Really enjoyed this! I don't care for audiobooks (no disrespect for those who do), so I can't apply it in that context, but it's interesting information in itself. I'm probably being a smart aleck here since I know zilch about the mechanics of reading, but whenever I hear descriptions of "speed reading" given with those expensive courses, I always think, "Yeah, I can do that too. Except I call it 'skimming.' And it didn't cost a penny to learn." I've kind of assumed Woody Allen had it nailed with that line, "I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."
@@BryanM.R.-prionic1 Hahah yeah that’s what I get too. They read for key words and common words. Again, it doesn’t really work for art (books) as much as it might work for emails.
Fascinating stuff. I'll do normal or 1.25 usually. 1.5 if its a really slow speaker. I can handle 2x speed, but I don't like it. I feel like when I speed it up I can still understand it, but I don't really enjoy the experience. And reading is supposed to be enjoyable. 3x speed is bonkers. I could never.
That is a good point. I'm not sure I enjoy it less when it is sped up. I recently listened to a highly anticipated book at normal 1x speed and didn't enjoy it. In fact, I sort of wished I could have sped it up. Your point makes me wonder what our natural reading speed is. In fact, I'm about to go and figure that out right now. One sec.
@DrL_Reads haha I love it. Awaiting the answer. Well also I think it could differ person to person how fast we each read in our head. I read quicker in my head than if I were reading out loud. So perhaps speeding it up just gets it closer to how you would read in your head.
@ Yes, great point! I compared the narrator reading aloud to me reading quietly. According to my calculations using only one narrator, I read at 1.73x speed. Very interesting! I’ll have to compare it to other authors and see if that is a reliable estimate.
I watch UA-cam at 2x speed and audio is typically 2.5x speed, but I have noticed that if I use my headphones and read along on my kindle then I can often get to 3x speed, haven’t tried any faster yet though
Fun fact I refused to speed up audiovhooks for about 20 years (approx age 7-27). I thought it was cheating. Personally, I can listen to women faster than men. Another thing I noticed is AI narrators are much e easier to listen to at high speed, a rec to try it out Is "No Mans Chattel" by Lee Swansen, should be free on audible and is a really good historical fiction about a girl impersonating her brother as a merchant to keep the family buisness going. I've sent people talk about studies where listening speed and comprehension and 3x is at the high end but within range of maintaining comprehension. Talking about how children learn to read reminded me of Marie Clay, who ruined the way children were taught to read for generations and is responsible for a whole lot of the illiteracy epidemic. It's pretty interesting.
@@zachreads That’s cool that you can listen to women faster than men. I knew people would be different in this regard because people’s hearing is quite sensitive to specific frequencies. In fact hearing loss can occur at some frequencies while not at others for a person. I wonder if female narrators read at a faster pace at baseline than men do. So essentially females are 1.25x males at baseline or if they are required by the audio producers to read at a specific base rate. Do you know? I imagine AI narrators are created to maximize digital adaptability and versatility such as increasing reading speed. What did Marie Clay do to screw up reading?
@DrL_Reads My guess is the type of book has the largest impact on baseline speed, the extremes would be a classic would be slower than a romcom for example. Marie Clay deemphasized phonetics reading, focusing on word shape and context clues, and was very effective at getting entire countries to change the way reading was (and still is) taught. I'll leave a video called "you were probably taught to read wrong" in a separate reply. It's made by PBS so it's a relatively good quality source.
@@zachreads just watch the video and that is pretty wild. I have never heard of whole word reading. I was taught more of a phonics based reading program with phonemes and morphemes and that’s how we teach our kids too.
Really enjoyed this! I don't care for audiobooks (no disrespect for those who do), so I can't apply it in that context, but it's interesting information in itself.
I'm probably being a smart aleck here since I know zilch about the mechanics of reading, but whenever I hear descriptions of "speed reading" given with those expensive courses, I always think, "Yeah, I can do that too. Except I call it 'skimming.' And it didn't cost a penny to learn." I've kind of assumed Woody Allen had it nailed with that line, "I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."
@@BryanM.R.-prionic1 Hahah yeah that’s what I get too. They read for key words and common words. Again, it doesn’t really work for art (books) as much as it might work for emails.
Watching some of this, reading this next month with several guys on here!
@@kevintowle9665 I mention that in the video!!
Fascinating stuff. I'll do normal or 1.25 usually. 1.5 if its a really slow speaker. I can handle 2x speed, but I don't like it. I feel like when I speed it up I can still understand it, but I don't really enjoy the experience. And reading is supposed to be enjoyable. 3x speed is bonkers. I could never.
That is a good point. I'm not sure I enjoy it less when it is sped up. I recently listened to a highly anticipated book at normal 1x speed and didn't enjoy it. In fact, I sort of wished I could have sped it up. Your point makes me wonder what our natural reading speed is. In fact, I'm about to go and figure that out right now. One sec.
@DrL_Reads haha I love it. Awaiting the answer. Well also I think it could differ person to person how fast we each read in our head. I read quicker in my head than if I were reading out loud. So perhaps speeding it up just gets it closer to how you would read in your head.
@ Yes, great point! I compared the narrator reading aloud to me reading quietly. According to my calculations using only one narrator, I read at 1.73x speed. Very interesting! I’ll have to compare it to other authors and see if that is a reliable estimate.
I watch UA-cam at 2x speed and audio is typically 2.5x speed, but I have noticed that if I use my headphones and read along on my kindle then I can often get to 3x speed, haven’t tried any faster yet though
@@jenniparks8539 Very nice!! I also watch BookTube at 2x speed most times.
Fun fact I refused to speed up audiovhooks for about 20 years (approx age 7-27). I thought it was cheating.
Personally, I can listen to women faster than men.
Another thing I noticed is AI narrators are much e easier to listen to at high speed, a rec to try it out Is "No Mans Chattel" by Lee Swansen, should be free on audible and is a really good historical fiction about a girl impersonating her brother as a merchant to keep the family buisness going.
I've sent people talk about studies where listening speed and comprehension and 3x is at the high end but within range of maintaining comprehension.
Talking about how children learn to read reminded me of Marie Clay, who ruined the way children were taught to read for generations and is responsible for a whole lot of the illiteracy epidemic. It's pretty interesting.
@@zachreads That’s cool that you can listen to women faster than men. I knew people would be different in this regard because people’s hearing is quite sensitive to specific frequencies. In fact hearing loss can occur at some frequencies while not at others for a person. I wonder if female narrators read at a faster pace at baseline than men do. So essentially females are 1.25x males at baseline or if they are required by the audio producers to read at a specific base rate. Do you know?
I imagine AI narrators are created to maximize digital adaptability and versatility such as increasing reading speed.
What did Marie Clay do to screw up reading?
@DrL_Reads
My guess is the type of book has the largest impact on baseline speed, the extremes would be a classic would be slower than a romcom for example.
Marie Clay deemphasized phonetics reading, focusing on word shape and context clues, and was very effective at getting entire countries to change the way reading was (and still is) taught. I'll leave a video called "you were probably taught to read wrong" in a separate reply. It's made by PBS so it's a relatively good quality source.
ua-cam.com/video/bGsNcFfezLM/v-deo.htmlsi=hxc5H5c_5Qp_gmoM
@@zachreads just watch the video and that is pretty wild. I have never heard of whole word reading. I was taught more of a phonics based reading program with phonemes and morphemes and that’s how we teach our kids too.