Hi Everyone,

I am a newbie. I just purchased the course a little over a week ago. I have been going through it in pieces. I bought the book a few years back and tried going through it, but always gave up because I did not understand what it was about.

I am looking forward to getting this to work; however, I have been having trouble experiencing anything. Perhaps I just don't have the patience. I read through the forum several times and found a lot of motivation here.

Reading posts form Photread4me and Alex and others were inspiring. However, I still can't help being confused with the whole thing. I stated my purpose. For example, I have a book called Conscious Business. My purpose was to learn the concepts and be able to apply them at work. I then previewed.

I went through all the titles, bolded headings, preface, index, last paragraph, first paragraph, etc. Then I got my self in the photofocus state, which I have no problem with since I have been able to view those 3D random generated dots pics since they first came out. I was also able to view the old pictures from the old 3d viewers in 3D without needing the viewer.

A friend of mine discovered he could do this when we were in highschool back in the 70's. He taught me how to do that as well. We always amazed other people by us being able to see these things when they couldn't.

Anyway, I photo read the book and then tried to do the post view and activation. When I try to super read, I know I am supposed to get find words that jump out at me and dip and read. However, I don't always get words jumping out at me. I notice some words, usually big words like 'communicate' or others big words, but I've had no desire or feeling that I should stop and read.

Perhaps someone can tell me what I am doing wrong. I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Neal.

Welcome to the forum.

Okay, first off I recommend working through the course with the material in the course. Then work with your own book. I'm assuming you're at the stage of doing your own book having done the other books, if not please go back and do the experiential exercises provided first. They help build understanding.

Now as to why you may not be finding much during activation. Look at your purpose. What is a concept?

Most cannot explain and have to look it up in a dictionary, when you do you'll see why a concept means nothing for activation. In fact you don't need activation at all. You gain a concept of a book in preview. Once you have previewed you're done. In architecture a concept isn't even a designers map it's just a pretty drawing. No structure is going to to be built with further planning work or design until it has been approved.

In activation, a concept of the book is merely enough to decide if you're using the right book, is a book of interest. A concept is gained through reading the table of content. Any more than that, you must be wanting something else, what is it you're looking for.

In this case I ask you, in what way could this book help you in your work? What could it possibly teach you? What parts of the book would be relevant to that purpose? Take it from there.

Let be clear, a concept is not a real purpose beyond previewing. It's a neat purpose for getting an idea what the book is about and checking if it is something you might find useful. Previewing with the purpose of wanting a concept of the book so that I can decide if it's useful to me ... for my work, for my relationship, for my financial education... whatever, is a good enough start. After previewing, go in for the real purpose.

Alex

Hi Neal.

Welcome.

After you did your post view what were your questions that you wanted the author to answer for you.

What was your experience with mind probing questions?

Before you do any super reading and dipping make sure you have a list of trigger words from the book and questions you want the author to answer.

Photoread4me.

Alex,

Thanks for that. I never thought of that the way you stated. I have always had difficulty coming up with what a book is a about and I suppose I never really understood a concept; or perhaps I did and just didn't realize it.

Anyway, I have had difficulty with things like mind mapping just because I have difficulty thinking of important pieces of a subject. Why do I bring this up? Because it goes into what Photoread4me has asked. What do I want the author to answer for me? I really don't know. The book is about How to Build Values through Values.

I want to know how to manage my time; my emotions, my work. And hopefully, I can get that out of this book. But I will do as Alex suggested and try learning photo reading from the material in the course.

Thanks,

Neal

That's where purpose is important.

Okay you gave me a book with an interesting title. Since I wasn't at the bookshop, I don't know what section of the bookshop it is from.

So with my purpose of getting a concept of what the book is about. I looked at the TOC on Amazon.

Ok it appear the book is Conscious Business?

Assuming I have the correct book this book by Fred Kofman is about building using your personal values and building on those values for the good of self and business.

Personally this is a C pile book, one that I'm not likely to go further into so would dump it, never the less it appears interesting so in a bookshop I would have PhotoRead the book and perhaps it could have landed in the A or B reading list for me. Though it would have to have some real, WIIFM [what's in it for me] ideas jumping out to further activate. Okay I might do that in the bookshop too.

