Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Throwing in the towel

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Just as a small favor to me, in your spare time photoread then preview/dip and see if you can't get "10%" in about 15 minutes. Getting 10% in about an hour is not that good if you ask me.

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What we are talking about is 10% which to me means 10 pgs of info out of a 100. I don't know where you get taking an hour for 10%. I mean 10% is not even mentioned in the course.

What the course is saying and all the LS coaches tell us is this: You will improve your speed at knowing the material in a third less time. Or, something tantamount to that So, all of us should be looking to improve our personal time frame and not compare ourselves to any commercial or to others who are at different stages. Know your time frame. Then work w/ that.

You sound like you are saying that you have no need for PhRing and are questioning why others do. Is that what you are getting at here?

From my experience w/ self help books, they only take 10-15 minutes at tops to get 50-60% of the meaning. These are fairly short books w/ very similar content.

BUT, what does take time w/ self help books is putting the exercises they mention into practice Self help books are simple by nature of the beast. Putting into practice even ONE method is another matter.

Students like some of these people posting here in the df need to pass exams. Passing exams means----info---facts---data. In this case the PhRing Whole Mind System is terrific. It helps teenagers see a full pattern of study from drinking enuff water to get oxygen into the brain to music to stimulate the brain, to MMing and especially LAyerInG

Unfortunately, in our educational system in America, we don't spend any time teaching students how to study. PhRing truly is the missing link.

Then there's Paul's Bibliography and half.com (mgrego ) for all the rest.

[This message has been edited by Margaret (edited June 27, 2002).]

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not bragging or trying to be mean or anything, I'm saying that self-help books usually aren't one of the types of books where I have to resort to rapid reading.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

[This message has been edited by razordu30 (edited June 27, 2002).]

Also, Photoreading has not made me 3 times as fast, it has actually slowed me down. Depending on the text I can vary my rapid reading speed from 3000-7000 wpm and the best I've ever done with Photoreading (all the steps) is 1700wpm. I'm not going to complain too much though because I've only spent $18 on a book.

Self improvement books aren't always easy to read. Natural Brilliance isn't easy to read and no way was I happy with getting 10% out of that. I read it normally, as I do most of the posts here.

-I don't know where you get taking an hour for 10%. I mean 10% is not even mentioned in the course.-

The book actually says that only 4-11% of the text actually carries any meaning. I averaged it out to 10% just to simplify. And yes Paul does say that PR teaches you to read for "core concepts" so if you put 2 and 2 together you're supposed to Photoread and then just read for core concepts and that's called 'reading.' Numerous times on this forum people have said to activate in sessions of 30 minutes, and to do 3 passes if necessary. Now we're up to almost 2 hours on a (average) 300page book and even more if you have to rapid read. I can rapid read a page in 15 seconds (which is my average if I want to understand as I go) I can do a book in 1 hour and 15 minutes and I didn't miss a thing. That gives me plenty of time for previewing and Photoreading if I want to do that beforehand. 6 months ago I had a problem with the PR step, now I'm questioning and pondering activation techniques saying that rapid reading is the king. If the Photoreading step enables me to understand on 1 pass, isn't what I'm saying a good thing to everyone here?

I'm just lost in limbo when I sr/dip. It just seems to me that speed increases with the amount skipped over, not by increasing speed or understanding faster. The more you learn the more schema you have enabling you to go even faster, as you've stated with self help books, but that increase in speed is because of you not what you're doing.

In the photoreading book itself, name one page that you could just supperread? There isn't one. It's all worthy to read normally and that's exactly what I had to do to it.

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I'm not questioning why other people do it because I know why. I've been struggling with it for 2 years and I still try.

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Let's get to the bottom of why using PhotoReading is a struggle for you. It should be the farthest from it.

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My original question was "is there anyone else that feels the need to resort to rapid reading in order to truely 'read' the book?"

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Absolutely! Whenever you want more detail beyond SuperReading & Dipping. Often times you'll spend a part of many of your activation passes Rapid Reading for specific detail.

The Activation techniques are flexible, and they work hand-in-hand. They are all about "burning in" those new neuro pathways between your conscious mind and inner mind, one layer of conscious comprehension at a time with each activation pass, as you begin comprehending your entire book very quickly, from "whole-to-parts."

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Also, Photoreading has not made me 3 times as fast, it has actually slowed me down.

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Then, you haven't mastered the basics quite yet.

Also, it's not about "regular-reading" faster. PhotoReading is about learning, comprehending, understanding, and retaining within a third of the time or less than you would have to spend with conventional regular reading or speed reading approaches. Subvocalization brought down to a minimum necessary.

The progress you may make with the PhotoReading book alone over many months can be achieved in just a few weeks with the homestudy course, or just one weekend in the live class.

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[B}Self improvement books aren't always easy to read. Natural Brilliance isn't easy to read and no way was I happy with getting 10% out of that. I read it normally, as I do most of the posts here.[/B]

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You're right on track! Give yourself credit.

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The book actually says that only 4-11% of the text actually carries any meaning. I averaged it out to 10% just to simplify. And yes Paul does say that PR teaches you to read for "core concepts" so if you put 2 and 2 together you're supposed to Photoread and then just read for core concepts and that's called 'reading.'

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Nope.

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Numerous times on this forum people have said to activate in sessions of 30 minutes, and to do 3 passes if necessary. Now we're up to almost 2 hours on a (average) 300page book and even more if you have to rapid read.

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It is impossible to set a time standard for all books. It's gonna change from book to book, depending on your purpose for reading, the outcome you want to have, and if you have any prior knowledge of a topic at all.

