Just how fast can you read?

Latvia
October 30, 2009 5:15pm CST
I just now read a nytimes article about this woman who went on a quest to read a book a day since last October (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/nyregion/12towns.html). It says she chooses mostly 350 pages and less books, but I also saw Pynchon in the reading list. I cannot imagine how anybody can read so fast. I can skim informational documents/articles pretty fast, but reading literature and appreciating it while I read and remembering the nuance of the book afterward? I'd say 250 words a minute or about 25~35 pages an hour, depending on how difficult the book is. I don't really read mass fiction but I think that'll go 1.5x faster because the language is simple and material light. Now, various speed reading websites tell me that this speed puts me at about average for educated adults, with 400 words/min being very fast, but much faster than that is only achieved by skimming. The famous literary critic Harold Bloom supposedly reads as fast as he flips through the pages. Certainly these are likely not light reads either. I don't understand how people do this. How fast can you read? Informational skimming (you get a summary) vs. literary pleasure reading (you think and appreciate and remember while reading)
1 response
@snowy22315 (182415)
• United States
31 Oct 09
I dont know but I think I can read pretty fast. I basically can skim through a lot of material but I need to be able to read some things in depth. I tend to miss some things if I do too much skimming. It is not really good to do it all of the time. I do think it is kind of fun though.