Rapid Reading is the final step of the process when you feel like you want more from the book you just Photoread and Activated. It's not always necessary.
The technique given for the RR step in the Photoreading book is to skim your eyes along the words slowing down when you find something of interest, speeding up when you hit something simplistic or familiar.
Essentially, Rapid Reading techinques are all that I got out of the previous speed reading books I mentioned. I would say that RR is the most "speed reading" like part of Photoreading. But Photoreading is a lot more than just Rapid Reading or traditional speed reading.
With speed reading I never felt like I really understood or could put to use what I was reading. I felt like I was reading words but I wasn't able to comprehend the ideas behind them. With Photoreading I feel just the opposite. After the initial steps of the process, (Preview, Photoread, Postview) I feel like I have the ideas but I'm not sure exactly how to put them in words or make use of them. Then after I Activate (step 4) and/or Rapid Read (optional step 5) everything gels and I really understand the material.
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Hey Scribe, since you've tried speed reading and you said that it didn't work for you, what have you learned from photoreading that you failed to learn with speed reading?
As far as techniques go, I failed at speed reading because I still had to go back and regular read everything I had sped read. I didn't see an improvement in speed or comprehension so I gave up. With Photoreading I was able to see improvement in my reading speed and comprehension immediately and it got better the more that I used it.
Subjectwise, I've learned a lot with Photoreading. There was a gap of a few years between my attempts at speed reading and my Photoreading so I didn't apply both techniques to the same material.
I'm in the minority here in that I didn't use the self-study course or the live seminar to learn Photoreading. I saw the book at the bookstore and picked it up.
