Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer The Merits of Photoreading

I just ordered the photoreading self-study course and I am wondering, based on the first-hand experiences of other members in the forum who have gone through course, whether or not this is what I need. I was hoping that photoreading could unlock ways to understand details of a novel without having to read through it slowly. What is this activation technique?

You use the word details w/o going into any detail

What do you mean by details? main characters, theme, plot, subplots, what level of comprehension 1-2-3

I PhR a novel & didn't even activate it. I just PhR it front to back. Then turned the book upside down & stated that i wanted the most dramatic part, main characters, theme. I stopped 4 times only & had the most dramatic part, main characters & theme. The whole thing took around 20 minutes & it was a 200 pg book or maybe a little more.

The only way i know to stop is if i feel tired or just stop for no reason at all. It's very uncanny.

So, it can work for what you want. Learn the technique, practice the whole system as it is covered in the course. Don't skip anything you consider too easy or not important. Something as simple as the tangerine technique is so important & useful. Drinking a glass of water. There are many parts people just tend to write off as not important. All they want to do is PhR and then expect to know the book. It doesn't work like that.

Those of us that are successful have followed the process and put Paul's NOPS to work. I'm just an average person & it works great for me. Some of these kids are only teenagers & they are tickled PINK w/ the utter destruction of study time.

It is awesome but, really, it's us ...we are awesome...

I am talking minute details and subtleties. That's what I want to be able to pick up in addition to plot and character. I can just refer to a cliff notes or a plot summary in a review if I wanted general details.

You can get all that if you state that in your purpose.

PRing is totally different than normal reading, and you have to treat it as such.

For me, a drawback to normal reading is that you have to read it, comprehend it, have an opinion about it, note various tones and subtle literary techniques, as well as follow the plot. At the same time. On one pass. This is fine and what we're used to, but you wouldn't believe how much you miss.

If you get the system down, you can state the purpose "I want to note any passages that deals with poverty in this novel" and just SR+Dip it. You will have a better understanding of all those instances, and it'll take you even less time (though you'll need the first pass to actually comprehend the text).

For example, when PRing Jane Eyre:

I pr'ed it, activated once with rapid read, then repeat various SR+Dip sessions for various things (Jane being plain, any unplain Jane moments, etc.). The result is a book that would have taken me 10 hours taking 3, and knowing that book BETTER than if I had read it normally.

In your case, go through the course completely, doing all steps like Margaret said. Do this until you get it to work for you, then tinker with various aspects of it until the system is "yours". It's customizable like that, which is one of its stronger points.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

I can only tell of my experience that I've had with a couple of novels that I had read by the regular method and then later applied the photoreading method.

By regular reading the book it took me 10+ hours, it was in excess of 600 pages. 6 months later I felt like spacing out with a novel and pick that one since I enjoyed it before. After appying the photoreading step I found myself flying through the book and most was amazed at some of the the important details I missed with the slow read. I actually picked up a whole lot more.

I PRed and rapid read a novel I hadn't read before and I noticed myself picking up the subtle details a whole lot more yet flying through it a whole lot faster. Make the reading experience a whole lot more enjoyable.

Alex

[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited August 22, 2002).]

Thank you for your help with this topic, but I'm tryng to understand something. Say you read a book like Ulysees, by James Joyce, which is extremely complicated. Will your mind still be able to sift through all of that information?

tarun,
Reread Ramon's post. He has already answered this question you ask.

You have ordered the course so i'm thinking that you are putting more emphasis on the physical tapes than on yourself learning and applying the PhRing system.

Everyone who practices the system seems to get what they want. You are no different. You will get what you want by using this system. But it's not like using a can-opener. Or maybe it is!

also, you use the word "mind" to sift thru it all

i use my mind to balance the check book and stuff like that

i use my intelligence to ruminate w/ and think abstractly

i use my other than conscious mind to do what my intelligence and mind don't do

i use my spirit to energize all the rest

physical---ideational---causal

Tarun:

First of all, James Joyce was insane (by insane, I mean he spent hours upon hours just writing a single sentence; no BS, JJoyce is some pretty dense content). If the first book you're trying to activate is Ulysses, I'd heavily advise you to step it down a notch for now and practice with lighter books until you get PRing down, then go back up to the more difficult works.

The reason is that with reading that is more dense, you'll need to attack it in a different way than you would lighter reading, so you'll have to have a grasp on the system before you come up with your strategy.

What you *could* do is PR it then rapid read it, but the problem I have with that is that right now, I think you need more evidence that PRing can be fast, and rapid reading something at this point could lead you to believe otherwise, since RR is so much like normal speedreading.

For me, the easiest books to activate are those DIY "Idiot's Guide to..." or "...for Dummies" books, since everything is already broken down into sections. You don't necessarily have to start with these, but I do suggest lighter reading for the time being.

Then, after you got the system down, rip through Ulysses (just a thought: an interesting idea might be to PR it, rapid read it, then when you do another pass for S+Dip, state a purpose like, "I want to notice a pattern for anything in this chapter that is crossed out." I'm gonna borrow a copy and try that one out.)

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

PS - Here's an interesting anecdote on Joyce (though I've heard it attributed to other authors as well). A friend sees James Joyce with his head in his hands, looking very stressed out. The friend asks, "James, what's wrong?"

"I've been here for four hours, and I've only come up with a sentence that's 5 words long."

"But James, for you that's EXCELLENT PROGRESS!"

"Yes, but the problem is, I can't figure out what order the words should be in!."

quote:

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Originally posted by tarun:
Will your mind still be able to sift through all of that information?

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I find that an odd question. Photoreading adds to your skills not remove them.

Alex