Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Having alot of problems (long): To the Guru's

Hello everyone. I've been lurking here for a few
weeks hoping to find answers to my questions and I
don't want to sound negative or rain on anybody's
parade but I've been having a few problems with
Photoreading and hopefully someone here can help me.
I spent the last week reading every post on this forum
and I can't find the answers I need.

My college roomate last semester had the Photoreading
course and he was an absolute fanatic about it and
it's him and his course that prompted me to buy the
book.

I first did the course Jan of 2001 and although I was
very excited about it, I didn't see much improvement
in my grades. So over the course of a few more months
I did it a few more times and then school ended and I
forgot about it and didn't really think about it much
until this semester started and I picked up on it
again.

Certain parts of the book are helpful and
other parts aren't working at all. The mind maps help
me in my writing assignments but that's about it. The
relaxation techniques help alot to get focused.
What's not working is the Photoreading step. I'm
simply not getting anything from it. In fact, if I
don't specifically read or dip into something, I can't
remember reading it. That's why I'm taking the time
to post this. I've been actively doing this for 8 months and
can't get the Photoreading step to do anything.
Taking the time to do all the steps is actually taking
longer than the way I used to read. Before I would
just read the table of contents, read what I wanted to
know and that's it. Now I'm running thru all the
steps taking just as much time and I have alot less
comprehension of what I read because I'm actually only
reading or "dipping" here and there. Another thing I
used to do which works better for me than Photoreading
is to just Survey or scan as I went and stopped to
read the important parts all the way thru to the end.
Doing this still beats the Photoreading time and with
more comprehension. I know the course said you're unconscious mind is supposed to absorb it all and the activation awakens it but without consciously reading the words I need to eventually, there is no comprehension or remembering.

I also don't get anything from stating a purpose or
making mind probing questions. I'm reading to learn
what's in the book, that's the purpose. How can I
know what I'm looking for before I read it? With my
class reading assignments I have to know and
understand what I read enough to discuss it in class
the next day. When I Photoread the text the night
before I have no clue what to say in class and I end
up having to read it all anyway just to stay with the
class. When I create mind probe questions I always
end up having to just read the text to answer them so
why wouldn't I just read the text in the first place
if that's what I have to do eventually? I just don't get
the point of some of these steps. They don't cut the
reading time down any, they seem to increase it. And if I do come up with a purpose that motivates me, after reading for a while I learn so many new things and my purpose is changed because now I know more. So I state my purpose, I read, I read something new, my purpose is changed, is that how it's supposed to go? Why not just read? I don't see how saying to myself "My purpose for reading is because I need to know Malsow's Heiarchy of Needs." If I just skim over the text looking for the word "Maslow" I'll find it faster than if I'm busy thinking of what my purpose is. This is what I'm talking about. All of these steps add up to alot of time in the end.

Also, isn't dipping just normal reading? The book
says not to dip too much but what if I have to know it
all? I can't just read a paragraph here and there or
I'll be lost later in the text. And what's with the
Rapid Reading step? It says in the book if more
detail is desired to start at the beginning of the
text and read all the way to the end and to vary your
speed. Everyone I go to school with reads this way
anyway. You read and when you get to a part you don't
need to know you start scanning quickly until you get
back to what you need to know and repeat and keep
going. So in the end you're not really reading 25,000
words per minute, you're reading at your fastest
comprehension reading rate on top of the time you
spent on the other steps.

If I can't get the Photoreading step to work then this
is just another speedreading course. That's the only
difference between Photoreading and every other fast
reading course out there. The Superreading step is
equally as useless. I can't move my eyes down the
page and dip into what's important because I have to
know it all. In the end if I haven't dipped into
something or rapid read it, I have no idea about it.
What is the Photoreading step doing if I still have to
read what I need to know? A few sessions of
Superreading and dipping leave me almost completely
confused because I've skipped over some of the
material that I needed to know so I have to just go
back and read it all normally just to finally
understand what I'm reading. After a while I just
started Previewing and Photoreading and then rapid
read the whole thing and that's alot faster than doing
all the other steps but when I rapid read I have no
feeling whatsoever that I've read it before. Some of
the posts here sound like some people are actually
getting something out of the Photoreading step but
I've noticed only about 10 people here that seem to
get something from it. Everyone else is just as lost
as I am. How is it possible that more people aren't
getting it than are?

I thought I had it down last semester when I had this
chapter gel for me. I prepared, previewed, Photoread,
Superread and Dipped for a couple of sessions and when
I got to class everyone was talking about things I had
no clue about. I missed alot in that chapter and I
spent a good hour on it. I asked a few other students
how long they read and they said about half an hour,
reading normally. I was dumbfounded. I should have
just read it. When I say I read for an hour I meant an hour total, ralaxing, preparing, purpose, mind probes, mind maps, trigger words, photoreading, supperreading and dipping. At the time I felt I had done more than the others but I had no memory of the simplest things in the chapter.

