Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Confrontational or what?

I’ve had the home study course for a number of years now and have tried many times to get the system to work for me. I have an enormous belief in myself and my mental abilities but for some reason I’ve been unable to experience anything but minor successes with the system. These minor successes are limited to the dictionary game. I also believe that this system is the best substitute for traditional reading which we all know has been the same for hundreds of years. As a developer in the computer industry I’m constantly bombarded with new and better ways of doing things which I have to agree are, for the most part, better. This makes it easy for me to accept that there must be a better way to gather information from written material than we’ve been using for ages. I think you probably all agree with me so far.

Now, applying my instinctive logic to the system I’ve come up with the following conclusions.

Previewing – fine, seems like a very sensible step. Check what the book’s about, get an idea of it’s contents, it’s angle and style.
Trigger words – hmmm, OK, I accept this but as yet can’t see the point.
Summary – yes, accepted.
Purpose – definitely a good thing. I think we’ve all experienced a success in something when we really had a reason to succeed.
Relaxed state – yes, everything physical and mental is easier when the body and mind is relaxed.
PhotReading – well that’s what I bought the system for. Now, I like many others would love to be able to do just this main step and then know everything that’s in the book. Many people have said this is just not possible. My view is ‘anything is possible’.

Activation – as others on here have asked, ‘why?’. Why is activation necessary? I’ve read that it’s to bring the information into the conscious mind. I want it in the conscious mind when I need it. This step is done in a number of ways most of which involve reading the text again USING TRADITIONAL READING METHODS. This is the bit I feel is wrong. If I’m reading using the ‘old’ style how can you say it’s coming from the subconscious or long term memory? It’s coming from the pages of the book that I’m reading.

I hope I’ve missed something because this step is a major block for me. I need to be convinced preferably in logical terms why reading using the tradition methods is still necessary.

I apologise for going on at such length but I truly believe this system works and that the problem is mine. I also think that I’m not alone after all I’ve seen many posts on here from techies like myself who want to learn things and learn them fast. Not read fast but learn fast.

As an incidental point I think maybe PhotReading should be renamed so it doesn’t have the word ‘read’ in it. I think the name implies a different method of reading whereas I like to think of it as speed learning or high-speed information gathering.
Comments anyone?

With regards to the PR step .. you aren't reading word for word everything in a book.

you should be "super-reading" which is just looking down the center of the page and moving quickly from page to page UNTIL something catches your eye. At that point you would dip into it and read normally. You would normally feel the need to continue SR'ing until you felt drawn once again to the text.

This differs from regular reading because it's done much faster and more focused.

For example, if I reading a technical book on using perl with dbi's, I wouldn't need to know all the information in the book that deals with "how to use perl" if I already knew that. My mind knows what it knows. I could SR all that information very quickly and not feel any urge to dip into it. Lets also say that I'm familiar with database syntax and don't really need to read that, I would SR right past that. I would only dip when I reached information I didn't already know. Basically, when you dip it's because you needed that information. That's the purpose of those mind-probing questions and trigger words.

I also want to point out that even if you were to do all these stages within the complete system you are still spending FAR less time "reading" than you would if you read traditionally.

Does this make sense?

Tracey~

[This message has been edited by tracey (edited May 24, 2002).]

You want to be convinced in logical terms???

Paul Scheele says: If you do what you have always done-----you will get what you have always gotten.

Don't you think it's about time to do something different in your particular approach to PhRing? After all according to your post I’ve had the home study course for a number of years now and have tried many times to get the system to work for me.

good luck

Please read the post directly below yours.

Margaret & tracey, Have you both made the system work? All I see is bla, bla, bla,bla, and Paul says this, and Paul says that. You both act like you were daughters of Paul. I'm an accountant, and as one, I'm very skeptical. For me, life is black or white. I don’t like other colors. I won't give Pring the time of day until I see the following posting: I can pread, pring really works, I pass such and such exam using pring. I highly recommend pring to everyone.

I've been reading postings for almost 9 months now. I've read postings of very intelligent individuals. Individuals that had e-mail addresses from top universities like Georgia Tech, MIT, Yale,Smith college, Princeton, Berkelly. If they got accepted into those universities, they most be as bright as they come. I never seen a post like the one just mentioned. Neither from them ,nor from anybody else.My logical way of thinking says Pring might work, but I’ve not read any convincing stories as of yet. I mean really convincing. Not senteces like I think, I almost got it, I might get it.I’m into something here.
The stories from the marketing advertisement don’t count, because I’ve never read postings from those people in their process of learning the system.

I'm too busy studying for my GMat , and reviewing the only part I did not pass on my CPA exam. By the way, I didn't use pring to pass the 2 or 3 parts that I think I pass on my CPA exam. I know better specially when I saw a posting by SDstudent, which was a guy who relied on pring to pass his Mcats exam. The poor guy use pring on both instances. I wonder if he eventually pass on his second tried.

I hope someone can prove me wrong some day, but I think pring doesn’t work.

Gino,
I learned PhRing when i was almost 50 But you posted this:

quote:

---

I won't give Pring the time of day until I see the following posting: I can pread, pring really works, I pass such and such exam using pring. I highly recommend pring to everyone.

