How fast do you read?
Do you whizz through entire novels in a couple of hours, or do you spend weeks poring over each word?
That’s been a popular topic of conversation recently, with the buzz around new speed reading app Spritz, which its developers say will allow users to read up to 1,000 words a minute.
The app works by positioning each word in the same spot so you don’t have to move your eye, a bit like a digital flash card. As you’re not moving your eyes across the page to read the next word, this allows you to take in more of the text in a shorter period of time.
But would you really want to read a book that fast? It would certainly make it harder to read a novel with a complicated plot or numerous characters, or take in a difficult academic theory.
I’m a fast reader and since I’ve been using the Kindle, I’ve become even faster. I’m always eager to read as many books as I can, and sometimes that means I don’t take the time to fully absorb every word. And if I’m not really enjoying a story but I still want to finish it, I’ll often skim over the boring parts, taking in enough words to get a gist of the story, but not enough to slow me down.
Sometimes a book is so beautifully written that it’s worth taking the time to savour the prose, but generally I’m all about getting through them as quickly as I can, especially now that the Kindle app makes it so easy for me to race against myself.
It’s easy to see how apps that encourage speed reading could be useful, especially for students or anyone with a heavy reading load to get through. But the internet has already changed the way we read, shortening our attention spans and encouraging us to scan rather than read.
As a blogger, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen writing advice that recommends breaking up the text as much as possible. Advice that emphasises using bite sized chunks separated by bold headings and divided into bulleted lists, so that the reader can skim through easily; the implication being that if you write a regular, lengthy essay that isn’t easy on the eye, the reader will get bored and click away without finishing.
But what does that mean for our future as readers?
If we keep pushing to read faster and faster, we will train our brains to work a certain way. And with speed comes the inevitable loss of comprehension, as we don’t take the time to understand a piece of writing in the depth we might once have done.
I’m all for reading as many books as I can; I might even check out the app when it comes to Android. But I still want to be able to enjoy a leisurely, meaningful read when the mood takes me. I don’t want to read so much at the expense of being able to appreciate beautiful prose, or a truly moving story.
What about you; would you use an app for speed reading? I can sense a reading challenge…
tu says
I just had this conversation at home, where I read James Joyce’s Dubliners, a book I felt I should have read years ago (but didn’t). I read it through quickly, and didn’t really get it; some of the stories were good but I knew there was a lot of information passing by, the Irish history, the significance of certain streets in Dublin, nuances and references, etc. So I reread it using the academic notes and the experience was very different — slower and perhaps more stilted, but it also offered a much deeper understanding and appreciation. It reminded me of college times, when I studied texts rather than just scanning them. I think both experiences are valid.
Amy Lord says
I definitely agree, I’ve been dipping in and out of Moby Dick for a while, but I’m guilty of skimming over it and not exploring the nuances of the story. When a book doesn’t grab you it’s easy to decide just to get through it quickly, which can be a shame if you miss out on some of the meaning. I studied English and got more out of certain texts through the analysis than I would have done had I read them on my own, but it’s not always possible to read on that level. And sometimes there’s no point forcing yourself to read something just because it’s a ‘classic’, enjoyment should be a factor too. Thanks for commenting!
Sara Strauss says
I always want to devour as many books as possible, but then I feel bad when I get to the end only to realize that I rushed through it to get to the next novel. This app is an interesting idea, but it takes away from the actual writing. You can’t see the whole sentence together and how they look on the page because all you’re seeing is one word at a time. It’s kind of sad actually. I’ll stick to reading like a normal person!
~Sara
Amy Lord says
That’s an interesting point, Sara, I hadn’t considered it!