Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Why doesn't this work for me?

I am another new person asking for advice. I just acquired Paul's photoreading book that describes photoreading whold mind system. I think I can Photoread alright, but I don't remember anything I read. I tried to read as much of past posts as I can, but none of them answered satisfactorily.

I think I am having problem with activations. I just don't get anything. I am trying really hard not to become pessimistic or cynical, but again, it is hard to achieve photoread. Is there some material not covered by the book but is really helpful?

To me, buying a several-hundred dollars packaged is really daunting. (I don't have that much of spare money, yet). I really hope the book will suffice to guide me through this photoreading.

Happy PR!

If you haven't gotten anything out of the book it is possible that you are having trouble with activation and it's also probably that you have no purpose.

What are you doing for activation?
How many activation passes have you made on the book?
How long do you allow for your activation pass?
Have you tried mind mapping after each activation pass (this is a great aid for memory and recall)
Have you applied the 5 day test on any books.
How much time have you spent with the PhotoReading system so far?

You say you "just acquired" book.... based on that I can give you one piece of advice. It's going to take a bit more time than just reading the book to learn the PhotoReading system. You need to apply all the steps one one book to just know the steps. to see results you'll want to be able to apply the steps repeatedly.

Remember also a beginning PhotoReader will be able to get their reading done in 1/3 the time it takes them to tradionally read a book. So if a book like the PhotoReading book normally takes you about 9 hours applying the PhotoReading steps it will take you 3 hours. That means the total of all your activation passes should be 3 hours. Don't try to do that without breaks though... you'll fall right back in with passive tradtional reading... a long time habit that will take about 3 weeks of persistant use of the PhotoReading system to break.

Alex

I don't recall most of the stuff after photoreading.

For activation, I do

Postview
Mind probing(self asking)
skittering
and possibly skimming.

Purpose may not be a problem for me.
I think when I was photoreading "the advent of algorithm" I stated very clear purpose like "I want to be exposed basic structure of modern algorithms and their logic"

I am not sure what 5 day test is (is it in the book?)

Mind mapping is hard for me since I have no idea of the content whatsoever.

I don't quite get what you mean when you said I should spend 3 hour activating for traditionally 9 hour book. I thought 3 hour is the total amount of time I should spend on the book, including preview and photoread, so activation must be shorter.

You didn't answer my specific questions. I need to know what "you" are doing not in word that the book says you are doing.

What are you doing for activation?
i.e which techniques have you used?

How many activation passes have you made on the book?
your reply should contain a number

How long do you allow for your activation pass?
Your reply contain an answer that relates to time

Have you tried mind mapping after each activation pass (this is a great aid for memory and recall)
So have you?

Have you applied the 5 day test on any books.
Have you?

How much time have you spent with the PhotoReading system so far
if you just got the book I doubt your total time would be a month... so in total how many hours have you applied?

Preview, postview are part of the activation process, PhotoRead takes 2 to 5 minutes. I've not known anyone to read a book without previewing... so you do that for traditional reading as well and they don't count the time. If you're spending more than 12 minutes postviewing, your spending too much time and are in fact passively reading not postviewing.

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I thought 3 hour is the total amount of time I should spend on the book, including preview and photoread, so activation must be shorter.

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Each book is different... no one is ever certain how long a book will take them for traditional reading. In a survey I've had people admit to me that the PhotoReading book would take them 12 hours to read. the greater number of responses for that book was 8 hours, 9 hours and 12 hours.

Based on average reading speeds and the number average of words a book of the longest that book should take a person with a reading speed of 190 word per minute is 6 hour. So those short reading test don't really give you an accurate picture. A person who struggles for 12 hours with a book would be impressed if they managed to get it done in 6 hours and that can be achieve by maintaining the average reading speed.

That 3 hours includes mind mapping something one would never do with traditional reading...so you're going to nitpick 15 minutes?

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited July 22, 2004).]

1) "What are you doing for activation?"

I do:
Postview
Mind probing(self asking)
skittering
and possibly skimming.

2)How many activation passes have you made on the book?

about 3 to 4 times.

3)How long do you allow for your activation pass?

For manual activation, I spend about 30 minutes for average 300 page book.

4)Have you applied the 5 day test on any books.

I said I am not sure what 5 day test is. So a logical inference would be "No".

5)Have you tried mind mapping after each activation pass?

No, I really don't know how to begin.

6)How much time have you spent with the PhotoReading system so far
"if you just got the book I doubt your total time would be a month... so in total how many hours have you applied?"

Really, are you implying that I am lying? It has been 28 days since I tried photoreading. It is not that I photoread 24 hours each day for 28 days, but I tried to put a decent amount of time as much as possible. I think roughly I spent a little bit less than 30 hours.(1 hour per day average)

I photoread 4 ~ 5 books and many short passages(or something similar).

