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Reading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing - Issue 94: Evolving - Nautilus
Reading is a complex task
Different areas of the brain are active when we read. We extract visual information that is correlated with sound to get meaning.
Reading does not just involve learning the letters. You have to understand and recognize the words, too. Skilled readers learn to recognize the whole word as a unit and connect it directly to meaning.
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Research Backed Methods For Faster Reading
Research points to speed reading being a form of skimming, which is appropriate for short text but not for longer ones.
For long texts, reading more
Measurements Of Speed Reading And Comprehension
Although there is an academic consensus that speed-reading decreases comprehension,
On the other hand, the same can’t be said for comprehension measurement techniques, as we can process text differently according to context.
Woody Allen
"I took a course in speed-reading...and was able to read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It's about Russia."
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Ancient Egypt and hieroglyphs
Ancient Egypt has exerted power of influence on the world of learning for over two millennia.
The Greek historian Herodotus identified the pyramids at Giza as places of royal burial, bu...
Ancient Egypt: How the language fell in disuse
- Ancient Egypt was conquered, first by Persians, then by Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great in 332BC.
- The Ptolematic dynasty, named after Alexander's general, Ptolemy I, ruled Egypt for three centuries. It ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman occupation in 30BC.
- From AD 395, Egypt was ruled first by Coptic Christians, then by Muslims, until the time of Napoleon.
- Spoken Coptic descended from the language of ancient Egypt, but written Coptic was entirely alphabetic, like Greek. Still, the Coptic language provided approximate pronunciation for hieroglyphs.
An attempt at understanding hieroglyphs
Greek and Roman authors thought that hieroglyphs were symbols of ancient Egyptian wisdom. They dismissed any phonetic component in the hieroglyphs.
This misguided view of hieroglyphs as 'picture writing' obscured any attempt at deciphering it. Near the 18th Century, Danish scholar Georg Zoëga thought that some hieroglyphs might be phonetic signs.
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The Shortest Answer To Faster Reading
Read. The more you read the more familiar you are with linguistic structures, contexts and content, which speeds up your reading. That’s especially true when learning new words or familiar w...
The Problem With Some Speed Reading Software
Software using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) methods claim to eliminate unnecessary eye movements, thus increasing reading speed. It presents words above the average reading speed, one at a time, at a single location on the screen.
Unfortunately, experiments show RSVP software does increase reading speed, but subjects could only sustain reading at high speeds with good comprehension for short bursts.
The Flaw With Methods That Eliminate Regressive Eye Movements
This methods are supposed to let you read it right the first time, but regressive eye movements generate enhanced understanding beyond what could be obtained on the first pass.
Due to sentences unfolding linearly, often contrary to the messages they convey, rereading becomes necessary for proper understanding.