Something I worry about, and feel I'm lacking in, is my reading speed. How long does it take people to read books and articles? And does anyone have any advice on reading fast. I think part of my problem is that I enjoy what I'm reading too much and bounce the ideas and words around in my head. It currently takes me about a week at 4 hours per day to read a 350 page book. I'm humanities and creating a new topic area, so am having to get to know core books from multiple topics - so would very much appreciate any advice on fast reading! I just got from 15 to 20 pages an hour at my fastest. It would also help me to know how fast others read, as there are discussions on writing but not reading.

Thanks in advance if you can help!!:-)

Hi Eska, can you get on a training course for speed reading? Your uni should offer training courses like this for researchers. I did one but found that I read quite fast anyway. But there were lots of other tips on how to get the most from your reading. I don't have the course notes to hand at the moment but could look them out and post some more info if you want. One thing I will say is that you shouldn't be reading all of a 350 page book. On the course we all had to bring in a book and then swap it with the person next to us. Then we were given 20 minutes or thereabouts to 'read' it. Then we had to tell the other person what it was all about. It's amazing how much you can pick up in such a short time. The aim was to show us that you have to be selective. Read the contents, the conclusion, the index, the introduction and the chapter headings and maybe the first paragraph or page of each chapter and work out what you really do need to read properly and what you can miss out. I don't think I have read one book cover to cover in two years of PhD. Would others agree?

I completely agree although, like Eska, i cant help myself but to read the whole lot...books, journal articles etc. Even reading for pleasure i am a slow reader. Id also say not to worry too much though - despite all this probably extraneous reading, i still got my PhD in in 3 years & 2 months...so i dont think it actually held me up as such.

Hey Zelda and PamW thanks for the advice. I'm currently between supervisors and unis so will have to wait for any reading courses.

I'm so surprised people don't read the whole thing!! and am trying to get my head around it!!! I can see how that would work for alot of things, but the book I just read was the diary of a film maker, and I was searching for references to particular influences and approaches. I'm not sure how I would get that without close reading. 

My old sup told me to 'read the whole of books' so maybe this is something I should ignore and be more selective with my close reading!! mmmm maybe my life is about to get easier!!!!!!

Completely agree with Pam. I've read 2 books cover to cover and I'm hoping to submit in March.

I don't think that I read particularly fast, although I do somehow manage to read my novels and pleasure (bath and bed) books far faster than the oh so enjoyable stuff I sometimes 'have' to read lol. I too have never read a whole book for academic purposes. We were taught first year U/G to do as Pam suggests and read about what's in the book and then see where you would HAVE to read - I think my sup would batter me with a blunt object if he found I was reading whole books if I didn't have to. I have big piles of them here with various sections marked out with post-its to look at and I tend to go through the index and just pull the pages that are directly related to my topic. Obviously then I'll end up getting caught up and reading more than strictly necessary if a subject interests me which is good i think and broadens your reading, but you just don't really have time to read whole books considering our bibliographies may we run to hundreds of them. If you look at the bibliography for an academic tome there will be hundreds and I'm pretty certain the writer hasn't read cover to cover of all of them!
I do the same with articles although not so much as they are, by definition, not indexed and you have to search harder, but if a section is obviously on a different tangent and I'm in a hurry I'll just search for the bit I want.
I'd guess an article of maybe 30 pages takes me around an hour or so to read, it does depend though how thoroughly I check the references out and read footnotes and what notes I make on it.