“… in the midst of an age of ‘work,’ that is to say, of hurry, of indecent and perspiring haste, which wants to ‘get everything done’ at once, including every old or new book: – this art does not so easily get anything done, it teaches to read well, that is to say, to read slowly, deeply, looking cautiously before and aft, with reservations, with doors left open, with delicate eyes and fingers … this book desires for itself only perfect readers and philologists: learn to read me well!” – Frederich Nietzsche, “The Dawn” (1886), translation by M. Clark and B. Leiter

Over a century ago, people were already complaining about the too-fast pace of the world, and advocating a return to a slower and more deliberate way of looking at things in order to fully appreciate them. We still have a desire to “stop and smell the roses” even as we feel pressured to accomplish more in less time, to multi-task, and to balance work and family life while still staying sane and healthy. The Slow Food movement encourages people to take the time to cook healthy food from fresh ingredients, in order to get the most nutrition and the most enjoyment out of the process. There’s also a Slow Reading movement that’s promoting the practice of deep focus and concentration on texts so that the reader gets as much information, nuance, and material for reflection out of them as possible.

So how can Slow Reading help you with Speed Reading? On the surface, they seem to be working towards completely different goals. Speed reading techniques that help you take in large groups of words at once, or that help you learn to skip over words that are less essential to the overall meaning of a phrase, are designed to let you extract the information you need from what you’re reading as quickly as possible. Slow reading instructions include paying attention to each word individually as well as how they connect in phrases. Speed reading says “no subvocalization” while slow reading says “enjoy the sound of beautiful words by saying them out loud as you read.” If you’re a good speed reader, you’ve learned to always keep moving forward without regression, but a good slow reader might go back over a particular passage several times in order to fully appreciate the skill of the writer or the mental images the words create.

As you might imagine, slow reading is designed for people who are reading for pleasure. As we’ve frequently noted in this blog, it’s important to learn to read at the best speed for the type of text you’re reading, in order to get the results you want. But it’s also true that learning to focus on content and comprehension is a valuable speed reading skill. As you increase your reading speed, you need to make sure that your comprehension rate stays high. By practicing slow reading techniques, you can actually improve your comprehension skills so that when you use the speed reading techniques you’re learning, your comprehension won’t suffer.

Learn to read slow,
all other graces
Will follow in their proper places.
– William Walker, The Art of Reading (c. 1660)