Playing With Speed Reading

What's a personal development blog without eventually talking about speed reading?  As my life affords me more time to play, I have been playing with speed reading using spreeder.

I do best reading between 450 and 500 words, with 2 words displayed at a time.  This is still better the average for someone word-reading, but no where near the whiz-bang 1,000+ words a minute that seems to be the dream of people who get into speed reading.  And that kind of speed, while maintaining comprehension, is probably a myth.  Going at 1,000 words a minute, I can get the "gist" of the text, but I can save more time with the following:  1) being strategic enough to know what I have to read, 2) scanning through a text to find the parts I need, or 3) reading the first sentences of paragraphs only (occasionally the last sentence as well). 

For any reading that you want to really get the language at the level of, you know, what the sentences are actually saying, I would recommend not pushing the reading these kinds of software over 500 words a minute.  

But there is a another problem.  Because the internet now sucks, even finding material that is easy to copy and paste into speed reading software is a challenge.  If I have to go around every few paragraphs to avoid ads, and if the side bars get into text out of order, it makes for a screwed-up experience.  Again, I can just do better with scanning techniques.  

I find the best things to put through speed reading software are the same things on my best of the free internet list.  

And when I think about it, it makes sense.  These are the sites where there is the most good content, rather than bullshit.  Thoreau said : "Read not the Times.  Read the Eternities." The best of the internet still affords you that ability,  But it is getting harder and harder to find.

So this is my best speed reading tip: avoid the bullshit.  Don't even read it.  Don't even be on a site that has the temptation.  Hell, be on the internet less.  The internet becomes more and more click-bait, and you are much better off not reading most of it, no matter how fast it is thrown at your eyes.

Obituary for My Father

Max Alan Huddleston was born July 11, 1957, to Virginia and Max Leroy Huddleston in Norman. To avoid confusion with his father, he went by Alan or “Al.”

Alan was dedicated to his family and his neighborhood, with a special gift for making children laugh. He worked a wide variety of jobs, including running several small businesses, managing restaurants, working in apartments and working briefly as a professional magician. Though often shy in crowds, he was always a character at work who found ways to make jokes and brighten people’s day.

He is survived by his mother, his wife Alison,  his brother Ray and wife Connie, as well as his son, Keith and wife Beth.  He was preceded in death last year by his father.