Speed reading and self-inflicted ADD

Posted on by

One of the better things I learned how to do was speed read. Combine that with a mild case of insomnia, too many magazine subscriptions, and a book-a-week habit and I’m pretty sure I’ve given myself ADD. Or ADHD-PI (ADHD predominantly inattentive) ifya’ want to be technical about it.

The good thing is that I retain most of what I read.  Ask me where I left my car keys, though, and I can’t help you.

Over time I’ve gradually increased my reading speed to where it is now. According to a basic speed reading test at Speed Reading Soft’s site I clock in at 1050 WPM. Retention was somewhere around 90%. Another site, How Fast Do you Read, has me at their max of 850-900 WPM with a similar retention score.

If you want to see what it’s like when I read, go to Spreeder.com and click on the SETTINGS button. Change the words per minute to 950 and press the play button. That looks about right.

Anyhow, this is a list of all the magazines I subscribe to as of 2008 2009 2010 (update: November 2011). Some of these magazines have gone out of business since I started getting them but most still trickle in every week.

The ones that consistently get my attention are New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal (daily paper), New Scientist (although they seem to have dumbed it down recently), Chain Drug Review, Sport Diver, Rolling Stone, Food Business News, Wired, Gun Tests, Motor Cyclist, Fortune, and Muscle and Fitness.

Most magazines are donated to the business where I work when I’m done with them. The rest are recycled as part of this city’s weekly services.

——–

American Cop
American Handgunner
Antiques
AOPA Flight Training
Auto Week (AW)
Automobile
Bass Player
Blender
Boating
BTN (Business Travel News)
Car & Driver
Casino Journal
Chain Drug Review
Computer Shopper
Cruise Travel
CSQ (C-Suite Quarterly)
Dime (not Spanish – It’s Dime like nickel and…)
Diving and Resorts (PADI)
Ebony
EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly)
Entertainment Weekly
Entrepreneur
Esquire
Field & Stream
Florida Travel and Life
Food Business News
Forbes
Fortune
Games for Windows
GQ
Guitar Player
Gun Tests
Guns
Guns and Ammo
HHMi Bulletin (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
Hispanic Business
Hollywood Reporter
Home Entertainment
INC
Information week
Internet Retailer
Interview
Jet
Kiplinger’s		 Islands
Kitplanes
Log Home Living
MacWorld
Maxim
Men’s Health
Men’s Journal
MMR (Mass Market Retailers)
Modern Painter
Money
Motor Cyclist
Motor Trend
Muscle and Fitness
New Scientist
New Yorker
Nylon
Opera News
Paste
PC Magazine (now out of business)
Poder
Popular Science
Psychology Today
Ready Made
Real Estate Forum
Real Estate New York
Redmond
Rifle Shooter
Rolling Stone
SD Times
Shot Business
Sound + Vision
Southern Boating
Spin
Sport Diver
Sports Illustrated
Surfing
Systems Management News
Tire Business
The Trail Rider
US News and World Report
The Wall Street Journal (daily paper)
Watch!
Website Magazine
Wired

EDIT 06 / 01 / 2010 : Added some that were missing : American Cop, Watch!, Poder, Sports Illustrated and HHMi Bulletin (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

EDIT 11 / 12 / 2010 : Added some more that were missing : Fortune, INC, Modern Painter, The Wall Street Journal (daily paper), and Money.

EDIT 12 / 03 / 2010 : Added CSQ (C-Suite Quarterly)

EDIT 12 / 13 / 2010 : Added Entertainment Weekly and Internet Retailer

EDIT 11 / 02 / 2011 : Added Casino Journal

EDIT 11 / 14 / 2011 : Added Bass Player, Guitar Player