This test said that I read about 4,430 words per minute.
In past tests, I’ve tended to come in around 2-3000 wpm. Still, this is amusing, and I like the estimated completion times feature. And it gives me an excuse the next time Mrs. M asks why I spend so much on books.
Yeah, I always figured you clocked about a million/ min. That test is bullshit, just there to bring you down.
I’m envious.
I’ve always considered myself a fast reader and I averaged ~1000 WPM (several trials, just measuring how long it took to read/understand all the words) if I pushed myself – my “comfortable” pace was more like 800 at the most.
Is this your “read every word” speed or are you using speed-reading techniques?
I was “overclocking”/pushing myself for the test — call it about 50% faster than usual — but if I do that for too long (more than 20-30 minutes) I get tired quickly and get a headache. I don’t really have any “techniques” per se, at least of which I’m aware; I’ve always been like this. I suspect there’s a genetic component — my dad was a remarkably fast reader, and the Spawn is as well. We also all began to read at a very early age (about 3 for Dad and the Spawn, 18 mos. for me). I just see a block of text and know what it means. Of course, what I’m reading makes a difference as well — a Louis L’Amour western may take me 30-45 minutes (depending on environment, if I’m eating lunch, etc.), while 18th-C. prose takes longer, and dense stuff (literary theory, for example) takes longer still. That strikes me as a good reason — one of many — not to read literary theory if I can avoid it, by the way.