Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer If Photoreading really is the best thing since sliced bread, then...

...why are there so many nagative reviews on Amazon?

I still can't do it, and after reading these reviews I am beginning to think that the % of people who can not do it is a lot greatert han that quoted in the course!

And what about the tst by NASA saying that PR doesn't work?

Could someone explain these discrepancies?

(reviews below from Amazon.com)

Customer Reviews

JOKE!, January 23, 2004
Reviewer: A reader from hermosa beach, ca United States
Please DO NOT buy into this SCAM! I'm am well-read and always look optimize my skills, this was a disaster. I never take the time to write reviews but feel it's my duty to WARN you. if curious, make sure there is a money back guarantee. You'll still be upset, it's not even worth the cost of shipping.

Was this review helpful to you?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Don't photoread the reviews, January 20, 2004
Reviewer: mbowman2 (see more about me) from Aus
Skim the book, scan the book, photoread the book, osmotically digest the book - you're a photoreader!! Even if you're not a photo-reader you're going to get through this thin and loose volume in not much time. Of course, the book is only part of the technique. Some tapes to improve the memory and change beliefs are going to be needed too.
So where are these photo-readers outside the pages of Amazon? Where are the validated studies with the '5 star' reviewers zooming through a book and being tested on it the next day?
Pls Mr Scheele - do a controlled test and prove me wrong.

Was this review helpful to you?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A waste of time and money, December 28, 2003
Reviewer: Joan Russell from Massachusetts
I suspect that many people are tantalized by the possibility of reading effortlessly, at great speed, with superb comprehension. I was; that's why I bought this book.

But this book's author offers merely the standard steps for effective reading -- previewing, skimming, deciding in advance what you want to get out of the reading, etcetera -- along with a time-wasting exercise (the "photoreading" step) that involves flipping quickly through a book's pages while allowing the eyes, which remain motionless, to perceive the pages as they are flipped. Of course this "photoreading" step, as the author admits, yields no conscious understanding of the pages' contents; for this you'll need the standard steps of previewing, skimming, etcetera to "activate" what you've supposedly absorbed at an unconscious level during the "photoreading" step. Baloney.

The author of this book deserves credit only for his diabolical marketing genius; rarely is a book of such useless hocus-pocus so successfully marketed to the public.

Was this review helpful to you?

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

Don't buy into this scam, here's why:, November 16, 2003
Reviewer: lazy_einstein from Clearwater, FL USA
I'm glad I didn't buy this book/system, here's why:

While looking for information on how I can improve my reading skills I stumbled across LSC's PhotoReading website and was truly amazed with their promises. Being able to read at least three times faster and that's just the beginning? Eventually being able to read 25,000 words per minute? WOW! In my naive mindet I got all excited and started thinking about all the books I wanted to read. The website included testimonials and claimed that "PhotoReading has appeared nationally on hundreds of radio shows, including network broadcasts, and many television shows."

The whole course costs approximately $250, now that's a lot of money! I decided to do some research first and see what other people had to say, interestingly the only credible study I could find was conducted by NASA, here's what their report said:

The results for all measures yielded no benefits of using the PhotoReading technique. The extremely rapid reading rates claimed by PhotoReaders were not observed; indeed, the reading rates were generally comparable to those for normal reading. Moreover, the PhotoReading expert generally showed an increase in reading time when using the PhotoReading technique in comparison to when using normal reading strategies to process text. This increase in reading time when PhotoReading was accompanied by a decrease in text comprehension.

If you already bought into the hype and don't believe me see for yourself, http://www.sti.nasa.gov/Pubs/star/star0003.pdf - it's on page 146. Apparently this program doesn't work after all. Not only that, like another reviewer on Amazon mentioned it seems like this book only gets extremely positive or negative reviews; I took the liberity to look at the profiles of people who wrote a positive review and it turns out that most of them reviewed many books similar to this (kudos to LSC's marketing department for reviewing their own books) and they all received 5 stars.

