Many, many years ago a journalist colleague was reading a novel in her lunch break. She took it from a shop bag and almost half an hour later had finished it. I could barely keep up with her finger as it snaked down each page and dodged out of the way to allow a page turn.
Ironically, in my view, when she read a newspaper, she read ‘normally’ and took a requisite amount of time over each article. Had I the speed reading talent, I would have used it on the newspaper and savoured every word of the novel as I normally do.
It’s a bit like touch typing. For the best part of 50 years I have pecked away at the keyboard. One day, supporting a charity event, I did some typing for a secretarial agency. While not quite as quick as some of their speedsters, my accuracy was high enough to put me on a par with them. Anyway, recently I decided I’d learn to touch type and succeeded. However, even though I can type faster, if I really want to, I cannot think or compose faster, it doesn’t make me a better writer. Pecking or touching, either way I seem limited to around 500 words an hour of stuff I am quite happy with.
I suppose I could just spill out the words in a stream, but my journalistic side demands I write to a standard that is publishable immediately. If you’re reporting a demonstration or a disaster, you write the story once before you phone it through (or email in these times), there’s no time for a re-write or edit.
What’s the point in reading fast? Reading a novel should be like savouring a fine wine or a gourmet meal, not shovelling into your mouth a meal in a box you got from a takeaway. Someone has taken months, if not years, to research and craft the book you are holding. Like a good wine, you can enjoy the way the words are combined into sentences that create a great experience. The book has, not yet, been regurgitated by some AI machine that has effectively scanned and plagiarised every novel written to produce something that might reflect your taste.
It’s fine to read quickly, but at least do the writer the honour of reading every word.