---

I have been successfully PhRing for 6 years now. I had 0 (read that ZIP) knowledge of IT. I used PhRing and MMing & passed the MCP certification the first time.

BUT, perhaps more significantly, i have taught PhRing to a couple students. One guy is now in his 3rd year of residency. He loves me to death b/c of PhRing. The other guy received an award in h.s. as the most improved student in his class. He said it was thanks to me teaching him MMing.

But here are your areas of challenge & i'm quoting from your post: For me, life is black or white. I don’t like other colors. ---- I’ve not read any convincing stories as of yet. I mean really convincing. ---- I know better specially when I saw a posting by SDstudent, which was a guy who relied on pring to pass his Mcats exam. The poor guy use pring on both instances. ----- and now for your amazing clinker of a thought I hope someone can prove me wrong some day, but I think pring doesn’t work.

It's Fri. night, i'm almost done & i only answered you b/c i'm a first class jerk

Why do you CHOOSE to believe some guy who is doing LOUSY w/ PhRing and not others who are doing great?

Did it ever occur to you that SDstudent is doing it incorrectly? Did it ever occur to you that you are unconsciously choosing to read only failure stuff b/c all you want to see is that?

Did it ever, even faintly, occur to you that maybe, just maybe, you could set your course in life w/o needing and relying on the opinion of others? Huh?

I bought it. I followed the steps. It worked. For heavens sake, does it have to be more complicated than that?

Nope! You and all the people like you have other problems that need addressing first. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make'em drink.

The most curious thing about this post and others before is that people panic about taking exams. They realize they've got a ton of work to do and they look for a quick-fix, they want the Cliff's notes for their life.

PhotoReading shows up and they buy it and hope it's the panacea they've been looking for. PhotoReading works. It's people who often do not work. One of the things you'll see repeated over and over is "PLAY WITH IT". Now, correct me if I'm wrong but studying for critical exams like MCATs and the like is NOT FUN. It's hard work, it's memorization, and overall stressful.

Why do people persist in blaming the product when the product can do nothing on it's own? It is the person who makes something work for them. It's synergy. PR'ing is not for everyone.

To my point about using PR'ing to study for exams, yes, it can work and it can help but unless you spend the TIME it takes to layer all the information in, you won't have as good of results as you expect from this "miracle" program. Then who do you blame? It's typically not yourself that you blame, because "I did it right", it must be the programs fault, it must be a gimmick. Am I right?

Nowhere will you see anyone say they learned and mastered the steps of PR'ing overnight. It's just not possible. There is a reason it is suggested that you read up to 10 books a week using the PR'ing method.

PR'ing in and of itself is a PR'ing session on it's on. Clarifying that, learning to PR is a process, a LAYERING process. Just like you need to layer new knowledge using the PR techniques, you must layer the steps of PR'ing.

It works. There are a lot of posts that exist on this board that state that.

PR'ing is like accounting. You have your checks and balances. ALL things must be in place in order for you to succeed (or balance the books, in this case).

When you skip steps, you get errors. When you don't follow through completely you get errors. When you rush, you get errors. It doesn't get more black and white than this.

If people were to spend as much time learning the PROCESS of PR'ing as they did complainging about it, they'd have nothing to complain about.

The bottom line is this, if you are so set against this not working. It will never work for you. You have made up your mind to disallow it from working.

Tracey~

Margaret,,

If it had worked for you, you are the 03% of this forum that have made it. I haven't learned the program yet. I just don't have the time to spend on a program that by its percentage of success does not sound too promising. I wanted to learn it over the summer, but I get discourage by so low success rate. Lets be realistic here. If you count all the success stories on this forum and divide them by the cumulative total, you'll see that you are among the lucky 02% that have made it. I will try to learn this program, but not right now. If the success rate was a little higher, I might have given it the benefit of doubt. On the other hand, If what you are saying is true, then pring must work. For example, Even if 01% of a certain population is capable of telekinesis, I will have to assume that telekinesis exist.

Tracey,,
I was not judging the system based on SDstudent's outcome. I'm judging the system based on 97% of unsuccessful learners. the ones that are here,and the ones that left. I'm not going to criticize a learning program based on only one individual's results. Dstudent could be dumb as a rock for all I know.

Gino,

If the program doesn't work for you, and you don't have the time for it it, then drop it and stop trying to convince yourself and others that it doesn't work.

If it didn't work, I wouldn't be here. I can assume the other regular posters wouldn't be here either.

As for those who've left here, the internet is a transient place. People move on. Some people choose to stay and help, but others get caught up in their lives and don't get much from this forum because they are beyond it. When I first purchased the course I came here many times a day to read the posts and then I stopped. I'd read a few posts every few months but then move on.

Have I been a success at PR'ing? Yes, I have. Do I regularly do PR'ing? No, I don't. I'm impatient with it, but I know the steps and when I actively sit down and follow through I achieve great results. I enjoy reading and I enjoy sitting down and reading books word for word. I'm also lazy, and it's more work initially to PR than to regular read as I read very very rapidly naturally.

When I need a higher retention, I will PR things. Plain and simple.

Tracey