I'm not putting down Photoreading, I want this to work
more than anything but I just can't see the time
savings and I certainly can't get any comprehension
when I'm just skipping around in the text reading
whatever I'm "drawn" to. Doing that I miss so much,
so much of what I need to know. Going through fast multiple times versus going thru normally once seems like 6 one way and half dozen the other.

I see how hunches and intuition can help in a t/f or multiple choice test, but what if I have to explain the difference between 2 ideas? Most of my tests are problem solving in nature.

I'm basically not getting a thing from any nonconscious technique at all and I'm trying, I believe, I want it, I everything and it's been 8 months.

My question is this. Is there a way to get useable
knowledge from the photoreading step or will I only
know what I have specifically dipped or rapid read? Please tell me honestly.

I'm sorry this is so long and that I'm so down on this but this has been really bugging me for almost a year now. I've had times when I really felt I had a book down and then I hear someone else explain what he learned and I'm like, what are you talking about? Where was that idea? And it's right in the book, I missed it. I didn't state it in the purpose or questions so I didn't stop to dip it so I missed it. I just can't afford to do that.

Mark

Mark,
Please call LS & speak to Dana.

Or, please just list your questions. There's just too much there to read. I take it for granted that you are sincere & are also having very real problems.

Think about 1, only 1, question that you want to tackle. This 1 question will not solve all your problems, but if you can solve 1 problem in such a manner as to totally suit you, then that is 1 down and X amount to go.

I sincerely believe that when people have numerous problems w/ PhRing, it is due to an approach problem more than anything else. This means, IMHO, your approach is not producing success as opposed to the PhRing Whole Mind System. You are doing something wrong at a fundamental level in your thinking or approach.

I keep saying that people need to practice on EASY books first to get a FEEL for how it all works. Practing on those easy books enables you to get the approach down & a feeling of success pulls you along into the more complex stuff like studies.

I think there are people out there who have instant success even w/ the most difficult stuff, but if it didn't click like that for you or for others, then back up & just take your time & learn one step at a time fully. To learn a step fully, it has to work for you & you have to feel & know that it works for you.

Good luck--hang in there b/c it is worth learning

Sounds to me that you're not getting that feeling of familiarity from the PR step.

Not one "AHA!" experience in 8 months? You kinda almost have to have those in order to keep motivated.

"My question is this. Is there a way to get useable
knowledge from the photoreading step or will I only
know what I have specifically dipped or rapid read?"

I would like to hear what the guru's have to say to that also, for I am completely stumped as to why it's not working. It seems as if you already have a way of studying- it sounds like what you did before was Preview and Dip at the same time and then stopped after one pass. If that's all you do while having good enough comprehension to takes tests, I see why you're taking more time with PR.

You have alot of good, hard questions and I'd like to see the answer to some of them myself.

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP:
Hello everyone. I've been lurking here for a few
weeks hoping to find answers to my questions

---

You've come to the right place.

quote:

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I first did the course Jan of 2001

---

Good! Do you still have access to it? We may recommend you go through it a second time as a refresher.

quote:

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]What's not working is the Photoreading step. I'm simply not getting anything from it. In fact, if I don't specifically read or dip into something, I can't remember reading it.

---

This is true. As a beginning PhotoReader, you won't recall much of anything immediately after the PhotoReading step. You may remember some key words and phrases from your 8-minute Preview, but that may be about it.

Conscious comprehension comes during Activation in step 4.

-Craft Mind Probing questions with the key words and phrases you wrote down during Preview
-SuperReading & Dip through the book cover-to-cover in 30-minute sessions, building one layer of conscious comprehension with each pass, structure first and increasingly more detail as you go.
-Add a set of branches on your Mind Map at the end of each session.

Cycle these techniques in step 4 each time you Activate.

quote:

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I know the course said you're unconscious mind is supposed to absorb it all and the activation awakens it but without consciously reading the words I need to eventually, there is no comprehension or remembering.

---

Briefly explain how you are doing all 5 steps and each technique. Include how much time you spend on each part.

quote:

---

When I Photoread the text the night
before I have no clue what to say in class and I end up having to read it all anyway just to stay with the class. When I create mind probe questions I always end up having to just read the text to answer them so why wouldn't I just read the text in the first place if that's what I have to do eventually?

---

First, lets find out how you are doing the steps, so we can get you back on track.

Then, we'll have you find a new book that you want to read but have not read yet and do the system properly.

As a rule of thumb, a book that would normally require 10 hours for you to get through and comprehend with regular-reading, a beginning PhotoReader will spend 3 hours or less and achieve the same comprehension with better retention and understanding.

Dana

I don't have the course, just the book but I did the
course 3 times and I think the book had more in it if
I remember correctly. I've heard others here say the
same thing.

"As a beginning PhotoReader, you won't recall much of
anything immediately after the PhotoReading step. You
may remember some key words and phrases from your
8-minute Preview, but that may be about it."

My concern was when I do this more and more over time
will I be able to consciously remember things that I
only Photoread or will I always have to go thru and
activate according the the steps in the book?

