

Ask HN: How do you speed read technical books? - bhaisaab

What is your technique to speed read and finish technical books (such as on programming languages, cs theory etc.) as fast as possible?
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runjake
I don't, because that's the wrong way to approach such texts. In order to
learn programming languages and theory, you must learn by doing.

If I'm looking something up for reference, I still use a speed reading
technique I learned from my high school teacher back in the 80s.

She was on an episode of the 80s show, "That's Incredible" where a student of
hers read War & Peace in some ridiculously short amount of time.

I have no information on what speed reading courses are legit or whatever, but
hers certainly was, despite all the disbelief at the time. Of course, the
featured student was a major exception. I think I was her top speed reader
those semesters but couldn't come close to the guy on TV. It's also not a fun
way to read.

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jamestomasino
I use the Evelyn Wood techniques for topics like this. You'll make several
passes through the text with different goals each time.

On the first pass you read the TOC, chapter headings, section headings and so
on. You are trying to absorb the structure of the book (or chapter if you want
to do it 1 chapter at a time).

The next pass you are making sweeping scans of each page, taking in high-level
information and building on the structure you've already established.

If you've developed vertical reading at all, you can use it for the last pass,
or any other technique you've worked up to.

One thing to note, I don't use anything besides good old fashioned close
reading when it comes to code examples. Dig through them in detail or risk
missing the point. Code is not like natural language and you won't get the
same benefits from speed reading it.

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OWaz
May I ask why you would want to speed read a technical book?

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infinii
outsource the page flipping

