How fast can you read?

[KIR]

When I was going to elementary school, I found that there was a library nearby and one day, I went over and I got to check out a book and was given an application for a card. I guess that started my love of reading as eventually, I read every book and all the magazines in the house. I subscribed to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction which helped my reading speed as they were easy to read. In house were books of war that my father liked, the Naked and the Dead being one of them and books my mother liked which included the Kinsey Report. Shortly before I went into the service I read some 30 books by Edgar Rice Burroughs about Tarzan. It practically had a cliff hanger at the end of every chapter. When the James Bond movies came out, I read all of the ones written by Ian Fleming and got to know the definition of an adjective and how it helped my writing at the Uni of NV. However, just before I enrolled I took a speed reading test (500 wpm) and later the whole course. I started reading "dynamically" at the end of the course, but I am sure many would not believe.
The point of the post is that today I read that there are people who do not believe that actress Sarah Jane Parker can read two books in a day. The news article did not mention the size/length/legibility for age... However, I think it must have been a slow news day to mention that some people don't believe she could read two books in a day. They must be very slow readers.
The other point of this post is curiosity as to...your reading speed. I am down to 450 wpm. How about you?

 

[Bad Barlow]

It took me 20 minutes to read your post,how's that?

 

[WendyZXZ]

I doubt that Sarah Jessica Parker can read two books a day. I heard she has a new job as Spokesfilly for Mane and Tail shampoo and is always busy keeping her coat looking good...

I know...that was horrible!

 

[Johnnu2]

I don't read very well; consequently, I never read books or newspapers. I remember a teacher (I know I should say professor) in college who said (emphatically and often) that you CANNOT be successful in business unless you read the NY Times and Wall Street Journal every day. I vowed to never read either. I retired after 44 years with a major multi-national.... most in my generation did not make it that long. I DO wish that I was able to read, but I make do with what I was given and, espouse "attitude is everything".
IMHO,
J

 

[Yaworski]

I took a "developmental reading class" in college for an easy credit. I started the course reading 1,100 wpm with 90% comprehension and left the class at 1,500 wmp with 90% comprehension. That's fiction. For things like thermodynamics I have to slow quite a bit.

I know that I've gotten slower with age but I don't know how much. I think that my ability to concentrate has been ruined by TikTok and Youtube.

 

[MaxMan]

I tried to read it but my lips got tired.

 

[Danjet500]

I also was a big reader when I was younger as we too had a library nearby, directly across the street from our house. I spent a lot of time over there reading just about anything related to space and science fiction. I also loved reading comic books, much to my dad's chagrin. I would take my 25 cents weekly allowance and buy a comic and a candy bar and bring home 10 cents. Dad would get upset and say "I don't understand why he likes reading those damn things" and my mom would say "Well, at least he's reading." I still have some of those old comics.
To add, I have no idea how many WPM I can read. Fast enough that I don't fall asleep. Most of the time.

 

[pawncop]

Never found out, my sister writes real slow.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

 

[Mike J]

I have no idea how fast I can read. I never got into speed reading. I don't believe I know who Sarah Jane Parker is. I did love to read growing up. I remember when I was in about 5th grade getting on a biography kick. I read the biographies of many of the old West gunfighters, many presidents, famous pioneers, etc. Then later on I developed an interest in fiction. When I was in Junior High & High School, I would alternate between reading more serious books & Louis L'Amour westerns.

 

[Yaworski]

I also loved reading comic books, much to my dad's chagrin.

Until junior high school, comic books were something the I got when I was sick. Then I started buying them on my own and that really upset my father. He'd blather on about putting away childish things and I'd say, "I don't care what some dead tent merchant thinks" which would enrage him even more. I stopped buying comics when they got to be $1.50 for a basic title. It's probably been forty years since I bought one.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

I can't recall which grade, definitely elementary school. They select a few of us to go in a room one by one with a teacher and visitor. The visitor explained that the room would go dark, and the screen would have a story projected on it. But only one word at a time would be shown. After each "story" we would leave the room and another would go in. When out, we had to write a narrative on what the story was about. I forget how many times we went in and out, but remember the lighted words went by faster each time....I do recall my parents reading the report at home wondering why I excelled at the reading exercise but did so poorly with grades. I did enjoy reading though...loved The Hardy Boys as a kid and like to read The Readers Digest condensed stories....I remember when one of the digests had Jaws and Dogs Of War....I took it and hid it in my room and read it over and over.