Don't buy into this new hype, it's nonsense. Anyone who looks at a book for a couple of minutes and reads the chapter headings will be able to tell you what the book is about, it doesn't take PhotoReading to do that! If you really feel a need to waste money I suggest you send it to me and I'll be more than glad to teach you something you already know and even come up with some fancy words like PhotoReading, you'll get your money's worth, I promise.

Was this review helpful to you?

Was this review helpful to you?

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

bad book, August 22, 2003
Reviewer: An Amazon.com Customer
this book is not satisfying book . the author says to read ( photoread )in 1 second 2 pages or 25000 words per minute
then use some old speed reading methods to understand the material .
in other words he just wanna encourage you to read fast by telling you that if you just look at the pages differently your subconscious will understand the the pages . of course you will not understand anything unless you will read again (normal reading )
in summary if u wanna just what is in the book . it is just telling you how to see the pages differntly and using old speed reading methods
i advise you strongly to read speed reading and mind mapping by tony buzan . even if you think that photoreading is working because you will need it after just merely seeing the pages .
.

Learninator; what is really clear by your post and the examples is that there are people who do not know how the process works.

Here is a example of misinformation. Speed reading at 25,000 words a minute. We don't read at 25,000 words a minute.When a person photoreads the text is exposed to the part of the brain the other than conscious mind that can process 20,000 things at the same time.Later activation techniques are used to accomplish the person's goals for getting the information they want from the book.

Frankly; seeing this post if people decide that photoreading doesn't work they program their brain to fulfill their own prophecy.If you tell your brain this doesn't work your other than conscious mind says ok you're right.

Paul Scheele has already done a test.In the post someone was saying why doesn't he do a test. A few years ago a group of educators in Minnesota thought photoreading was impossible and a hoax.

A demonstration was held and a Photoreader photoread a volume of U.S. patent law that was projected on a video monitor. The photoreader photoread 30 pages a second approximately 690,000 words per minute. The Photoreader scored 75 percent comprehension and drew approximations of six patent illustrations and correctly identified their numeric sequence.

This demonstration was done right before their eyes and still they do not believe.Photoreading does not fit their paradigm.

Paul Scheele is a man of honor and integrity.He is also a genius. Your post kind of reminds me of when people did not understand that the planets revolve around the sun and Copernicus was explaining the truth they attacked him because it did not fit their paradigm.

Get your facts straight before you slander and attack such an honorable man and an honorable organization.

One last note when you close your mind you shut the door on a lot of other options.
Photoread4me

"Get your facts straight before you slander and attack such an honorable man and an honorable organization."

Firstly, photoread4me, you will notice that I asked 3 questions in my post, one asking for an explanation. Those were not facts I was stating, but questions I was asking. Furthermore, you are directing your anger at the wrong source. The comments made were quotes from reviewers on Amazon, NOT from me.

Who should get his facts straight?

Maybe you "PHOTOREAD" my post and that's why you didn't pick up on these points!!! Or is your regular reading so poor that you couldn't get full comprehension?

And anyway, what's wrong with you? Just because you might have had results with the system, that does not invalidate the opinions of others who have not! Or maybe you think we should accept things without question. I thought asking questions was part of the "Photoreading Whole Mind System"!

Learninator; there is nothing wrong with me.What was your point of bringing up all these reviews from Amazon.com maybe to validate your feelings because you cannot get it to work.

This discussion forum is here to help people not attack them.If you are having problems with the system we are here to help.So rather than bring up some negative interviews from people who obviously do not know how the system works try asking for help.

There is no shortage of Photoreaders on this discussion forum that would be more than willing to help you. You can learn this system but what you should do is tell us what your problems are and then we can address them and be in a position to help you.

And think really think about your post.What do you expect when you post these negative reviews? Did they get you closer to you getting the results that you want to get from photoreading.
Photoread4me

Nothing wrong with questions Learninator and people should not follow blindly.A little skepticism is fine but people should not make statements until they have given Photoreading a fair and full effort before saying it doesn't work.
Photoread4me.

