for facts and lists.
I don't have a good memory for thing I just hear though. If the kids told to to buy something on the way home from work I'd be likely to forget. But if I make a shopping list I don't need to take the actual list with me-I'd just be able to see the list in my mind's eye.

I am the same as @WhatDidISayAlan I am so desperate to know what happens that I speed read but even so, if you ask me what the last chapter is about I could probably tell you almost word for word. When we could (!) we holiday in Orlando every year for two weeks, it's a busy, busy holiday but I will still read a minimum of two books in that time. I LOVE reading! DP bought me the new John Grisham in hardback for Xmas,!it was finished by the day after Boxing Day! I love to be lost in the imagination of others and I picture every single written word

I’m a fast reader - can read a book in a day on holiday. I average a book every 3 days in normal life.
When I read a book I’m engaged in, I can see it, hear it, smell it, so I’m not skimming it. I’m just totally engrossed and waiting to discover what comes next, hence the fast reading.

We had almost no tv as a child, have gone years without one as an adult and read so much more before I discovered smart phones!

I read very quickly. The year before last I did keep a list to get an idea of how much I actually read and it was over 100 books.

It's bloody annoying sometimes and can be very expensive. I really struggle to slow my reading down- if I do try in an effort to savour the book I just get the feeling that I'm reading each line on repeat! Thank god for for kindles as books used to take up a LOT of room in my suitcase!
I reread books in the way I would rewatch films. Currently rereading Harry Potter as they're all on kindle unlimited.

I read very quickly. From talking to others who read normally the main difference seems to be that they read the words individually in their head. Whereas I look at the page and then it instantly becomes the place, people, characters etc. I’m not saying the words in my head.
I can also read out loud whilst thinking about something totally unrelated and having had no idea what I just said! I only learnt I had this dubious skill when I had children and started doing longer bedtime chapter books.

I type really fast. I did try and teach myself to touch type when I was young and had run out of computer games to try, but I'm not sure if I mostly picked it up over time.

I don't have to think much about which letters go in the word - it just sort of happens.

I wonder whether there's any correlation between fast reading and fast typing. I type at around 100wpm, used to be a bit quicker when I did audio typing in my job. I know touch typing is a skill that has to be learned/developed but does it come easier to people who are fast readers as they don't have to "think out" each individual letter?