Do you speed read?

[CrumblyCrimble]

I'm a very slow reader. It can take me 3 to 6 months to finish a normal length novel. I honestly only manage about two books a year.
Granted I don't make a lot of time for leisure reading.
I'm intrigued by people who get through 50 books a year, and stay on top of the latest biographies and diversity reading. I'm slightly envious. I'm wondering whether people are just speed reading everything? I savour the language in books, reread enjoyable passages and take my time.
If you are one of the people who gets through many books, do you really read every single word or do you sometimes skip over bits to focus on taking in the key messages and narrative?

I am naturally a very fast reader-I can remember being a small child at school when we often shared books with the person sitting beside us and no one wanted to share because I turned the pages too fast.

I think you can get faster but it's like anything that you start from your own natural base if that makes sense?

I do speed read - I unconsciously developed the skill when I was little (my mum taught me to read early) and I wanted to find out what happened at the end of a story because I was impatient.

It’s a pain in the bum. I have to really concentrate to read at a normal pace to savour the choice of words otherwise I’d just zip through to the end. I’d know the story, and what happened at the conclusion, but I’d miss out on all the little nuances.

I don't skip, I'm just naturally a very fast reader as was my mum and nan. Normal novels take me 1.5-2 hours for context

I read every word but I also read more than 50 books a year.

It's a pain because a new book comes out that you've been waiting years for & later that day it's done & you are back to waiting years for the next book.

I do go back & read favourites again, usually with a gap of a few years between readings & find that as I change over time I sometimes see different things in books, not because I missed them first time round but because I saw things differently at the time I read them, or have had experiences between reading that have changed my attitudes to things.

I envy slower readers because reading so fast is expensive.

I also find that if I try to read slower my mind wanders from the story rather than enjoying it.
Like trying to enjoy a film if you play it in slow motion the whole way through, for me it doesn't work.

I don't skip bits but I do read very quickly and usually get through about 50 books a year. I don't remember learning to read and was reading Famous Five books when I was 5 so I agree with @mumsiedarlingrevolta about people having their own base speed.

About 80% of the books I read are library books because it would be too expensive to be constantly buying new books.

I read quickly but I don't absorb. I enjoy re-reading books and picking up everything I missed first time around.

I’m a fast reader but do read every word. Over 100 books a year usually. Mostly from the library obviously! The one thing I would say though is that I don’t retain memory about a book unless I’ve read it multiple times. I can re-read murder mysteries a couple of times for example as I can never remember whodunnit! DH reads much slower than me but retains detailed knowledge about each book.

I've read 10 books so far this year. I do sometimes glaze over bits where I'm bored but I'm an exceptionally quick reader, my DH suggests my brain takes in whole sentences at a time as opposed to words. Whenever we are reading something at the same time he seems excruciatingly slow. Say there is a meme which is two lines of text and a picture, he will have to read it whereas I take it all in at once and know instantly what it says, if that makes sense? Whereas if he shows me something on his phone and doesn't keep his hand still, I can't comprehend a single word.

I speed read but do read every word afaik I taught myself to read at 2 and read books - the hobbit etc in infants i read as a pp by taking in an entire chunk in one go

It takes about 2 hrs for a novel and I scroll so fast through threads on here or Twitter

@Pedalpushers I think I’m like you, you’ve explained it really well

I've been a naturally very fast reader since childhood. I do read every word but can also skim through something like a boring work-related paper very quickly and take it all in and summarise it if need be. I went on a speed-reading workshop through work once and realised that the techniques they taught us were what I was already doing naturally (not for enjoyable books but for the boring necessary stuff).

My daughter is 7 and also seems to be a very fast reader, she gets through a chapter book in no time. For a while we thought she was just skipping to the end until we asked her a few questions about the plot and realised she had taken in every word.

@Pedalpushers yes this is it - I look at all the words but don't say them all in my brain, I seem to interpret shapes of groups of words or sentences as a whole. It's hard to explain. I can read in a second language (although my speaking skills are rusty) and I do the same thing in that language too.

I feel like I was born reading fast. I devoured books as a child. I would read basically all the time if I could. Even cereal boxes.

My parents had an awful time getting me ready for things as I would read while dressing, brushing my teeth etc.

I means I read quickly but I do sometimes miss things. It makes proofreading difficult actually.

I don't think of it as speed-reading, but I certainly read at least 100 books a year. (It used to be more, but like most of us I spend a lot of time reading online content these days.) Some of that is re-reading - I own a lot of books. I do actually try to slow down the pace a bit for long-awaited books by favourite authors, but it's a lost cause if it's a proper page-turner.
I've never understood people suddenly discovering they've read something before when they're a couple of chapters in, then discarding it. I always remember the books I've read.

I am a very fast reader, probably because I could read very young and read everyday so as with anything you do a lot you get faster at it. I read over 200 books a year and love, love, love reading. If didnt have a book I would read instruction pamphlets as ai just want to be reading.

@WhatDidISayAlan

I do speed read - I unconsciously developed the skill when I was little (my mum taught me to read early) and I wanted to find out what happened at the end of a story because I was impatient.

It’s a pain in the bum. I have to really concentrate to read at a normal pace to savour the choice of words otherwise I’d just zip through to the end. I’d know the story, and what happened at the conclusion, but I’d miss out on all the little nuances.

That pretty much sums me up too.

I read exceptionally quickly, but I do read everything. My sister always said I couldn't have read something so quickly so she'd test me, I'd always have the answer.

I can read a book in a couple of hours.

I speed read - I am about 650wpm. I’ve always been fast. I can do a novel in an evening if I’m so inclined.

I think I am probably average to slowish - approx 50 pages in an hour. I always have one physical book and one audio book (which I listen to in the car) on the go though and probably do manage 50 a year.

@QueenMabby

I’m a fast reader but do read every word. Over 100 books a year usually. Mostly from the library obviously! The one thing I would say though is that I don’t retain memory about a book unless I’ve read it multiple times. I can re-read murder mysteries a couple of times for example as I can never remember whodunnit! DH reads much slower than me but retains detailed knowledge about each book.

I’m the same, my best was 123 in a year. They all start blurring in to one another after a while, so I can remember a book was good, but not loads of details about it

@QueenofDestruction

I am a very fast reader, probably because I could read very young and read everyday so as with anything you do a lot you get faster at it. I read over 200 books a year and love, love, love reading. If didnt have a book I would read instruction pamphlets as ai just want to be reading.

I could read before I started school and read everyday and am still a slow coach! I did English at uni too. I am quite good at skim reading for info when I don't need to read a book cover to cover, but am slow for fiction.

From talking to people about this there are two types of readers:

People who read each word “out loud” individually in their heads

People who look at a page, or a paragraph and the words just kind of go in, rather than reading each one.

I think it’s just what you’re born with to an extent, although it probably can be learned.

This is a really interesting thread. I would say i'm definitely a slow reader but a fairly consistent in that I'll read every day, even if I only get 10 minutes in. I got through 40 books last year but quite a few of those were audio. I don't mind being a slow reader for leisure but I read a lot for work so might look into learning how to speed read. I wonder if it's something that anybody could learn or if you have to have a natural proclivity for it.

Training my "read sleed" is more than 100 pages of normal text per hour so a book is usually 2-3 hrs