[SamuraiLion]

That's the profile I keep bumping into, people who already read a lot and want the volume rather than a shortcut. What does your load actually look like, out of interest? I'm trying to work out where the line sits between the reading you'd want this for and the reading you'd want to slow down for. Everyone seems to draw it somewhere slightly different and I don't think I've got it right yet.

[satvikpendem]

It depends on the book, if I'm reading Lord of the Rings or something dense obviously I'd slow down. But for pulp fiction or nonfiction even, I'd go fast. I typically read between one and two books a week, generally pretty decent sized ones too.

[SamuraiLion]

That's a good way to phrase it, and it makes me question my own approach. I've been sorting things into fiction and non-fiction, but what you're saying suggests it's more about why you're reading. Are you there for the words themselves, or just to get to the point? With someone like Tolkien, you're absorbing the language. But with a thriller or a business book, you're mostly focused on the information or plot beyond the sentences.

Reading a couple of books weekly, and switching between these reading styles, also makes me think the reading speed should be set per book, not as a general setting. If you're reading Tolkien at 250 words per minute and a fast-paced paperback at 450, you shouldn't have to adjust the speed every time you pick up a different title. Since it already tracks where you are in each book, remembering the reading speed for each one seems like a logical next step.

Anyway, that's a really helpful point.

[satvikpendem]

Your comments are being auto banned by the way, probably due to being a new account and probably due to writing too much like an AI with HN's detectors.

[dombiscoff]

I ask you to question why those 'avid readers' are looking for a shortcut to increase their volume rather than a shortcut to increase their comprehension. Looking at this users are comments, his desire is simply to increase the tally rather than any genuine interest in reading.

[satvikpendem]

False dichotomy that reading more does not mean understanding more, that's why you ironically don't understand. Why would I read more just to keep up some artificial count if it doesn't heed my knowledge?