"-Craft Mind Probing questions with the key words and
phrases you wrote down during Preview
-SuperReading & Dip through the book cover-to-cover in
30-minute sessions, building one layer of conscious
comprehension with each pass, structure first and
increasingly more detail as you go.
-Add a set of branches on your Mind Map at the end of
each session."

When I do that I still only have a vague understanding
of the text. I don't know enough to carry me in
class. I still have to go back and Rapid Read
everything because I always miss something I need to
know. When I compare my level of comprehension when
doing the Photoreading steps to my level of
comprehension when I just Rapid Read without doing
anything else, I'm finding I get more from the Rapid
Reading step.

"Briefly explain how you are doing all 5 steps and
each technique. Include how much time you spend on
each part."

I just do what's in the book and it's the same as what
many of the posts here say to do so I know I'm not
doing anything wrong. I hope I am doing something
wrong though because if I can fix it then it will
work. If the book is right, then what I'm doing is
right because I'm doing the same things.

"As a rule of thumb, a book that would normally
require 10 hours for you to get through and comprehend
with regular-reading, a beginning PhotoReader will
spend 3 hours or less and achieve the same
comprehension with better retention and
understanding."

I can rapid read at 1000 words per minute with good
comprehension. So a 100,000 word book (about 200
pages) would take under 2 hours. I go slow over
what's important and speed up over what isn't. From
what I read on this forum you're supposed to activate
multiple times to get better comprehension but if I do
that I end up taking just as much time as if I just
rapid read the book to begin with. On my school
assignments I end up having to rapid read everything
anyway because of how many times in the past I've
missed stuff by Photoreading, Supereading and dipping.

For the time being I'm using the Photoreading steps as
my preview because all I have after doing it all is a
general idea of what it's about but to get the
specific ideas to make sense I have to read it all.
If I can get to the point to where I can do all the
steps including rapid reading in the same time that I
can just rapid read now, I'll be happy but for now I
don't see the time savings and I don't have good
enough comprehension unless I read it all. I'm
suspecting alot of people here are not reading the
whole books but just parts of them. I'm not reading
material that's just "4-11%" important. If I was I
could see the point of just superreading and dipping
but still then I wouldn't see the point of the
Photoreading step. A survey of just the table of
contents and glossary can get you to the "4-11%" of
the important things faster than any other way I know.
If a book is 200 pages long and has only 10%
important information, that's just 20 pages you'll
have to read and the table of contents shows where
everythings at. I'm just not seeing the advantage of
Photoreading but I want to because next semester my
reading is going to be double what it is now.

The steps in the book serve as an excellent way to study for tests after I've read it all in the first place and in that respect I'm happy with it. Multiple passes do help in remembering but I just can't get it to work the other way around.

I just want to know honestly if there are people that just can't do it, that will always have to read every word. I can read fast compared to everyone else I know and remember most of what I read and if going faster is going to lower comprehension maybe I should just be happy with what I got.

Is there anyone out there that can Photoread a 200 page book in 2 hours and rember most of it?

The force was strong with Mark but there was much anger in him.

Passing a test is different than remembering an idea and being able to use it. I read SusanSUmmer's "Eat cheat and win" diet book in the bookstore and I remember what the diet is enough to follow it but if I had to take a test on what was in the book I would fail- even if I read all the small details I wouldn't remember them on one pass. Even slow reading takes multiple passes. The only way to remember something in one pass is to use a memory technique from NLP or something- like if someone gives you a definition and you make a silly song out of it, something like that you can't forget and will haunt you in the middle of the night when you don't want it to.

Not much to say on the whole thread, but I will say I've read a 350 page book in 2 hours and remembered most of it.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

I just wanted to say that through the help of someone here I was able to get some spontaneous activation at last but it's hardly what I expected. It seems that if I change my perception, I start to call information I scanned during the preview something that spontaneously came to me as a result of the photoreading step. I can't shake the idea that everything that is happening is happening during the preview. According to what i've read about subliminal advertising and subconscious processing, reading one sentence on a page also subliminally gives us all the other words also but the problem is order. Your mind can take in short phrases in order but nothing longer. Here's what I mean, read this:

The cat went into the house
and saw some food he didn't like
so he didn't eat it
but the dog did.

Subliminal advertisers wouldn't put anything like that in their ads because it's not suggestive and has a negative in it. A negative is a word like "no" or "not" that the mind can take either before or after the main word and completely screw up the message. I think that has been my problem all along. The Pr step puts all the words in there but activating puts them in order.

If I were to PR that sentence and someone were to ask me what the dog did I might say that the dog didn't like the cat because all those words were there and I just saw a cluster of words and my previous belief is that dogs don't like cats so that must be what the sentence said. I don't really know what was said until I read the words in the right order.

I Photoread a DragonLance book and dreampt about a burning treehouse and that was really cool and it was in the book but I still didn't get who, what, when, where, and why.

I just wanted to tell everyone that at least something is working now.