So going from there possible purpose might be, To find out how to add value to my values so that I can...

enhance my business,
enjoy my work more,
achieve better communication with my customers,
enjoy negotiations as required in my job

me...
so that I can improve my teaching

which would lead my first activation to be.. What in this book can be applied to teaching,

Not knowing what I would find at this point that would be the core of my first activation, looking for which sections of the book have ideas, methods, triggers knowledge (those ah-ha moments as to why something worked or didn't work or how I could have done something better in the past). Naturally in discovering those sections I will form questions. Turning subheadings or chapters into questions using the 6 W's (Who, what, why, when, where and how) if necessary. And from the looks of that TOC that's might be relevant since if this author is any good on his subject, he's going to love answering questions. It appears he ask a few for you in the early pages of the book.

In all it comes down to modifying your purpose. Obviously you feel that this book has something worth understanding so if you're not forming questions, review your purpose. Change it. I could have a purpose relevant to only one chapter of the book ad be done with the book or I can see multiple directions for the book. I don't expect it all at once, I just expect something to satisfy my purpose in the shortest possible time.

So if it doesn't catch me during preview and a photoread, I let it go. The book will come back to me if the information becomes relevant to my life or another better book will replace it. (Better in terms of my knowledge and resonance with the author. There are a lot of great book that fall away because they don't resonate).

With more than 3 million books being printed each year in the US alone, add to that books from other English speaking countries, I'm not afraid to only spend 5, 10 or a mere 15 minutes with a book after PhotoReading it and be done with it. What's the point of spending time with a book if it's not creating something new for me?

In the grand scheme of things, nothing is as important as I think it is. What about just finding out something? It doesn't have to be important, it's much neater if you find something that is meaningful to you, that you can work with. And if you don't find it in that book move on, try other books.

It is more likely that a book isn't what you need in the moment than you not being able to put the PhotoReading system to work. If you're not sure about the truth of that, consider how many books you started to read but didn't finish? How many book have you read to the finish without implementing anything that the book taught?

So keep playing with your purpose an move onto other books.

I know not everyone flukes like I did to select a book I didn't finish reading that I though should be great, given the cover the blurb and the first few pages I read. I went on to using the PhotoReading system on it and discovered, the book wasn't true to the subject. I've come across others since then that claimed they would teach you how to do something that turned out to be long winded advertising for something else.

So challenge yourself, at the end of each activation summarize what you just activated in your own words. Don't worry about it being right, because it is right, as that is how the book resonated with you.

Alex

Thank you Alex, for the continued help and kind words. The focus on this book came from it being a required read for my work. Generally, I would never pick up a book like this as it really doesn't interest me.

However, that brings up another question. Isn't Photoreading supposed to be to gain knowledge, regardless of interest? If I am taking classes in school that I don't enjoy, like History, Government, etc... What am I supposed to do then? I don't want to read a 400 page book on government, but I have to if I want to pass the class. Therefore, I would need to read it and hopefully Photoread it to get information out that I need to pass the class.

As I stated before; thank you for taking the time,

Neal.

Isn't school supposed to do that as well? Yet there are many not interested enough to bother with passing.

Also if you've taken up the course or job, isn't the interest already there?

No like many of our emotions they come and go and interest is based on emotion. Getting interested in a book comes through building curiosity during the Postview. What can I find? what can I learn? What is new to me? How can I use this information to have more fun in my life my job.

If the book doesn't do that for you, Dump it! There are other books to read. If it's required reading, stuff you'll be tested on, then your purpose probably is, to know what is in this book so that I can impress X with my knowledge.

In case of coursework, the purpose is usually to get the information from this book so that I pass the class.

Now that you have that, you look at the course and decide what it is they expect you to know. If you're not sure, ask the instructor, get old, previous year exams, Look at the course description. Determine what you need to know what you need to pass the class and from there you form the mind probing question.

So purpose, to know what I need to know so that I pass this class. What do I need to know. What does the instructor expect me to know?

What other resources are available to me to get that knowledge.

Be warned, don't stray too far off the instructors course material if the answers are essay type. You may be right but from the instructors point of view because he hasn't covered the material you have (may not be a PhotoReader) so where you differ you get marked wrong. So sometimes the grade can go down.

