How fast do you read?

[PaulMaster]

http://www.myreadspeed.com/


198
@Sherlock Holmes.

(I've always thought it was somewhere in the vicinity of 20-25 pages per hour)

 

[Jennywocky]

I had 653 wpm (@Frankenstein), but I should probably read at 50-66% of that pace for max retention.

 

[PaulMaster]

^^Dang, man!

Is that the band Tool or does it mean tool, like, a fool?

 

[Seteleechete]

1536 on first try Dracula with comprehension
1893 on Alice with full comprehension (4th read, first few had normal spacing which is waay slower)
2867 on Alice speed reading(getting essential points only)
1574 with comprehension on Frankenstein
2376 speed reading huckleberry
1445 with comprehension on tom sawyer

My first few tries was with normal spacing giving me 1000-1300 on the results.
Also in an actual reading scenario I am about 20-30% slower (60k/word per hour is normal for me though).


I read to much.

Edit: actually I made a mistake turns out the text was way to small for me (the large texts is just a bit to big as well )=).
2074 with comprehension alice
3308 speed reading Alice
1676 with comprehension Dracula
1484 with comprehension the great expectations (first try).

 

[redbaron]

360 retaining the info.

 

[Sinny91]

393, bout 90% retained. Dracula.

 

[Sly-fy]

I can read as fast as you want, but because of my difficulties remembering things I take my sweet time to truly memorize the important points. That`s when reading non-fiction, which is what I normally read. When I read fiction, once in a blue moon, then I read much faster because I don`t care about the color of the leaves on the trees etc.

 

[Absurdity]

Are the words supposed to run together? Or is my browser just shitty?

This is what I get for the first line of Great Expectations:

My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, myinfant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicitthan Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

I think Huck Finn is the only one that isn't like this for me.

 

[Sinny91]

Are the words supposed to run together? Or is my browser just shitty?

This is what I get for the first line of Great Expectations:



I think Huck Finn is the only one that isn't like this for me.

I got that too.

 

[Urakro]

236, I didn't rush, just read like a normally do. And I didn't even retain it all, really.

I can type pretty fast tho (which also might be a bad thing).

I do spend a lot of time reading non-fiction, but for the purposes of skimming through large texts hacking an understanding for a specific question. I haven't read fiction in a long time, which is more about just enjoying the moment.

So for the Sherlock Holmes example, I can skim right through and tell you what Sherlock was doing in the snippet in seconds.

 

[The Gopher]

639 WPM Sherlock (aka reading it all but slowing to retain in spots)
734 WPM Huck. Same as above.
1409 WPM speed reading Alice.
514 WPM Dracula, Normal reading speed. (As if someone was talking to me)
345 WPM Dramatic reenactment.

 

[Grayman]

5 wps when reading it with understanding and considering
7 wps when reading it with understanding

39180 wph when Jenny reads it to me

 

[Happy]

First aattempt I only got 883, but I was reading Huck Finn, which is a cunt of a book to read.

I got 950 with Frankenstein which is an easier text.

1348 with an even easier one - Dracula. But I've read it a few times before starting when I was about 10 so I sorta remembered it.

1451 for Sherlock. Those damn lacks of spaces though. Did my head in.

I don't usually read at that speed though. It's not enjoyable and it doesn't leave me time to think about what I'm reading. Have to interpret on the fly. Not ideal. Especially not for periods of time.

I've been reading these sorts of books since I was 5 years old. That's why I can do it quickly. It's not that hard once you have a really solid grasp of the patterns.

On a side note, ive also got hawklike eyesight. the two skills combined are pretty useful.

 

[cheese]

How the hell are you and Sete getting such redonkulus speeds? Mine was like 679 or something similarly unimpressive.

Oh wait you can adjust font size????

Spoiler

936. But it was a book I'd read before!
489 trying to read Frankenstein.
723 reading Emma.

OK, I know what the pattern is now. I read a lot faster when there's emotional content or thought process, with no loss of understanding. Anything else requires attention and effort. Frankenstein was incredibly boring. I've also got a terrible physical imagination so actually trying to grasp physical description is painstaking work.

My actual speed's probably around 400 unless it's easily digestible fluff. If it's difficult or there's a lot of description, or if the writing style is irritating me as most things do these days, then it'll be slower going.

I'm going to start slow-reading again. Spending too much time on the internet has led to me skimming just about everything. I'm not tracking words as well either.

 

[Happy]

Reading is my thing. I have my reading skill to thank for my quality of life (early brain damage + neuroplasticity = no problem). I'm a little bit 'slow' in most other regards.

But, like I mentioned, it's really not sustainable, nor enjoyable, to read that fast. The overload of information is a little too much to handle. And you miss out on details and nuances when you're reading that fast. It's like looking out the window of a speeding car. You see the urban landscape as you pass it by, but there's not a lot of time to look for details.

I can't comprehend Sete's speeds. Sete is either lying or a machine

 

[Seteleechete]

To be fair Alice is just perfectly spaced and easily enough comprehended for fast reading(My speed wasn't that much better than Happy on the rest). Also I really read insane amounts I have had several periods were I read ~40-60k words an hour 16 hours a day for months at a time. E.g I read this entire thread in about 20-30 seconds.


Sherlock is a mess when it comes to speed reading(I didn't even try). It gets messy to read quickly when paragraphs are over 7 lines long. On the contrary Alice with the predictable content, medium sized paragraphs and easily found key words is easy to speed read(thus gaining speeds of 3k+ after some tries).

I don't really retain much of what I read though and forget all but key points(but I do remember anything important) in minutes if not seconds.

 

[Interdimensionist]

740 Dracula
691 Alice
469 Sherlock

The words all bleeding into one another was a pain in the ass, kinda interrupted the flow and sent my brain into OCD grammar nazi mode

Reckon I probably average around 300-400 wpm when reading normally, depends on the material and my familiarity with the subject. I find myself re-reading chunks of text more often with non-fiction just to be 100% sure I've understood everything, I tend to blitz through fiction much faster if the book holds my interest long enough to actually finish, I suppose I'm just sub-consciously prioritizing material I think is necessary to understand and writing the rest off as light entertainment.

Does anyone else find this can be like a compulsion at times? For example, I used to have a thing about reading newspapers cover to cover (minus sports), not being able to do so left me with a feeling of malaise, almost as if I was worried about missing something or being out of the loop in someway, it doesn't bother me as much nowadays, just every once in a while.

 

[Seteleechete]

Does anyone else find this can be like a compulsion at times? For example, I used to have a thing about reading newspapers cover to cover (minus sports), not being able to do so left me with a feeling of malaise, almost as if I was worried about missing something or being out of the loop in someway, it doesn't bother me as much nowadays, just every once in a while.

I compulsively read anything I actually like back to back the moment I find it... Even when it's something like a 5 book series of over a million words.

 

[QuickTwist]

I have no idea how to change pace of reading. I read everything like I am reading a technical blueprint.

208

I'm a slow reader, but I already knew that. I dread the fact that a detail escapes me.

[Edit] I'm also one of the few forum mafia players who think its completely possible to read tone in the way someone writes and be able to tell if they are lying that way.

I just process things pretty slow overall. Its just the way I am.

 

[Nofriends]

Really depends, sometimes I will skim read something just to gain a general idea of something, other reading speeds depends on the difficulty of the topic or if I am unfamiliar with some of the vocabulary used.

 

[Brontosaurie]

165 Out loud on Alice, though i stumbled on a few words.

554 Quietly and rather mindlessly on Dracula (what a dull book it seems btw)