I realize I am too early to notice significant difference, but I am beginning to worry that I will keep remaining "blank" whenever I photoread.

Thanks.

PS. Why do I have a feeling that I am not sincerely helped but rather examined like a criminal like "what did you do wrong?"

I would appreciate if you help based on the questions answered.

[This message has been edited by TheMathematical (edited July 22, 2004).]

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PS. Why do I have a feeling that I am not sincerely helped but rather examined like a criminal like "what did you do wrong?"

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I didn't read Alex's questions like that at all.

Here's my take: You came in asking why it wasn't working for you. Alex asked specifically what you were doing and how you were attempting to use the system.

No one can tell you what you were doing wrong until they first know what you were doing. Once that is understood they can analyze your process and offer suggestions for improvement.

You might try searching the forum using "activation" as a search term. Read through the advice in the threads that come up in the search results. Then analyze how the processes you are using compares to what has been outlined in the responses given to others.

When I had problems of this nature (I only have the PR book too) they were due to my own misapplication/misinterpretation of some of the steps after the Photoreading step.

Based on some of your questions to Alex you might want to try reading the PR book again or even Photoreading and activating it. The 5-day plan is on pages 76-77. Mindmaps are discussed on pages 65-67 in the Activation chapter. I found Chapter 12 - Questions and Answers to be helpful as well as the Quick Reference Guide that starts on page 146.

Alex is a great teacher. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you were to assume her offer of help was anything but sincere.

There are at least 7 methods of activation.

Now that you have sanswered my questions I can offer the some suggestions (because I can identify the areas where things might have gone wrong.

For activation, try a 10 to 20 minute block for each activation pass, 30 mintues is enough time to fall into the trap of Murphy's Law, the task stretching to fill the time available.

If your purpose is weak you'll definitately be running into passive reading with the longer time frame. Purpose is a challenging area for many when it comes to reading. The answwer is usually I have to because I need to know it for school. However the non conscious mind has no sense or humour and takes every thing literally and saying I need it for School is really not giving your non-conscious mind anything... it's still sitting back asking, "what do you need for school?"

With skittering you need to understand rhythmic perusal... if you don't then I need to point out that you've selected the slowest of methods and really one that is suited to heavy technical material with long ( and I mean long) paragraphs. If you want to get through the books faster. Try superreading and dipping. Some folks will always find Skittering easier but we encourage you to try as many activation methods as possible.

You were rather misleading when you said you only "just got the book" when you have had the book for a month and then spent an hour a day (approximately) for 28 days. In all I estmate that you have spent approximately 20 hours with the PhotoReading System, at best. Then you're doing ok.

With book learning just to get the concept while working on your own it can be 20 - 50 hours before you get the a-ha, so that might mean another hour or 25 hours before you feel comfortable with what you're doing so go easy on yourself, Okay?

Don't expect any conscious information to come up whilst PhotoReading. It's the activation that makes it conscious. If you're expecting to flip the pages at a rate of one every 2 seconds and to have conscious comprehension using only the PhotoReading step you're setting yourself up for long journey in learning PhotoReading.

My intuition still is concerned as to whether your purpose and curiosity about the book are establish. Your hint at blank indicates a lack of quality questions. Which means the book that you're attempting to activate really doesn't interest you or you haven't taken the time make a mental note consciously.

I also sense that you are also skipping a whole lot of other steps in the system. I needed you to answer those specifically so that I had a starting point so that I could offer some useful suggestions.

Scribe has already offered some very valuable suggestions, so I won't repeat them.

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PS. Why do I have a feeling that I am not sincerely helped but rather examined like a criminal like "what did you do wrong?"

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Actually I just wanted to know what you were doing for the PhotoReading Steps. The fact that you are missing some of the steps is very apparent to me. By knowing what you are doing already and ensuring that's going fine, the other steps will either fall into place or will be easier for me to coach you on in the next stage of your learning.

Go easy on yourself. I'm only interested in ensuring that those who want to learn to PhotoRead and there are visitors who learn from these post. I too want to get you there faster.

Alex

Doesn't activation pass consist of postview and superread-dipping cover to cover?

So how many activation pass would you recommend?

TOC, index and chapter headings are your guide as to what part of the book you are going to activate to get the answers that meet your purpose, curiosity and questions.

How many passes? as many as it take for you to get the book to gel.

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited July 23, 2004).]

I believe my biggest trouble now is my inablility to enter the accelerative learning state with certain brain frequency.

I do steps explained in the book , but I am not sure if I reached that state.

Any suggestion on this one?