If you're stuck with one or two books set by the instructor, Break it down. Read each chapter as a book in itself. That may take 3 to 30 minutes depending on the complexity of the chapter, prior knowledge, number of pages. Mind map the chapter for review. And use the precision questions. Remember you want to understand / know enough to pass the class so that might require more than a cursory reading like a book you read for personal enjoyment or satisfaction.

Books set by schools usually fall into the "it takes longest to read" department. With traditional reading, often the student doesn't even open the book, Instead relying on lectures to pass the class.

Alex

That doesn't make sense. We are often required to read things that we have no interest in. Yet we are expected to comprehend what we read. There are always going to be classes, subjects, books that we have no interest in, yet if we go to a university, we are expected to perform regardless.

It has nothing to do with me being interested enough to do it. It has everything to do with, "I need it so I do it." That is not interest, it is necessity.

There were parts of most subjects I have learned that I was not interested in, but I had to do it anyway because it was part of the subject I was interested in.

I don't mean to sound like a hard nose, but I want to completely understand this.

Thanks,

Neal

Exactly. You didn't always have an interest and unless you built a curiosity or had a "what's in it for me?" interest in the subject one would fail. If you aren't interested in the subject, you need to find one or you're not going to pass the class.

If you go to uni - you signed up for it. If you don't have an interest in it why sign up? It's tied up with your purpose.

The postviewing step is so that you can find what that which makes you curious and interested in the book. If it's not there you'll find reading harder no matter what system you want to apply.



That is because of your purpose. You had an interest. Even if part wasn't interesting, you still had a investment of interest and curiosity.

Alex

Neal

This is my view.

What you should gauge really whether Photo-reading is working or not is the way in which you are summarizing a book.Do you see yourself summarizing a book easily,do you see the interplay of ideas and you can group the ideas and give it a framework.Do you see patterns ,can you easily match with whats happening in the world around you and compare and relate it to what you have read?If you see yourself getting good at this then you are getting good at photoreading .Can you regroup the ideas in the book as per your own requirement not as per the chapters or the authors way of writing it.
That for me is the real measure.What i suggest is do the steps ,do lots of mindmaps.And take the mindmaps you have come out for a book and redo it a couple of times meaning group them better .If you have ever read TOny Buzans book on mind map he directs us to mind map words only and if and really if one has to write down a phrase he suggests how to do so.So what happens when you mindmap a lot you get to get good at recogninsing patterns ,you get good at interplay of ideas,you aske yourself better questions.Photoreading for me is 2 steps ---why am i reading this and how is this book designed or arranged.These two questions are really the core essence of activation for me (u can use them on novels also right?).It gets me going after i photoread,i keep to this questions consistently.This helps me make mind maps even in my mind ,cause i keep grouping and regrouping many times in my head.What does speed really got to do with reading ----for me speed is getting the idea or the story very very fast But can you read a poem at 25000 words per min and then do what?
Speed is what got our attention to do photoreading but the beauty is in reading and applying and using the book or simply enjoying the book.All these promises are definitely are the essence of PRWMS.

Even if one doesnt get to high speeds the 5 steps of PRWMS is the best way to approach reading .For me it is!!!Cause all other speed reading ideas
dont help u in pattern recognition
dont help you compare books and ideas
dont help u see the ideas in action in the real world
dont help you get "oh i have read this somewhere" type of feelings!!!

But PRWMS get you into such a mind frame and the skills help you much much more .If you have any other speed reading course try them as far as i know they make you do lot of drills and then once you let go of the drills u r back at the starting line!!!in fact here is what i have tried before---tony buzans speed reading book,Howard Berg Super reading book ,rocket reader ,peter shephers speed reading book,Ron White Speed reading and what did i get from them ---Drills are moving my eye ball faster and faster.But PRWMS i got my MBA certificate and i enjoy activation.For me its a different way of looking at the world,i dont have to ever ever ever worry about completing a book ,i want my answers so i photo read 1 to 3 books a day and then activate 7 mins or 10 mins or 20 mins or if i am lucky much more in a day depending on how much i can afford to spend time on that day for reading.Read Novels in the loo as if my daughter sees me reading a book she hides the book from me----so you knwo how much time i do get to activate.But gone are the days where i want to complete a book gone are the days i see my book racm oh my god 1000 books un read an 100000 books yet to read.I have completed many and i am confident that when i want to read them i will do it .But your career has so many challenges !!!Getting to complete a bok is child play,i recently completed one up wall street by peter lynch in some 5 or 6 20 min session ---mainly let me tell you i had lots of lots of prior knowledge of the terms used in the book!!!Now where did i get that from ---from my studies and i am an engineer and i have studiesd hard in my engineering days but this never happened to me that i built on from my prior knowledge but with PRWMS its hapening .I keep grouping ideas under different branches then i keep askign myslef lots of questions.When i read Black Swan i realised i have very little knowledge in statistics and propbality theory its only limited to what i learnt in high school so i am now learnign them from Khan Academy ---5 years ago i had dropped the idea that i can even do an aMBA and now i am planning a phd in 10 years.

