Make the Voice Go Away

Upon going through all of my junk from pre-Germany days, I came across a pamphlet I received with my general biology text book (back from freshman year, gasp!) entitled, "Essential Study Skills for Science Students." Though I remember breifly skimming it and thinking that I should probably read it, I never did. At least not until the other day.

After skimming it again earlier this week and reading a few sections, I decided that I spend far too much time reading chapter after chapter in all of my text books. Unfortunately reading comes with a biology major, but according to this pamphlet (and lots of other sources) there is such a thing as speed reading, which is just as efficient as reading. So I decided to give it a try. Little did I know how much work it is.

In order to speed read, a person needs to stop reading everything with a little voice in their head. What voice you say? Well, think about it as you read this - is there a little voice which reads these words to you? Yes? Well, no worries - most of us are like that! Me too! The first trick is to stop hearing the little voice. Make it shut up because you don't need it to read. Surprised? Me too! The pamphlet tells you to just keep reminding yourself not to talk to yourself mentally while reading in order to kick the habit but they don't tell you how hard it is! Seriously, about every other line I have to tell myself to shut up. I'm even reading mentally as I type this. It's like attack of the mental voice!

So, what else is there to it? Focusing on a group of letters at a time instead of just one at a time. That's tough too. But I really would love to be able to read faster and still comprehend stuff just as good. I already read fast enough, but when I have chapter after chapter to read, faster is always better.

Now I sit reading this for my classes and attempting to make myself practice my new forming skills. They don't tell you how hard it is. It takes just as much brain power as the reading does. I'll let you all know how it goes.