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 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.

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.

@Feawen

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 don't think so because I read very quickly and can spot an error a mile off (unless it's my own of course - but that is actually a thing).

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'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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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'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.