"Superlearning/speedreading" - Any thoughts?
Anyone have thoughts on taking a course on "Superlearning" or "speedreading"? I would like to learn how to read faster or absorb different kinds of information, particularly how to read journal articles out of my field (i.e. Mathematics). I'm not really convinced this kind of stuff works, but I'm open minded. I have a PhD in Chem and work in an engineering HW R&D environment. I know where my strengths and weaknesses are, so I'm hoping these skills can help me work on my weaknesses. TC 125k, HW R&D, 2 YOE
I found an app that did it back in the day, to be honest I didn’t find it did much for me. One thing to consider is that for modern people we are trained by the internet to scan for important words. That is practically what you do when you speed read.
Are you referring to "n-back"? I have also tried it, but it's kind of a wash since you have to keep doing it everyday and you basically learn nothing lol. I guess it's good to keep the mind sharp I suppose. If it's a diff app I'd definitely be willing to try
It was an older one maybe 4-5 years ago. It worked pretty good, in the app. I really didn’t notice myself reading actual books faster. And to be honest I just didn’t notice it changing much. Adderall is a good way to put the speed in speed reading.
This might not help you, but the books How To Solve It, Make It Stick, and Peak helped me a lot with learning how to learn quicker, as well as solving problems more efficiently. One of the key points from these books is that you can rapidly absorb new information if you already have a strong foundation of knowledge within the given topic, and if you find a way to connect the new piece of information to what you already know. Experts think of topics in chunks, or patterns, so relating new pieces of information to bodies of knowledge you’re already familiar with will help you learn and retain that information more quickly. Essentially the more you learn and the more mental modes that you develop, the easier it becomes to learn. I’m not sure if this answers your question but my point is that there aren’t any shortcuts or hacks to gaining expertise with doing something, and naturally when you’re doing something brand new for the first time it’s going to feel sluggish and hard.
OP might I suggest Meth?
Get the book superlearner by Jonathan Levi
If you listen to or watch videos, put the playback speed at 1.5x and get used to that. Then put it at 2x.
Thanks for your input - Def helpful to point that out for other readers. Myself I already do that when watching educational videos and have even gotten used to watching online course material at max speed