Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer I am very skeptical or the ultimate skeptic now. Does all this really work?

I didn´t take the home course or the seminar I learned by the book and the forum.
But I think that in the home course or the seminar you will learn same tricks that will help you.
I very satisfied.
First of all because of the textbooks. When I have to study I just Pred it and do the other steps. But I just dip once, because in my school we have tests in the tuesday,thursday and fryday so there aren´t much subjects.
But before I had to read it again, again and again.
Other thing that I noticed was that I can keep the information for more time than usual.
I think that you should buy the course or go to the seminar. And if you really want it, but if you are having a hard time with it, search for a NPL professional, maybe you have a belief that puts a limit in you.
But with NPL you can change this belief.
So FOR ME PRing let me very satisfaed.
And with the forum there are people that will always help you.
Hope it helped
Sorry for my English
Komplicado

Good on you komplicado - pleased to know you're getting the system to work for you.

Alex

[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited December 22, 2002).]

I can only add this, i bought the tape set and i never finished it becasue i didnt get it and got discouraged. all throughtout the books and here at the forum, was mention of mind mapping. I dont know how to mind map and i didnt want to learn a whole new techinque on top of photoreading. All in all i am disappointed in the system and myself. my confidence is at all time low and this failure just helped to add to my list of failures. what is was hoping for was a way to read all my books and truly understand everyword and rememer everything perfectly. But it was not the case with this system.I dont know how to mind map and i dont have the time or money to have someone show me how. Also, 99% of the books that i have to read and know perfectlya re computer books. I cant even begin to understand how to mind map those books. Also, if i wanted to mindmpa , why did i buy this system instead of the mind map books?? I am sorry if this is not what you want to hear but this system requires alot of work, but if you are able to work hard at this system then you really dont need this sytem do you??

You didn't finish the tapes? Ironically the basics of mind mapping is taught on the tape. Bare bones of mind mapping is all that is required as a means of noticing what you've learnt from the system. I don't mind map every book only those that I feel like mind mapping. Naturally if I had applied Mind mapping to books that I had regular read I would have a better memory of them but I don't really care for mind mapping myself and greatly modified the technique.

It's a pitty you gave up before completing the tape course because it really does pull together putting all the ideas given in the preceding tapes together as a functioning whole.

I can understand your disappointment and at the same time notice that you have a somewhat unrelistic goal "what is was hoping for was a way to read all my books and truly understand everyword and rememer everything perfectly" with that goal you cannot even meet the course part way. To have as much comprehension from a book in 1/3 the time it takes you to regular read the book. So I can fully understand why you gave up. Your goals and the inital aim of the PR course where mis-matched. You probably need to redefine your goal however I cannot see you as having failed because you opted to quit under the circumstances - like I said your goal was mis-matched and the only logical thing to do if you're not headed towards your defined goal is quit doing what is not working.

Alex

Alex, I understand what you are saying but if you look at the advertised materials and the website information for PR, my goals were not unrealistic. Yes , I understand the the website says that one can photoread and not read 25,000+ words in a minute but that is misleading. If i wanted just minimal recall and comprehension then i could do just as well by regular reading methods.

Only unrealistic to attain without going once through the course. If you're happy to spend the time you are now spending in regular reading for minimal comprehension that's fine. If you were to spend the same amount of time in the photoreading system then your goal can truely be attainable. However the main focus of the photoreading system is to obtain the information you need in the shortest possible time.

In all I find that I have better comprehension of the material than regular reading, the recall of the information even astounds me. I honestly couldn't imagine regular reading for minimal comprehension to me that's a gross waste of time (and I have plenty of time on my hands) I prefer minimal time spent to gain maximum comprehension anyday Having Photoread a book and found the information that I was seeking within 3 minutes... that served my purpose at the time.

I know that I could spend the time I used to spend on the books memorising it more... that might become a goal in the future it might not.

I can appreciate the disappointment. I did the Mega Speed Reading course 3 years ago (I completed the course). My comprehension went down and in the end my regular reading speed deteriorated, I don't believe that the is any such thing as one size fits all. And at the same time not everyone gets the hang of riding a bike at the same rate as everyone else. It's the same for photoreading.

Toaster and Alex K and everyone:

It seems like whether to learn from a book, a course or seminar or all three or two, is a matter of preference and what works best for you I guess. I am thinking about if I could afford it and I read enough of photoreading that I would consider the seminar. I wonder if coaching comes with the book. I am also thinking the course may not be a bad investment.

I heard that the Silva Mind Control class and the Dale Carnegie class have free repeats for a lifetime. Now dont quote me on this. this is just what I heard from someone else. I mean if Learning Strategies gives unlimited free repeats with their course or close to unlimited than it really is worth considering for me. I am thinking my learning preference is to be taught personally and directly and one on one would be ideal with an expert though. I understand some of you have learned on your own. I am thinking if I am commited and willing to spend a long time I could pick up photoreading but I am also thinking with the seminar after reading the book and trying out maybe the learning could end up going faster. This could be a way to meet others who are into the same thing and meet different different instructors who can each give you a distinction. I realize $750 is a lot of money. I do have relatives near Bethesda so I wont have to worry about lodging. A lot of people have done it without the course and seminar. But I am thinking maybe the seminar will be stimulating and help me learn faster. But on the other hand I am thinking even with the seminar I will still need constant practice. Who knows I might end up meeting someone in my area that has perfected it and could help me. But I am still thinking the seminar is definately worth considering. What do you guys think? I am thinking maybe the course or audio tape has practice materials?

My other question is probably how much practice is recommended or suggested to grow or constantly improve or excel in photo reading?

sjaykum1

The book does not come with coaching. The tape set does. The book contains a more general overview, explaining how to do it but the tape set goes into more detail.

As for practice, there is none required, you just use it. Do not go into it expecting this or that, rather, play with it expecting nothing.

Reading through this discussion thread, I noticed that many of us who say that PR hasn't worked or at least hasn't worked according to expectations don't have in place a way to measure their success in terms that are meaningful to us.

Many of us have the expectation that PR will give us a photographic memory of what we read. We are expecting to quote verbatim paragraph 6 on page 117. What PR seems to develop is the skill to absorb, and assimilate concepts and ideas at a rapid rate. The greater the number of passes, the more granular the detail we can absorb. However, for many of us to become skilled with PR, we have to make a shift in way that we internally validate our understanding. It is similar to the shift required to understand a relational database when you are accustomed to working with a linear database.

I agree with you there. From what I understand and have experienced (I fairly a beginner myself), rather than remembering what we gleaned from the book, or what page 10 said, we actually assimilate the information with the information about the topic we already had. So we might have a greater knowledge of a subject which we PR, but not really know where it came from.