DOnt Give up Sir!!!! try it in all ways .Even you dont get it do it again ,take a break go see a movie and do it again,thats what i can say.
Hey i have also planned to activate big novels in a different way,i am planning to rapid read them and then second activation come out with a giant mindmap and then third activation do a search on vocabulary---lots of time ---yes but who cares ,its fun for me ,its the joy of going into so much of depth on a book!!!

And as i said its only my view but i sincerely suggest just keep doing it!!!!

I had to take history classes but I never really developed any curiosity. I scraped by because it was a requirement. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I took those classes now that I look back, but at the time I had NO desire to take those classes. I didn't fail, I just didn't do as well as I should have.



That is funny. I like how lump things together. I went to a university and signed up for a specific subject, so somehow I must have had some desire for all the subjects I had to take. No, I don't agree with that. To get a degree, you can't just take the courses you want, you have to take a wide range of subjects, even those you don't like.

I don't think your purpose has to be a curiosity. I think it is more, I have to get through this, so my purpose is to learn more at this level so I can move on to the next level. I don't find this level interesting, but I still have to go through it.

When I learned programming, in pretty much every class I took, they had to give a history, which I found boring, but I still had to endure it as part of the overall class.



I think you and I have two different meanings of interest. To me, it means I have a desire to learn about it. But be that as it may, I think we are heading down the same street, but one is on one side and the other is on the other side and we each see the same things a bit different.

Thanks again,

Neal

Hey Adarsh,

Thank you for your insight. I will try to remember the points you make.

Thanks,

Neal

Most of us have only our education to compare as thats the only point in time on an average we are with our books!!.When we enter our adult world we realize we don't need 90 to 95% of what we have read in our careers.But we are so conditioned by our society and by our own experiences that we have to read in a particular way.
We fail to acknowledge that the old system of reading linearly was all a big waste of time.But we cant get to letting go of the system for obviously many reasons .

1.The old system of education is necessary to build a base, a foundation.It is important to read linearly also. PRWMS will help once we enter the adult world.

2.We have an underlying motive to get ourselves a job from what we educate ourselves.Professional world doesnt recognise people with out formal education.

But isn't it true that 90 to 95% of what we read are really not used in our adult lives.So here is a system which tells us and gives us a liberty to think in a focused manner.
It sets no boundaries by the book covers.It says take ten or more books in a field you want to learn and grow.Take one aspect you want to master and then Photo-read and activate and get your answers and apply to a place you want it instantly.
Its so focused.
But since we dont have a mission and vision and a goal in front of us we still are children out of educational institution in a brave new world not knowing what to do!!! then we want to read as we are conditioned deep below that "reading helps" and when we sit to read ,with a system which asks us to decide our purpose we are totally scattered.Oh how can i be so specific ,i want everything ?who knows i may need everything i read?we forget the lesson our 20 years of education gave us ,that reading for some 10000hrs which has not helped us much,but blame the simple PRWMS system that it doesn't work.

What has really not worked?Geetting everything or getting specific answers?in my experience the latter is 100% assured and the former depending on the time you can get to also ,very fast.

I feel that first we must get clear with what one wants in his career and then apply it to the books which supports us to get there and you will find yourself becoming a raving fan of PRWMS!!!


Building base knowledge under different categories takes its own time.One must dedicate time for building a foundation and using PRWMS to do so also takes less time compared to the linear system of reading.


For example in my career i want to be good in finance and accounting,marketing,the science behind technology involved in my field .So i am pretty much surrounding myself with books related to these fields.