 

[contender]

I have no clue how fast I read. But I do know that some things I can read faster than others.

But I do enjoy reading. Always have. But I do have my preferences.

 

[Fox Mike]

I just finished a Steven Hunter 448 pages novel in one day. This was done in a number of sessions but I finished it the same day I started. I have always been a fast reader.

 

[ArizonaTea123]

I can read 15 copies of Hustler Magazine in six minutes.

 

[peachhead]

I have no clue how fast I read. But I do know that some things I can read faster than others.

But I do enjoy reading. Always have. But I do have my preferences.

This.
Most nights I sit and read in my chair when everyone else is asleep. I can easily read a book a night depending on what it is. On my Kindle I average about a hundred books a year, that doesn't count real paper books. I drive my wife nuts buying used books.
When I was in school I caught a lot of grief because people didn't believe that I read whatever we were supposed to read quicker than everyone else.

 

[gnappi]

I only read as fast as I need to.

I don't read books any more (though I still read the Bible a bit) but I do read Fox news, the N.Y. Post and Times, NPR, U.S News and World Report, Briebart, The Hill, Washington Times, Newsweek, BBC and NPR almost daily as well as keeping up with my hobbies of photography, guitar playing, shooting, solar power, tropical fruit trees and gardening.

I don't need the news media to formulate an opinion, I already have most mine down pretty well, and I don't read them to remember the content, I just like to know who's who.

I also get by "typing" with 4 fingers.

 

[Jeepnik]

Again, no idea. I read for enjoyment, mostly. And I like to take my time and allow the story to unfold in my minds eye. And, while not the same, I really enjoy a well told story. When I was working I loved audio books on my daily drives. You'd be amazed how fast the time from L.A. to Sacramento flies by with a good book being read.

 

[Yaworski]

When I was in school I caught a lot of grief because people didn't believe that I read whatever we were supposed to read quicker than everyone else.

I got in trouble in the fifth grade for reading the entire "reader" during the first week of school. I was told that it wasn't fair to the other kids.

 

[Jeepnik]

I recall an English class where we were to read A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables during the semester. Most kids put up a howl of protest at being "made" to read two long books. I blew through them in a couple of weeks. That same semester I read Exodus, Hawaii and several others I can't recall right now. Only English class I ever got an A in.

 

[KIR]

I tried to read it but my lips got tired.

Well at least your fingertip didn't wear off... or did it???

 

[KIR]

I think reading comic books, for starters, for young children is a great way to get children to read. They used to cost me 10 cents each. A couple of years ago comics went as high as $8 each. They were more graphic novels, rather then beginners comics like Richie Rich, Little Lulu, Disney comics and those of that ilk. About a month ago I went to a bookstore and found them for only $1 each. However, many of the younger family has grown past all of those. I was surprised when my oldest son called to say he had his appendix taken out. After I related what happened to me after I had it removed, he said, he was going to start reading a book. I was happy to hear that.

I can read 15 copies of Hustler Magazine in six minutes.

Who are you trying to kid? You just look at the pictures.

 

[MaxMan]

Well at least your fingertip didn't wear off... or did it???

It did, but I didn't want to sound like a complainer.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I don't read very quickly. I think to much about the words I guess. My sister was always reading. I was always doing. Later when married I realized how fast my wife is and she shared her love of reading with the kids we raised. My girls especially will pick up a giant novel and be done in a couple days. It would take me a year if I didn't fall asleep each time I opened the book.

