AndriDem wrote:
'Is it possible that we could PR without knowing about these steps? If someone would tell us that PR works without the page flipping step, would not it be the same result? A friend of mine did this experiment and he did pretty well without getting into states)) He just activated the book... '
I do believe you have it nicely surrounded there!
A few years ago, Pete was all pleased with himself, and recounted a story of how he'd Photoread a Japanese character dictionary, to find out the meaning of the kanji on the T-shirt he'd bought (or that someone had given him). His finding of the word in kanji, which happened to be 'ichiban' meaning 'the first' or 'the best' was supposed to demonstrate the miracle of Photoreading. The first character in virtually any kanji guide (following the order of kanji as they are presented educationally) is 'ichi', the first element in the word he was looking for and the easiest to write, therefore it appears at the beginning of the dictionary. What's more, it often occurs as a sample compound with - guess what - the other character that makes up the word. I mean, you open the book to page one, find what you want, and them claim 'It's Photoreading at work! A miracle to be sure!' My arse!
I pointed out at the time, it wasn't such a feat. I got no reply, unsurprisingly.
What would be a convincing feat would be if, for example, I were to ask him what kanji number 1336, meant, what the 'on' and 'kun' readings are, and to recall, from memory, all the componds presented with that kanji. I'd also expect to be able to show Pete a kanji, and for him to be able to identify its meaning, readings and componds, oh and its official number and hey, where it is on the page. If this system really does ignite one's genius, then I'd expect him to be able to do this. Can he? I doubt it!
I guess he'd have to go back to the dictionary and flick through, thus 'activating' the material. In other words, he'd have to go back and look for it consciously, which is what people do anyway. It's good, old-fashioned 'skim reading', which the mind seems perfectly capable of. You can pick up a lot of skimmed information from a book in 2 hours (the activation time) and make as much sense of it as someone who had Photoread it.
This is where PR really falls flat on its face for me. It is stated that only 4 to 11% of the information in any book is useful - a silly claim any way you look at it! A language course, however, is a different story altogether. You want all that information with conscious recall of it, yet Photoreading doesn't promise that. It doesn't promise anything like that, so what good is it?
The more I read this thread, the more I'm doubting the efficacy of PR, and the people who are touting it so vehemently. I think there is a marketing 'con job' going on here at some level. I feel like I did when I tested 'Superlearning'. What a joke that was!
ZMNC, I, too, find Pete's new, aggressive marketing distasteful. It reminds me of the style of the money-obsessed bottom-dwellers who have dominated Internet Marketing with their constant hard-sell promotions. Competition on the Net is rife, so you have to use every tactic you can to convince people to buy. All the IM bottom-dwellers will tell you this, from Joe Soprano to Jay Conrad Levenson. Sell, sell sell! This includes the good old 'social proof' factor. Obviously, you've got to follow suit, and tout your wares in such a competetive environment, so I do see why Pete is taking this approach.
However, with that in mind, and his constant, pushy marketing, is he really going to say, 'OK, well we have all these videos of people demonstrating Photoreading, but we're going to keep them hidden away in the vaults because we don't want to come over all conceited, now do we? Let's hide them and leave them all guessing.'
Doesn't quite jive, does it? If they were available, he'd have used them for sure!
Not being a Photoreader, and of course, using my skill of 'reading' which is impossible, apparently, I missed this, posted By ZMNC when I posted my last post:
'To truly master PhotoReading, you should try the PhotoReading Personal
Learning Course. This comprehensive course will teach you to master
these and far more effective techniques to increase your reading speed up
to 25,000 words per minute or more.'
I don't know where this comes from, exactly, but it says Paul Scheele wrote it! If it is, then (1) this refers to 'reading' speed, yet Alex claims that reading is impossible. (oops!) and (2) it says you can increase your reading speed up to 25,000 words per minute, yet Alex states that such speeds are not possible. (oops again!)
The credibility of PR is coming under fire here, and has been on Amazon for several years now. Don't you think it would be in your best interests to decide exactly what you're going to present as your truth to the general public, because as it stands, the lack of real evidence of PR's 'amazing' power, punctuated by these blatant contradictions, is making it obvious to me that something is amiss here.
I am still convinced of the power of the mind, but less and less in the benefits of Photoreading, as the way to activate it. I think it's a gimmick, and I'm not seeing any real proof that I'm wrong.
Maybe Photoreading does work: it gets you to skim read a book for information, and then believe that you've done something new and amazing. Placebos work too!
What was it Woody Allen said?
'I speed-read 'War And Peace' in 20 minutes...
...it's about Russia'
Something familiar there!
