I don't max out my reading speed for things I want to enjoy. Reading at top speed is like running
an engine on a red line. I can do it for a fair length of time, but there's a limit and I'll pay a
price for it later, usually a splitting headache. Generally I won't do it for more than about 3 or
4 hours, enough to read an entire college text book (ugh, that was an awful cellular biology text),
but no more. It's not for "pleasure", but for "purpose".
My comprehension rate does drop some the closer I get to maximum speed, but I'm still generally
between 75% and 85% depending on the technical difficulty. At top speed I'm absorbing enough to
pass comprehensive exams with good marks or discourse on a subject that's covered in the material,
but I'll lose a portion of the specifics particularly in cases where it the writing isn't stellar.
I suffer the most drawback with the high end technical writing in scientific journal articles since
the information density of those works is very, very high and often quite specialized.
I slow down to savor stuff that I want to enjoy, roughly 120 pages per hour. My retention at that
level is remarkably good, to the point I basically commit entire books to short term memory and
running a very high comprehension rate, in the 95% or better range. Since I can reread items
regularly, I can commit longer and more complex works to long term memory. I can probably quote you
half of Tolkien just off the top of my head, but I've also read it several dozen times. As to my
enjoyment of the story, it's quite alive and well at any speed, in fact it's the author's skill that
will set my pace more than anything. Really good, fluid authors like Ray* will allow me to kick
into high gear and finish a book quite quickly because they have a flow that other authors haven't
mastered.
-James
*Fantasy authors I read very quickly include A. Lee Martinez, Raymond E. Feist, J.R.R. Tolkien,
Trudi Canavan, Tanith Lee, and Markus Heitz. Authors that I find more jarring include J.K. Rowling,
Christopher Paolini, Fiona McIntosh, and David B. Coe.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Hessel" <[email protected]>
To: "feistfans-l" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2011 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: Possible answer
Hey James,
I know a couple of people that read very quickly. I can read quite
quickly if I actively focus on the task, but I find that I don't
absorb the story/content as well or enjoy the experience as much as if
I am reading slower.
Do you find this? At the speeds you mentioned, are you still able to
absorb and enjoy the content as much as if you took more time?
Josh
On 24/12/2011, at 4:12, James Young <[email protected]> wrote:
My official speed is 1,434 words per minute on paper; 1,076 words per minute on a screen; with
comprehension. The average mass market has around 250 words per page, so I'm just shy of 6 pages
per minute on paper.
