In article ,
jk wrote:

"Bushy Pete" wrote:



Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht
oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist
and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you
can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not
raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Fcuknig amzanig huh?
;)
Peter

Amazing isn't it. The only words that my mind froze on, were the ones
starting with w
jk

More than a little research (probably some of it at "Cmabrigde") has
shown that a "fast" reader doesn't see letters, or even words, so much
as the *SHAPES* of familiar words. When encountering new/rare words,
there's a slowdown to "letter-by-letter" reading, but for familiar
words, the outline formed by the letters is apparently most of what gets
recognized. One piece I read (sevearl years ago) that covered the topic
discussed a test series that used *NO* letters at all - Just a block
outline of the shapes of the words making up the test text.

The folks doing the study were shocked to find that in some people they
tested, there was better than 95% comprehension of rather extensive
chunks of text - Or perhaps I should say "text outlines". Not as
surprising (at least to me) was the finding that those who showed the
highest comprehension of the "block text" were also the fastest readers
of "normal" text.

I found that I did pretty well (I don't remember what the exact
percentage was, but I do recall that it was high) on the samples of
"outline text" that were included in the paper. Which didn't really
surprise me...

The other finding that came out of that study was that reading speed and
text-recognition fell through the basement floor when the test text,
whether "outline" or "normal", was made up of words in ALL-CAPS.

SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT WRITING IN ALL CAPS IS BAD!

Not bragging - simply presenting a data-point for comparison - but I
burn up the typical 300-ish page paperback in about 3-4 hours routinely,
and once went through Stephen King's "complete and uncut" version of The
Stand in less than 14 hours. I started re-reading Frank Herbert's "Dune"
series (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children Of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune)
last night. I finished Dune this morning, after about 4 hours of "sit
down and read" time. After about 2 hours or so of Dune Messiah, I'm a
bit less than 2/3 of the way through. If I go at my usual speed, I
expect to be finished with Children of Dune, and at least partway
through (if not done with) God Emperor of Dune before daylight on
Thursday.

And now a little brag:
I read *ALMOST* as fast upside down, in a mirror, or, if the page is
transparent enough, "through" the page (reading the text on the opposite
side of the page from what's facing me) as I do "normally". Dunno how or
why - it's not something I recall ever making any effort to practice -
or even learn. I just know that's reality for me. Reading so fast kinda
sucks - It means I'm CONSTANTLY looking for something else to read!

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info