Speed Reading

The connection between reading speed and comprehension; a film is made up of still images flashed in rapid succession to simulate movement. Slow down the film, and the movement and meaning slows and the film's impact is diminished. Viewers won't learn as much about the film as if it were shown at normal speed. With reading the same thing can happen. When a person reads word by word, like frame by frame, they are not reading on the level of ideas. You need to read on some level that's more conversational and allows things to coalesce into ideas themselves.

- Doug Evans, Institute of Reading Development

          People always talk about how freakishly fast I read.  Especially when it comes to a book that I really like, I can finish it in just a few hours.  When I'm reading a textbook or something hard to understand, I often read each paragraph twice.  I'll read it once to get an idea about what the main idea is.  Then I'll really take in the details the second time.  And I still finish at the same rate as most people because I read so fast.  If I try going slow, the concepts slip through my mind without leaving anything behind.  The example of the film frames is a good way to explain it.  Another could be music.  If you listen to a song one note at a time with a space in between each one, it won't sound like a melody.  When you play them together in quick succession you get the way it's supposed to sound.