Quote:

hi hartreefoch,
i am really glad to see your full experience, very interesting. however, i am not sure about your "hartree style reading" how effective it is? is it as fast as photoreading overall?? what would be the average words per minute?

and by the way, one more thing that I found might be probem, is that when I photoread , i use the X focus, but whenever i turn a page, my x focus is "lost", it will become hard focus, then i have to X focus again, could that be a problem for my photoreading??
THANKS!


TOM



Hi TomTOM,

I agree with TomV that photoreading is all about having FUN in reading.
It's about breaking down resistances people have built up against reading,
and getting them to play with words.

Where I would respectfully disagree with TomV is that I believe you do NOT
have to do certain things certain ways to achieve success in reading or
PR'ing. I have to be careful in saying such things here, because I have
learned in the past that some people tend to emphasize a certain
"doctrine" about things, and those who would try to do something
differently are sometimes chastised as "outcasts." But I think that's
part of human nature. All I can say is what I found to work for me, and
if that helps you, I'm happy.

So, that having been said, the whole "relaxed vision" thing just doesn't
do anything for me. In fact, for a long time, it was a HUGE distraction,
which was keeping me from growing. On a mechanical level, I have no
problem maintaining the "photo-vision", as I had naturally developed that
ability ever since I was very young. (It was always fun for me to see the
"third finger" floating between the two index fingers!) So, I can do the
photo-vision part of the process very easily and naturally, but to me,
this is not the heart of PR'ing at all. Indeed, in the live-classes,
several students could not maintain the photo-vision, and the teachers
always told them not to worry about it ... just look at the page without
consciously trying to read anything on it ... that is good enough.

The exercise of "photo-vision" is just a game to help yourself not use
your conscious mind to try to read the words on the page. If you are able
to do that without the relaxed vision, then you are getting the same
benefit. Don't get hung up on the mechanics. If the photo-vision helps
you, use it. If it doesn't, skip it. As you flip through the pages, just
keep affirming to yourself that you are getting the information you need,
and leave it at that. The more you do it, the more natural it will seem,
and the easier the process will become.

Now, regarding your questions about my reading speed, it depends on the
context. For example, I can pick up a decently sized novel and get the
essence of it 30 minutes or less, whereas before, it would've taken me a
month to go through it, if I bothered to open it up at all! And every
day, I scour through dozens of technical and popular articles and forum
postings very rapidly, always getting the essence of what I need. Now,
there are times I will find something very, very interesting, and I will
go back and read that article or section very, very slowly to get all of
it in its full flavor. For very technical material, I do the same thing.
A lot of my reading involves very sophisticated reasoning and mathematics,
but I use the same procedure: get the overall idea, then go back and
carefully study it. So, fast = overall picture, slow = detailed analysis.

This is the other lesson of PR'ing: "Layer" your reading with several
passes, where each subsequent layer becomes finer and finer. Allow your
intuition to tell you how much detail you need on each pass.

Remember, too, that I'm coming from a standpoint of having been
photo-reading for over a decade, so I'm describing things which are very
natural to me, like riding a bike or swimming. Once you master the skill,
you don't think about the mechanics anymore. I understand that you're
just starting, and you may feel very clumsy and impatient to improve your
reading ability. I encourage you to take it a day at a time. Don't force
it. Sometimes, the harder you try, the worse the results. Just relax
into the whole process, allow your mind to become comfortable with the new
paradigm of reading, and "play" with reading, just as a child would play
with a toy. You will find that certain things will work for you, but
other things will not, even if it violates the official "doctrine" of
PR'ing. Fabulous ... stick to those things which work for you, and don't
worry about those which don't. Treat the instructions as merely
guidelines to help you begin your own jouney into reading. Trust that you
are your best teacher.

Best to you, and keep us apprised of your progress!

HF