Speed Reading Logs

Stream for speed reading stats ( speed, comments on comprehension and qualitative updates )

INIT : Sat Apr 10 10:16:32 IST 2021 (PINNED)

• initialized speed reading logs
• following “Breakthrough Rapid Reading” by Peter Kump
• practicing daily from 18:00 to 18:45, logging the details from 18:45 onwards
• evaluation metrics :
  1. WPM : words per min
  2. RI : Retention index (fraction of major ideas retained - subjective)
     • REVISED TO AN INDICATOR VARIABLE DUE TO EXTENT OF AMBIGUITY
     • from 7th of MAY 2021
     • REFILED as : RECALL ATTEMPT INDICATOR - indicates whether that run was recall oreinted

Progress

Date	WPM (representative HM)	(RI) –> RAI
Fri May 7 20:43:21 IST 2021	1367.00	1
Tue May 4 22:36:22 IST 2021	1412.00	(– ) –> 0
Fri Apr 30 19:44:20 IST 2021	1612.00	(– ) –> 0
Wed Apr 28 21:07:03 IST 2021	1372.00	(0.60) –> 1
Tue Apr 27 20:17:54 IST 2021	1958.00	(– ) –> 0
Mon Apr 26 21:01:37 IST 2021	–	(– ) –> 0
Fri Apr 23 20:07:29 IST 2021	1210.00	(– ) –> 0
Tue Apr 20 19:17:45 IST 2021	1240.00	(0.72) –> 1
Sun Apr 18 19:32:42 IST 2021	995.00	(0.66) –> 1
Thu Apr 15 20:00:19 IST 2021	1311.00	(– ) –> 0
Wed Apr 14 18:47:11 IST 2021	827.00	(– ) –> 0
Tue Apr 13 18:49:38 IST 2021	689.58	(– ) –> 0
Mon Apr 12 18:31:30 IST 2021	366.00	(0.50) –> 1

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Practice Logs

Fri May 7 20:47:31 IST 2021

• gotta pickup the habit before I lose it again (this is my second attempt with the book)
• one recall oriented drill clocked in @ 1367 wpm
• might double down on the sessions to get this over with quickly : 30 min sessions - twice a day

Fri Apr 30 19:45:12 IST 2021

• an assortment of mechanical tips were introduced today
  • dusting movement introduced
  • how to relax a (paperback) book : useful
  • how to turn a page
• done with set of drills for week 2, progressing to week 3
  • took me 18 days : fair enough
• 1 practice session@1612 wpm sans RI
• need to keep on pushing through
  • does get boring at times

Wed Apr 28 21:08:03 IST 2021

• Amping up the difficulty of the practice material
• picked up some abbreviation heavy management textbooks from my Dad’s old MBA stack
• 1 final speed drill@1372wpm and RI (0.60)
  • RI is not a very good metric
  • rely on subjective analysis
• Did scan the upcoming chapters of the book and they seem practical
  • this is not a magic trick
  • some disciplined practice is what it takes : that is good.

Tue Apr 27 20:18:19 IST 2021

• setting up the meta-base for future comprehension drills
  • one representative run @1958 wpm without RI
  • one para-hunting session @ 22 paras
• speed drills getting a little more enjoyable
• fairly strong habit by now but still need to choose to get drilling
  • need to learn how to daemonize these skills without much lack of awareness

Mon Apr 26 21:01:37 IST 2021

• comprehension drills: using recall
• no speed runs
• new recall strategy being employed : referred as “The Magic Line” by the author
• new para-hunting drills employed : figure out the gist of as many randomly selected paragraphs in 5 mins
  • introducing new log in Progress : 15 today

Fri Apr 23 20:08:04 IST 2021

• practiced maintaining high speed on new material and in a normal reading environment

Tue Apr 20 19:18:01 IST 2021

• Comprehension on a steady rise
• current evaluation is very lenient but somewhat uniform
  • how does one fixate on a particular level of astuteness consistently?
• 1 drilling session resulting in 1 min read @ 1240wpm and one discourse about having a purpose when reading
  • the more clearly defined the purpose, the better
  • key is to match the correct technique with the material depending on the purpose

Sun Apr 18 19:33:08 IST 2021

• Comprehension drills incorporated today:
  • involves varying speed corresponding to the structure of the text
  • mostly shifting modes of confirmation of knowns and scanning new information
  • more fun than the usual speed drilling :
    • enhances reading as a non-linear process and is easier to focus through out
      • compared to a consistent effort of maintaining speed and inferring things at the same time
  • Retention index incorporated back and things are getting exciting
  • as expected, the speed dropped but the improvement is going to be cyclic and decoupled so that’s all well

Thu Apr 15 20:00:42 IST 2021

• drilling time : learning to move fast : RI is out of the picture right now
• lot of drills and one representative run of 1 min @ 1311 wpm
• seems odd and feel like a cheat but the author reinstates that drilling should be specific to either speed or comprehension
• also trying to minimize sub-vocalization and instead start seeing words : building an instantaneous context about a prominent word/phrase in the locality

Wed Apr 14 18:47:41 IST 2021

• focusing on eliminating regressions and getting used to the right hand as a pacer
• still not focusing on retention index yet: that has of course taken a temporary hit
  • but the key is to drill these two aspects orthogonally
• also tried reducing the number of saccades by trying to increase the number of words left out in the beginning and the end of the line
  • this is particularly difficult : have a habit of reading all words
  • occasionally, slips do occur and reinforcing form from the next line is what it’ll take to forge the new habit
• larger drill session today : four three minute untested runs on the same material to encourage carelessness and practice speed
  • final tested run on new material for three minutes @ 827 wpm, RI not applicable

Tue Apr 13 18:50:03 IST 2021

• no comprehension evals today : hence RI wasn’t Applicable
• two runs: 707 and 673 wpm
  • using harmonic mean as representative wpm : 689.58
  • these are rates and arithmetic mean is not appropriate
  • will similarly be using geometric mean for retention index in the future
    • as it’s a ratio
• using right hand index finger as pacer
  • helps eliminate regressions
  • author encourages to do this everywhere while picking up the skill
    • seems inconvenient given the book is old
• not focusing on retention index today

Mon Apr 12 18:29:03 IST 2021

• gauging baseline, no specific techniques employed
• Baseline Eval:
  1. WPM : 366 wpm
  2. RI : 0.5