Speed Reading (part3) : Read fast if it's old, Read slow if it's new. (Patreon)

(as always, this is based on my personal experience and knowledge. please read with caution.)

“Human always learn by referring to what they already know”

This “very” common phase is true from many perspectives yet too simple to understand how it works. So I’ll explain more. I think human learn from at least 1 of these 4 conditions

0. The knowledge is in your language or Foreign language.

1. This new knowledge is exactly what I’ve learned

2. This new knowledge is similar to what I’ve learned

3. This new knowledge is opposite from what I’ve learned

These 4 are based on something you already knew and when you get new information, you can recall your memories to compare with this new knowledge. It happens when you read something new too. When you read new words or sentences, your brain might recall some pictures, some inner monologue or some definitions to compare with the new knowledge. If you’re very familiar with the topic, or you’re in the field of the same subject you’re reading, you can understand it very fast. But if you’re not in that field of knowledge, you may have to take some time to think.

Here’s the example

“The Girl at the local market has expanded her boobs to beach ball size”

Person1: Oh…I know how big the beach ball is. And I already draw expanded boobs many times. It’s like pumping an air balloon. Expansion is the same as Inflation.

Person2: Hmm…What is expanded boobs? I remember when I inflated a water balloon. Well, I guess it’s like putting a water balloon in a bra and filling them with water.

Person3: Expand? What is it? Is it like inflation? I played soccer with my friend and I saw the soccer ball hit the nail and deflate…I guess expansion is the reverse process of deflation. Hmm…and what is the beach ball size? I guess it’s like 4 times bigger than a soccer ball.

When these 3 read the same sentences, in the end, they might understand what the context is. But they might not understand it at the same speed.

And for the last condition.

4. We can’t learn anything if we can’t refer to things we know.

This case is rare but yet possible. It’s like someone asking you the question

“How does the stock market work?”

I have an image of the market near my house. I have the image of holding money. I have an image of a big financial building. But they don’t help me a bit to understand what the stock market is. So if the book continues to refer to the mechanism of the stock market. This topic is far from understood and nearly impossible to read it fast. You may need a bit of fundamental knowledge of it first. But when the time’s passed, and you gain more knowledge, You’ll able to read financial books faster.

And How fast is “Fast”? How slow is “Slow”?

I don’t have actual data, but here’s what I tested myself.

Comic books(Eng): 24 pages in 10 mins

Manga (local) : 24 pages in 5 mins

Star Wars Novel (Eng) : 9 pages in 10 mins

Harry Potter Novel (Eng): 12 pages in 16 mins

Interview about University student (Local): 320 pages in 33 mins

Fluid Mechanics for Engineering(Eng) : 5 pages in 30 mins

Laws (Local) : 12 pages in 30 mins

These data might vary on different conditions. But it tells us to understand how fast reading works.

1. Every subject requires different prior knowledge to understand.
2. Every subject has its own complexity to understand.
3. A book with pictures can be understood faster than a text only book.

I think this is only a scratch of the surface. But at least we understand more about how fast reading works.

“Read fast if it's old, Read slow if it's new”

Now it makes more sense.