Read Faster
This message goes out to all the grad students out there who are flooded in reading, and are nearing the point of no return in the semester. That is the point where you realize just how little you've actually achieved in the month of September, and how much work is left to do before December. This little endorsement of speed reading lessons (available free and online, using the google search engine) may, if you are interested and disciplined, just increase your effeciency and give you that extra time at the gym to work out, or go for long walks on the beach with that special someone.
What "free beer" does to an undergrad's attention level, "read faster" should do to a grad student. Reading is to graduate education what attending class and regurgitating the prof's blackboard scratchings periodically is to undergrad education. It is the "centre of gravity", that thing that you cannot do without in order to succeed (I don't mean pass, I mean succeed. There is a quantitative and qualitative difference).
So if you have to do a lot of reading, it would make sense to do it faster. I have often ignored speed reading commercials and the like because they appear to be very gimmicky and I have a biais against anything that sounds too good to be true. I also have a biais against anything that is easy. As I suffer like many of you from the protestant work ethic, I take great pride in doing things the hard way. Why ask for directions? Why read the instructions? Why ask for help?
However, if a method exists for reading 3, 4, 5 times as fast as usual, why would I ignore it? Most people simply reduce the amount of reading they do to compensate for the fact that they are slow, tedious readers. As grad students, we don't have the choice. Either we read the stuff and understand it, or we get out of the business of pretending to want to learn stuff.
Think of reading like running. When you first try it, you are slow and inefficient. You find it hard and it takes discipline. You are uneven, and you don't have a good pace. You don't have good technique and your muscles have not "learned" to run automatically. You sometimes have to think through every step to force yourself to keep going. As you learn from experts, apply technique and enforce self-discipline, you fly with your legs and you love it.
Reading is the same. Like running, by mastering technique and disciplining yourself to go faster and smarter, you can improve 10-fold from the first time.
Finally, a note on technique and the philosophy of life. One key to faster reading is also, I believe, a key to a more fulfilling life. Faster readers learn to read in groups of words by using their peripheral vision to catch a short phrase in one quick glance. Focussing on one word at a time is not only time consuming, it is in effect, literary tunnel vision.
Think of the moment you were on top of the mountain in the Rockies, or another beautiful moment in your life. The picture you took doesn't capture the beauty of the scene. A camera is no replacement for the capacity of the human eye to absorb imagery and information. Reading every single word separately in your mind is like taking focussed little views of a panoramic vista instead of stepping back and sucking in the beauty of the whole.
I only spent a short time looking over the speed reading material, but already I am a true believer and missionary. If you are a drowning grad student, instead of reading this ridiculous blog, go read something that will save you tonnes of time over the long run. Here is a possible web site to whet your appetite for faster reading.
I wish I could do everything hard thrice as fast, and everything good thrice as slow.
What "free beer" does to an undergrad's attention level, "read faster" should do to a grad student. Reading is to graduate education what attending class and regurgitating the prof's blackboard scratchings periodically is to undergrad education. It is the "centre of gravity", that thing that you cannot do without in order to succeed (I don't mean pass, I mean succeed. There is a quantitative and qualitative difference).
So if you have to do a lot of reading, it would make sense to do it faster. I have often ignored speed reading commercials and the like because they appear to be very gimmicky and I have a biais against anything that sounds too good to be true. I also have a biais against anything that is easy. As I suffer like many of you from the protestant work ethic, I take great pride in doing things the hard way. Why ask for directions? Why read the instructions? Why ask for help?
However, if a method exists for reading 3, 4, 5 times as fast as usual, why would I ignore it? Most people simply reduce the amount of reading they do to compensate for the fact that they are slow, tedious readers. As grad students, we don't have the choice. Either we read the stuff and understand it, or we get out of the business of pretending to want to learn stuff.
Think of reading like running. When you first try it, you are slow and inefficient. You find it hard and it takes discipline. You are uneven, and you don't have a good pace. You don't have good technique and your muscles have not "learned" to run automatically. You sometimes have to think through every step to force yourself to keep going. As you learn from experts, apply technique and enforce self-discipline, you fly with your legs and you love it.
Reading is the same. Like running, by mastering technique and disciplining yourself to go faster and smarter, you can improve 10-fold from the first time.
Finally, a note on technique and the philosophy of life. One key to faster reading is also, I believe, a key to a more fulfilling life. Faster readers learn to read in groups of words by using their peripheral vision to catch a short phrase in one quick glance. Focussing on one word at a time is not only time consuming, it is in effect, literary tunnel vision.
Think of the moment you were on top of the mountain in the Rockies, or another beautiful moment in your life. The picture you took doesn't capture the beauty of the scene. A camera is no replacement for the capacity of the human eye to absorb imagery and information. Reading every single word separately in your mind is like taking focussed little views of a panoramic vista instead of stepping back and sucking in the beauty of the whole.
I only spent a short time looking over the speed reading material, but already I am a true believer and missionary. If you are a drowning grad student, instead of reading this ridiculous blog, go read something that will save you tonnes of time over the long run. Here is a possible web site to whet your appetite for faster reading.
I wish I could do everything hard thrice as fast, and everything good thrice as slow.
posted by Lt Smash at 3:27 PM
2 Comments:
I am in the EXACT position you have just described, and the thought of reading faster sounds gimmicky to me too. I locked myself inside the house all weekend and I'm still massively behind in reading.
Now I need to decide what to do: do I learn speed reading and temporarily fall behind in my readings, or do I do my readings and wait until I get some free time before I try speed reading out.
Ohhhh grad school I love/hate you!
Two answers... Yes and yes. Take the time (1-2 hours) to look at the website that I linked to on my post. After that, continue your reading. You will have already gained an insight of how to make yourself read faster. In fact, reading is the only true practice for reading faster. You will realize that there is no real gimmick to it. It's a matter of training your eyes differently (to view groups of words instead of words), and stopping sub-vocalization of words in your head...
Glad to hear I'm not the only drowning grad student! Misery loves comiserating.
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