Publish at September 13 2023 Updated September 13 2023
In recent years, all the French media have been talking about speed-reading. Almost all of them have raved about these modern "superheroes". On Thot Cursus, we even featured a capsule in which Kamel Kajout gave a few tips. But it seems we've all fallen for it, as youtuber and decryptor G. Milgram humorously reminds us. On his channel, he has carried out a fairly in-depth investigation into this phenomenon, which is particularly popular in France.
From a scientific point of view, the suggestions made by fast readers have no credibility whatsoever. Scientists have already analyzed reading in humans. The "world champions" recommend eliminating subvocalization and eye-tracking, and observing a text with peripheral vision. However, all these approaches have been disproved by science and shown to be detrimental to text comprehension. That's how our brain and eyes work; to do otherwise would simply be to turn pages without really grasping what's written.
And yet, these "world champions" are evaluated on the comprehension of a book in a given period, aren't they? First of all, we have to agree that 71% of the "world champions" are French. Only 7% of participants come from outside the French-speaking world. What's more, it often turns out that the winners are either people selling speed-reading training courses (averaging around 1,500 euros) or customers of these entrepreneurs. What's more, each speed-reading "stable" has its own world championship, and usually the winners are also among the referees, i.e. those who correct the questionnaires.
Like many online personal growth companies, speed reading seems to be just another business promising increased productivity, including in its reading. A call to speed that runs counter to the very pleasure of reading, of immersing oneself in a work and, above all, of retaining moments in memory.
Running time: 34min14
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