Once i have built a base i find to add something additional to what I already know takes shorter time.Thats where i am finding PRWMS to be an outstanding tool to use .


Novels and rest of the books will easily fall in place cause we get good at assimilation,Recognition ,integration and application of ideas!!!

Well that's my view again.Why haven't people waged a war against our educational system so far?Cause who will question the system and who has the time?and thank god there is PRWMS!!!


Let me also add a few experiences.I remembered this yesterday night.I had photoread Chronicles of narnia( forgive me if i have said this elsewhere in the forum,but i just want to share this again).This happened a couple of years back when the movie "Voyage of the Dawn treader "was released.
I have not activated the book yet.
So we(my family) went to this movie and in the story there is a kid ,i forget the characters name i think its Eustace who joins the other 2 kids reluctantly in thier journey ,rather he gets caught with them ad enters the journey.In the movie they enter an island and there this noisy cynical kid Eustace enters a town filled with gold supposedly cursed.The scene cuts here and the focus is on rest of the characters from the film and they are ready to leave the island and they realise that Eustace is missing. Suddenly i tell myself "oh he becomes a dragon!!" and then the scene turns to show a dragon who picks up one of the prince and the crew pursues the dragon.Actually it is Eustace who is cursed to be a dragon!!!

Well i had actually activated the book.I did not realise it and 1 or 2 days later i asked myself ,hey thats great how come i "Guessed" that the kid becomes a dragon!!!probably it was pure guess ,but i have had many such instances where in the answer pops into my head .I dont know how.Call it spontaneous activation .

The problem i think even LSC has in proving to the world is that information has to be taken in a structured way but information doesnt get assimilated integrated and applied in a structured way.

So this gap is very difficult for all of us to believe.Its very difficult for us to apply as in we are scared that its all a waste of time.isnt it true that what was difficult for us in high school got easier in college and what was difficult in college is somewhat easier today.Especially if we had kept improving our knowledge our efforts.Thats important if we had kept to the learning and relearning.Look at many doctors they read reread and attend all these seminars keep to thier books consistently and they good after a period of time .Some exceptions are available in all fields they are geniuses instantly.

All this only proves to me that our brain grows and we need to support it and keep exciting it with more learning.There is an opportunity to understand and use our knowledge at the level of application at any given point when we "GET IT"

So i think PRWMS deserves a fair chance .The belief to try and keep trying ?What else is there in the market which is so structured and basic.I dont know?and now i dont care!!!This is good for me.

"Could have." Could have if you were interested.

As I explained ... the PhotoReading step Postviewing is where you build your curiosity and interest.

Alex

Neal,

There are a huge number of posts about photoreading not working. People at times mistakenly assume photoreading a lot like reading. Many newbies tend to seek results of regular reading with photoreading. would you dig for cobalt at coal mines? Do you seek strawberries on a mango tree?

Photoreading wont comprehend all of a book for you in 2 hours. It helps you find what you are interested in. That is why you set up a purpose. If you dont set a purpose to find how many matches Philip Hughes played, you wont find how many matches he played. It is as simple as that! Thats why importance of purpose has been highlighted every now and then. If you increase number of activation passes to get more out of a book, time you spend on a book also increases.

Photoreading makes it easier to find what you need. It also helps in direct learning. It doesnt comprehend all of the book for you in short amount of time but only what you need. This is an advantage but also a limitation. Also the question answer approach isnt suitable for all types of reading materials.

With regular reading, you overcome this limitation. You come across all of the information in a book. New or familiar, interesting or uninteresting you take it all and make a note of all. Thats why second time you read a book, you find everything easier and already known. If you make a mindmap, you then organise your information the same way you did in photoreading.

If you are finding it tough to make the photoreading system working for you, try reconsidering what you want to do with a book. You would photoread books to find particularly something or for direct learning. For comprehending all of a book, or to read detail rich books, textbooks, newspapers, novels you would find regular reading the best.

What matters at the end is -effective reading. Members of the forum will try their best to assist you and you may not necessarily agree with them everytime. Dont get nervous with that. There are a couple of LSC certified coaches in UK who teach speed reading along with Photoreading! Experiment and see what works best for you. Explore more, you will find everything that you were seeking. There isnt certainly any problem with your purpose as much as in your expectations as far as I can see.

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