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I can rapid read a page in 15 seconds (which is my average if I want to understand as I go) I can do a book in 1 hour and 15 minutes and I didn't miss a thing. That gives me plenty of time for previewing and Photoreading if I want to do that beforehand. 6 months ago I had a problem with the PR step, now I'm questioning and pondering activation techniques saying that rapid reading is the king. If the Photoreading step enables me to understand on 1 pass, isn't what I'm saying a good thing to everyone here?

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The challenge is to duplicate those results on a regular basis, on any book.

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I'm just lost in limbo when I sr/dip.

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That throws a flag up about your Mind Probing questions, or lack of, and Purpose/Outcome statement determined in the Prepare step. Without creating Mind Probing questions with the key words and phrases you wrote down during your 8-minute Preview of your book from cover-to-cover, your inner mind may not know where to Dip while SuperReading.

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In the photoreading book itself, name one page that you could just supperread? There isn't one. It's all worthy to read normally and that's exactly what I had to do to it.

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Very true....from whole-to-parts, in a third of the time or less than what it takes with regular old reading and re-reading and re-reading hoping something eventually comes together.

Include "choosing mastery" in the step 3 pre&post affirmations.

Nope.

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Top of page 61 in the PR book. I worded it poorly, should have said activate for core concepts. If the 4-11% isn't a Photoreading concept then it was passed off as implied knowledge via the reference. I personally prefere the "80% of the core concepts come from 20% of the material" but how can we tell.

As I said before, I already said that like everyone else I could burn thru a book using PR and get "what I know beforehand" (schema) and be done with the book real quick. Then when I go back and actually read the book I see tons of stuff I didn't know about in advance to even begin to ask the mind probes about or create the purposes about so I naturally my mind couldn't dip on them but when I went back and Rapid Read I finally saw this 'new' stuff I missed before.

If you're saying that really good books like Photoreading and Natural Brilliance should be rapid read and less "deep" are more for PR/Activating, then that's exactly what I want to hear, because it's kind of what I suspect.

I go to extremes with what I read and I don't think anyone here does this but I'm either done with a book after a preview or I want to read the whole thing.

One last question Dana, first of all thanks for the help and second of all how would someone make purposes and mind probes for information that is new? Mine like

"what's my ultimate application of this material?"

"What have I not thought of yet that is the key to solving this problem?"

and things similar to that are all I can come up with.

There are 4 categories of questions one could ask when exploring a book. A selection from 2 or more categories is useful for non fiction books while the general questions are enough for Novels... though there are some additional useful questions that can be added when reading novels for school or book reports.

General questions... using trigger words, subheads and index, turn these into the who, what, why, when, where and how questions. If you have difficulty answering any of these questions you'll know your not understanding the significance of the text.

Application to Life... these questions are along the line of "How can I use this information?", "Whom can I help or tell about this?" "What practial applications can I have for this information?", "What long term benefits are in it for me?" etc. These questions help as a memory aid.

Inferential Questions...these questions are one where you are asking yourself how your doing, Eg. "What is my purpose?", "How easy or hard is it for me to understand this?", "Will this suit my needs?". These questions help you to judge how much time you need to put into actually gaining information from a book.

Questions that need more information Here you are specifically asking yourself questions about what you don't understand. Eg. "What does the author mean by... ?", "Where is the author going with this?" "Why is that considered important?" These help you gain even more from the text and engage your critical thinking about what you've read.

Alex

If you don't have a purpose for reading a book, then don't read it. That is a complete waste of your time and energy.

If you don't know why you're reading a book, you won't take what you need from it. Simply because you don't know what to take. You have to precisely define your reasons to get the most out of the system.

If you don't know how much time you're willing to spend beforehand, you'll be frustrated because it seems like you're spending too much time on each step, or consequently you may not spend enough time on certain steps. Time limits discipline your mind.

The phrase 'cut to the chase' applies here. When you Activate, cut out what you don't need to know and zoom in on what you want, to whatever level you want to take it to.

Most books have a few central ideas that can be fleshed out over a page or two of notes so even to say 10% is being liberal with many authors unless they write highly technical manuals like medical or UNIX texts.

It helps to have that overview so you know where to zoom, or if zooming is even worth the time.

Some books are not worth reading. Without that overview, you don't find this out until you're done reading, hours later. Life is too short for that; it only takes a few seconds to decide not to waste your time and put a useless book away. This step alone saves you hours.

Some books have skimpy information and are padded out with superfluous information. You don't need to memorize everything in those books. Don't waste your time overstudying a glorified pamphlet.

Some books are detailed but you only need certain details in certain areas. Either you know the rest, or you don't need to know it right away. Skim and superread past the details you don't need and dip into the ones you do. Zoom in on what you need and leave the rest for later. It'll still be there if you have to go back for it.

PhotoReading isn't memorization, it's strategic reading. Take what you need and leave the rest. Even then, take only what you need and can handle at one time.

PS. I find that self help books are short on actual info and spend lots of time telling stories and selling the author's credentials. That stuff is completely unnecessary and overstudying it doesn't help you in any way.

PhotoReading isn't memorization, it's strategic reading.

BINGO!

However some do want the tales that flesh out the authors ideas. I managed to junk one book where the author gave instruction for technique in 1 paragraph, (vague at best I've seen it better explained elsewhere) refered back to it a couple of times and didn't even have decent anedotes how others have used it. Glad to have PR & activated that book in 20 minutes. Oh and his writing style was shocking, probably why I left it on the bookshelf so long. I started regular reading it ages ago and shelved it after photoreading and activating it I found out why.

Obviously MarkP4 has purpose for reading the books, he says himself that he is able to get rid of duds quickly.

One question worthwhile asking of books that have a similar theme. What is new to me? Or What new information does this book have that I could benefit from by knowing? That will give PR a great kickstart when you read books with a similar theme.

Alex