 

[MaxMan]

I don't read very quickly. I think to much about the words I guess. My sister was always reading. I was always doing. Later when married I realized how fast my wife is and she shared her love of reading with the kids we raised. My girls especially will pick up a giant novel and be done in a couple days. It would take me a year if I didn't fall asleep each time I opened the book.

Ditto, except I have two boys.

 

[coachk64]

Never known my WPM, but I've been a voracious reader since the fourth grade. I remember being kept in from recess for some reason and picking up a Hardy Boys, and been going hard at it ever since. I had a job delivering a local free ad paper, earning $3 a week, and every time I got paid my first stop was at the book stand for another Hardy Boys. Since then I've devoured every Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, John D MacDonald, Robert B Parker, Clive Cussler, Lous L'amour, Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Jack Higgins, Dick Francis, John Grisham and Irwin Shaw, ever written, plus quite a few others.
I subscribe to a service called Book Bub, and get an email every day with a list of ebooks available for anywhere from free to a couple of bucks. I end up buying one or two most days, and now have an Amazon library that I will probably not be able to get through in this life.
I've also been using audiobooks while traveling, and most of the time on the road I'm listening to a book rather than the radio.

 

[coachk64]

Ditto, except I have two boys.

I also have two boys and would give them a reading assignment of so many pages every summer. They both hated it but I stuck to my guns. My younger son now has two children of his own and he does the same thing with them.

 

[XP100]

I read so fast here is Florida that my eyes water up when I get the HO Ins and Vehicle Ins bills

 

[MaxMan]

I read so fast here is Florida that my eyes water up when I get the HO Ins and Vehicle Ins bills

Florida auto insurance, really?

 

[Gopher]

Never known my WPM, but I've been a voracious reader since the fourth grade. I remember being kept in from recess for some reason and picking up a Hardy Boys, and been going hard at it ever since. I had a job delivering a local free ad paper, earning $3 a week, and every time I got paid my first stop was at the book stand for another Hardy Boys. Since then I've devoured every Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, John D MacDonald, Robert B Parker, Clive Cussler, Lous L'amour, Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Jack Higgins, Dick Francis, John Grisham and Irwin Shaw, ever written, plus quite a few others.
I subscribe to a service called Book Bub, and get an email every day with a list of ebooks available for anywhere from free to a couple of bucks. I end up buying one or two most days, and now have an Amazon library that I will probably not be able to get through in this life.
I've also been using audiobooks while traveling, and most of the time on the road I'm listening to a book rather than the radio.

Very much the same experience here. I will admit, since we got on the net back in the mid-90s, I don't read physical books like I used to. This infernal machine seems to provide my reading material these days. When tested in the fourth grade, I was the fastest reader in the class and was reading at a 7th grade level with 90% comprehension. I seem to have passed this trait to my grandchildren.

 

[Colonialgirl]

My Mom taught me to read before I was ever out of diapers and my brother (21 months older) helped my mom so he could get my diaper clad butt off the funnies WITHOUT having to read them to me. Don't really know my speed, but WELL OVER 1000 wpm with a 99.99% retention and comprehension. Read all the sci-fi authors and all their sci-fi books, etc. Interesting story was my Senior year in High School, had an English Literature class where the teacher handed out books and assigned a story to read in them, before the semester was even 1/4 over, I had been through ALL the books cover to cover. This particular day, the story was in the front of the book and by the time she had wandered up and down the aisles, I was reading the story at the back of the book; She had a fit !!! I explained I had read the story numerous times during the semester. (Dont known why she lost her mind, I was an A++ student). STILL remember thee assigned story; "Hemingway; "The short happy life of Francis Macumber" His life time dream was to lion hunt in Africa; finally achieved his goal and didn't spot a lion until the LAST Day, He shot and wounded the lion and it charged toward him and before he could fire another shot HIS WIFE standing behind fired a shot and KILLED HIM (She had the HOTS for the handsome young White Hunter Guide). The moral of the story is that he died happy having achieved his life time dream !
ps: graduated in 1959.