I have the PhotoReading book and have listened to the audio course in the past.
I've come across Jan Cisek's version of Photoreading and often photoread using this method as I get confused with trying to do it according to the standard version, due to some kind of cognitive impairment. Is there anything fundamentally wrong with photoreading using the method below:
HOW TO download
Hold your book in such a way that, when it is open, you can easily see all four corners of the book.
Smile and relax. (The more you enjoy it, the better.)
Turn over the pages one at time at the rate of about one per second (ie quickly – the faster the better) making sure that the four corners of the book remain within your peripheral vision. Don’t try to ‘read’ – just make sure the words pass in front of your eyes quickly.
If you get tired before you finish the book, you can turn it upside down and continue to the end using the other hand (your brain can interpret the words whichever way up they are).
When you get to the end of the book, flick through it backwards and forwards a few times as you look at it.
Go and do something else for at least 20 minutes (ideally you will sleep before doing any further work). It’s important to give the brain time to sort out the information you have downloaded.
That’s all there is to it. You’ll almost certainly feel as if you haven’t understood a word. That’s the usual response. And consciously you haven’t ‘read’ the book. But your non-conscious mind has taken the information directly into long-term memory.
The words can be clear or blurred
It doesn’t matter whether you see the words clearly or not – the technique still works, even if the words are slightly blurred. This is because the brain can make sense of information even if it’s not complete (> speed reading technique 6). It is perfectly OK, too, if you see words consciously – but don’t be tempted to slow down to start ‘reading’.
You don’t have to concentrate
It doesn’t matter whether or not you concentrate on the material – you are going too quickly to consciously understand everything (or anything) anyway. So it’s quite possible to concentrate on something else (eg having a conversation or listening to the radio – Jan likes to watch TV over the top of the book) as long as you hold the book so that you can still see all four corners in your peripheral vision.
