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#54028 08/26/00 09:23 AM
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balmon Offline OP
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I have just begun to photoread, having gone through the first 4 tapes. In my first few encounters of photoreading (3 books so far) I have found that the blip page width begins to fluctuate quite a lot after a few minutes. It starts off nice and wide (maybe about 4-5cm, but then gets to about 1cm (just under 1/2 an inch) about after a few minutes.

I am wondering if this blip page size makes a difference to the quality of photoreading. What if my eyes are always changing the focal point slightly, and the blip page is always changing slightly.

Also, any hints for learning to keep diverged eyes steady?

Thanks in advance

balmon


#54029 08/26/00 03:16 PM
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I found that I was trying too hard. I was "staring" to get that blip. Once I relaxed and stopped caring about the blip, it got much easier to get and to maintain. My eyestrain also went down dramatically.

Finally, I found myself looking at each page for quite a long time. It would take 20-30 minutes to PhotoRead a book. As I relaxed and realized that I didn't have to "burn" the image into my brain, things got much easier. I can now PhotoRead a book at a page per second, keep my focus, and keep my concentration.

Relax, cut yourself some slack, and do 2-3 books/day. That helps tremendously.


#54030 08/28/00 02:19 PM
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mgrego2

When you say 'do 2-3 books/day', do you mean going the whole nine yards, or only the PhotoReading step?


#54031 08/28/00 02:55 PM
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I prepare, do a quick preview, and then PR. They recommend that you activate 2-3 of those/week. I've been trying to do probing questions of each book after I finish the PR, and then throughout the day (I'll just pause for a moment, think of a particular book, and then "wonder" about some aspect of the book). I haven't had any spontaneous activations that I've caught, but I'm hoping.

#54032 08/28/00 03:58 PM
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I think that you will find that need, more than anything else, will prompt spontaneous activation.

quote:
Originally posted by mgrego2:
I prepare, do a quick preview, and then PR. They recommend that you activate 2-3 of those/week. I've been trying to do probing questions of each book after I finish the PR, and then throughout the day (I'll just pause for a moment, think of a particular book, and then "wonder" about some aspect of the book). I haven't had any spontaneous activations that I've caught, but I'm hoping.


#54033 08/28/00 08:14 PM
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How strong must the "need" be? If I'm trying to mindmap without the book, is that enough? Or do I need my boss breathing down my neck for an answer? I'm sure this varies by individual, but what is your experience?

#54034 08/28/00 08:25 PM
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I was lucky in that one of my first experiences with PhotoReading resulted in spontaneous activation. I was using the system during a graduate-level physics course that I was taking (mathematical methods and classical mechanics). During the final I opened the book, looked at the questions and immediately felt swamped. I sat back, closed my eyes and tried to relax, opened the book again and suddenly the answers started to flow through my mind faster than I could write them down. I finished an exam scheduled for 3 hours in just about 30 minutes, and got out with an A-. I had similar experiences in a couple of other courses that I took ( a quantum mechanics course and an electromagnetics course).

I do not rely on spontaneous activation - it is something that just seems to happen. In my case, the need was the pressure of having to perform well on an exam. I had also done my homework and had prepared fertile ground (i.e., a context) for the information to make sense in. In general, I do not experience any kind of spontaneous activation when simply trying to activate (e.g., mind map, rapid read, etc.)...but I do get occasional spontaneous activation when discussing the material that I PhotoRead with someone.

Spontaneous activation is not, in my opinion, the central part of the system. It does show promise, and perhaps in the future techniques of spontaneous activation will be evolved, but for now I would not put too much work in trying to master it. Just play with the system and become comfortable with it.

quote:
Originally posted by mgrego2:
How strong must the "need" be? If I'm trying to mindmap without the book, is that enough? Or do I need my boss breathing down my neck for an answer? I'm sure this varies by individual, but what is your experience?


#54035 08/29/00 01:21 AM
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balmon Offline OP
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Thanks all for your responses.

ckerins

I was wondering what you did to "prepare the fertile ground" for your exams. Did you study the books using normal reading techniques, and then PR them?

What do you find the best strategies for studying textbooks? Mind mapping??

Thanks, balmon

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quote:
Originally posted by ckerins:
I was lucky in that one of my first experiences with PhotoReading resulted in spontaneous activation.

...

In my case, the need was the pressure of having to perform well on an exam. I had also done my homework and had prepared fertile ground (i.e., a context) for the information to make sense in.



#54036 08/29/00 01:56 PM
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I think that it helps to have a context already established within which the material that you PhotoRead can spontaneously activate. What I mean by this is that you already have some general knowledge of the specific field. As an example, I do not think that someone who does not understand calculus could go and PhotoRead a book on differential equations and expect understanding of the material to magically appear. There are not enough pre-existing neural connections for the material to "hook into".

I also think that trying to force spontaneous activation is the wrong approach. My experience with PhotoReading and activation has been that the material seems to be accessed from memory in a manner different than material that I "regular read". It's kind of like the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon - I have to relax and let the information "bubble up" from the deeps of my mind instead of trying to push for recall.

As far as studying text books, I used the study technique outlined in the PhotoReading book - breaking the study period in 20 minute chunks, etc.

quote:
Originally posted by balmon:
Thanks all for your responses.

ckerins

I was wondering what you did to "prepare the fertile ground" for your exams. Did you study the books using normal reading techniques, and then PR them?

What do you find the best strategies for studying textbooks? Mind mapping??

Thanks, balmon

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#54037 08/30/00 05:06 AM
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That is true maybe this is why they say that pr works on anything for public consumption, because the public may not have taken calculus, so diff eq would not be for public consumption.

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