Learninator; these comments about a report from NASA have been addressed before. Do a search on NASA there is plenty of commentary there. To address your other question people struggle with photoreading because they don't always understand the processes and they have to overcome the old paradigm of reading the old way read it, comprehend it and learn it all on the first past and other factors are their background and beliefs.
Photoread4me

I bought Tony Buzan's book on Speed Reading. I also bought a book that taught the Evelyn Wood method. Neither one worked for me. I followed the instructions and learned the techniques but I didn't feel like I was getting anything out of the books I was reading this way.

One day I saw the Photoreading book in the bookstore and I figured what the heck. I had heard about the studies done on the brain's ability to absorb information subconsciously and here was a system that claimed to make use of that ability. I bought the book expecing it to be a lot like Wood's and Buzan's where I'd read it, try it, and set it on the shelf. Well, that didn't happen. I read it, I tried it, and I was pleased with the results.

I think you raise some valid issues as well as some common misconceptions so let's take the arguments you quote at face value. Assume, for the sake of argument, that the Photoreading step has no effect whatsoever. Where does that leave us? We have just another speed reading system that some people swear by and others can't make work.

Now keep in mind that the Photoreading step is a small part of the system, in terms of time. You're only spending about 1 second per page. Even if it doesn't do anything to aid comprehension, I find it relaxing and beneficial for that reason alone.

On the other hand, what if it's true? What if you really can cram a 600-page book into your subconscious in 10 minutes and then apply standard speed reading techniques that let you absorb the information faster and with better comprehension than you could when you used the speed reading techniques alone?

I don't know about you, but I'd feel kind of petty arguing about whether a 10 minute investment of time per 600 pages is worth the effort or not.

I've read some of the negative responses at Amazon and all I could do was wonder why people were slamming Photoreading as just a bunch of repackaged speed reading techniques with a Photoreading step, while they praised other books that contained repackaged speed reading techniques without the 10-minute step. The Photoreading step doesn't take anything away from the speed reading techniques, if anything, it adds something the other systems don't have. What's so bad that?

Not everyone understand what they read with the same intention that the author wrote it. Hence those reviews on amazon will reflect the view of people who expected Photoreading to be something different. It is a system which when you notice on the forum people will take only part of and expect it to be the whole answer. The skip steps and don't understand some of the basic ideas being put across in the book (the warning on page 17 of the Photoreading books). It takes a shift in thinking.

The "NASA" report was based on one study done using only two subjects the researcher/trainee photoreader and an experience photoreader of some years.

The researcher asked that the experienced photoreader read a passage at her regular reading speed. (Being a photoreader of some years her regular reading speed and techniques is Photoreading). This flaws the research in the first instant. This (1) person is not an unbiased sample. In fact their speed should be on average the same through the test.

The trainee was also the researcher who was controlling the application of the research proceedure. This again flaws the research. This (1) person is also not and unbiased sample.

NASA has based it's comments on this one research.

As soon as you use human subjects in a research you can only speculate not produce facts.

If you would like to look further to look at the failure rate of instruction methods relating to reading you only need to look at failure rates in reading comprehension in schools the world over. The institutions are admitting to a failure rates 60%. Meaning that students are failing to achieve the expected standard of literacy in greater numbers than those who reach it. Many are sliding through the school system who are really illiterate. How can you compare average reading speed with someone who has reached the level of proficiency for their age against someone who hasn't? Also just because someon is literate in one subject doesn't make them equally literate in another. So, How can one really compare when the necessity of understanding the subject will slow down a reader no matter how fast they read.

I photoread... some books take 20 minutes and I'm done, others 90 minutes and then others I'll take from the shelf time and time again because I want to understand something outside my current experience a bit more than I did yesterday.

On the whole I don't see it as discrepancies. I see it as Human being having a different point of view on a subject. In each country we have an elected representive head of state (president, prime minister, king etc) Some view these individuals as supreme being others have a view that can say this person shouldn't even be alive let alone lead.

It's a point of view created by individual experience, beliefs, desires, understandings and faiths.

Alex

hey there, i was just wondering if any of you guys could help me. Im finding photoreading really hard, but im determinded to figure it out! I know im being pretty vague but have any of you got any useful tips?

Browse the forum it has more tips than you can imagine.