Hi Alex, sorry I'm asking so many questions but:
1. In many speed reading courses, the trainer recommends having a pointer to guide the eyes to move faster and take in chunks of words instead of single words. Do we use that during super read/rapid read techniques?
2. The preview is max 90 seconds and I only have enough time to read the front and back covers, table of contents and perhaps the preface. Definitely no time to read the headings in all the chapters in the book. Hence, there aren't a lot of questions I'm able to formulate. Is that right or am I doing it wrong?
3. I realize that when I'm doing the preview, post-view and activation sections, I have a tendency to sub-vocalize. How do I reduce the sub-vocalization during conscious reading? I tried "reading" faster but nothing registers and I get distracted. When I realize I'm distracted, I try to focus my attention using the Tangerine method but I'm not sure if I'm doing that correctly cos its effect of reducing my distraction isn't particularly obvious? I get distracted by the fact that I'm trying to imagine a tangerine on my head instead. Does that make sense to you?
4. In every single step of the Photoreading system, we have to be in a relaxed state of alertness (tangerine method and breathing exercises) right? But I sometimes find myself getting too relaxed to the point I feel sleepy! Any tips to overcome that? I'm pretty sure I must be doing something wrong here >.<
5. How many passes do we actually do with the book? What I gathered so far is 6:
During Preview:
once (registers in the conscious mind; only skimming at the front and back covers, table of contents, index, preface/foreword)
During Photoreading:
once with photoreading (non conscious but keep my reading goals in mind);
During Post-view (right after photoreading): still keeping my reading goals in mind:
once with postview - survey (registers in the conscious mind; 2-4min only; only reading perhaps 2% of the entire book - the foreward/preface, table of contents, index and basically have a "feel" of the book - to me, this seems the same as the Preview step just that my goal this time is to identify more structure rather than to determine if the book meets my reading goals, is that correct?);
once to locate trigger words (registers in the conscious mind; 2-4min only; only skimming perhaps 5% of the book - skimming the text every 20 pages or so; once with super reading and dipping OR skittering (conscious but I don't read the entire book consciously; only selected chapters/sections);
During Activation:
once (registers in the conscious mind; super read + dipping OR skittering; only perhaps 50-60% of the entire book is read)
once: rapid read the entire book (this is where I'm confused: is rapid read an optional step? it seems that rapid read is normal speed reading or normal reading. If that's the case, then wouldn't I be spending more time on a book than I normally would since I'm reading at my normal speed here and am spending additional time and effort to complete the previous 5 steps in implementing the photoreading system?)
After activation, to remember the information, it is recommended to do a Mind Map. The mindmap will also serve as a trigger in future to recall the information. Do we employ recommended memory techniques here? For eg, Tony Buzan mentioned that reviewing the mindmap to transfer information to the long-term memory have to be done within 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 30 days and 90 days (something like that). Is this what we should do as well? I'm a little confused on that as well because the Photoreading step is supposed to engage the non-conscious part of the brain and form connections with the conscious mind. Isn't that shifting into long-term memory already?
As always, thank you very much for your kind help and patience. Looking forward to your reply!
