Photoreading, 3rd Edition [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Paul R. Scheele (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

When you learn Photoreading you will experience what might sound impossible. You will PhotoRead the written page at rates exceeding a page per second, directing information into the expanded processing capabilities of your brain. There the information connects with your prior knowledge and becomes useful to accomplishing your purpose. You get your reading done in the time you have available, at a level of comprehension you need.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul R. Scheele is a recognized authority in three leading edge technologies or human development: Accelerated Learning, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Preconscious Processing. His unique expertise allows him to develop the process of "mentally photographing" printed material at rates exceeding 25,000 words a minute.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Learning Strategies Corporation; 3 edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0925480533
• ISBN-13: 978-0925480538
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (148 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Self-Help > Memory Improvement

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

310 of 335 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It's Voodoo, May 10, 2000

By 

John Noodles (A Field in ND, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photoreading, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

I've been working at this "PhotoReading" think diligently now for several days. After I first looked at the book, I thought it was the most cockamamie thing I'd ever heard of, but then, perhaps more from hope than common sense, I began to change my mind. It seemed like there might be something to it...that, in theory, it *should* work. So I got the faith, so to speak, and plunged in.

The basics of PhotoReading are simple enough: you preview the text, page through the book rapidly, while maintaining an unfocused gaze at the pages (thus "nonconsciously," as the author puts it, photographing them), let it incubate for a while, then skim the book, and, if necessary, go back and speed read it. Very broadly, that's it.

Right there, it should be apparent that what is giving you a grasp of a text's contents--if anything is--are the repeated trips back into the text, not the hoodoo-ism of PhotoReading itself.

I've tried it. I have not received any benefit whatsoever from the PhotoReading itself, although, of course, repeated trips back to the text have been helpful.

One way the author is able to assert that you can read 25,000 words a minute is by, in fact, urging you NOT to read them. He maintains that only 4-11% of a text contains useful information. REALLY! I don't know what kinds of books he reads, but the books *I* read are hardly so much fluff!

The author seems to give himself a back door, too, in case you can't get PhotoReading to work for you. If PhotoReading doesn't work for you, it's because you care about the outcome. No kidding. In other words, for instance, graduate students who have a pile of books to cleave through should not worry about this...otherwise it won't work. That's like saying, "Don't think about a green banana"--the first thing you think about is a green banana. Of course people are going to be concerned about their mastery of a text...if they weren't, there would be no need for it, and the very people who MOST need to be able to PhotoRead will be least able to make it work.

This is a slim paperback, and an overpriced one at that. There is a measure of slick, salesman-like smarminess to it, too. For instance, the back cover loudly proclaims, "Includes a free coupon for two powerful audio tapes, _Memory Supercharger_ and _Personal Genius_." Okay, cut to the coupon: Immediately, you see that, literally, the COUPON is free (as most in this world are), and that the tapes are FAR from free! Furthermore, throughout the book, and for 7 full pages at the end, Paul Scheele is peddling his other services.

All this notwithstanding, there is *some* useful information here. As an introduction to memory/learning techniques like Mind Mapping, it serves as an adequate introduction. PhotoReading is not any substitute, however, for true speed reading. I will continue to work at this, though, just in case...and if I change my mind about this technique, I will retract what I have said here with the same stridency with which I am offering it now.

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The book is good once you sift thru the marketing, November 21, 2001

By 

Mark (Dover Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photoreading, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

I read every review here and couldn't stop laughing.

Photoreading does do something and is definately worth the $(dollar amount). My grades were C's and now I'm easily getting B's and A's with less effort so I'm very happy but it's not anything like they tell you it is. Paul is a cool guy and I think he means well and wants to help people but he took Tony Robbins' idea of modeling just a little too far with this PR course. Every "step" of PR is taken directly from another book and re-named something else. The relaxation process is standard pre-hypnosis stuff, affirmations (more hypnosis), purposes and questions (NLP), photoreading (Mental Photography, Subliminal Dynamics and Brain Management course), Superreading/Dipping/Skittering/RapidReading (standard runofthemill speedreading techniques), Mind Mapping (Tony Buzan's book). There just ain't anything here that's NEW. The Photoreading step really does something but it's not what they say it is. Yes you do get hunches, feelings and intuitive thoughts comming to you after you PR but big deal. You still have to read it all in order to understand those feelings. I think that PR is an excellent study method for students but a poor way to read a book you are interested in. It's great for going thru mountains of information when you know what you're looking for but terrible for reading a book for the purpose of learning new ideas. If you do nothing but Photoread then rapid read books from now on, the $(dollar amount) you spent will be worth it. Running thru the steps has helped my grades and I think SuperReading and dipping is 10 times faster than speedreading. Having all these individual steps together in one book is quite an accomplishment because they all work together (for NLP's auditory, kinesthetic, visual learners) but when all is said and done, if you've just Pr'd/Superread/dipped a book you've not really read all the words and are more than likely missing out of things. I think it's an outstanding study method for something you've READ before and now you're memorizing certain key facts for tests (because that's what I do now) but it's not anything like they say it's like. Syntopic reading is a killer way to do a report though. That chapter alone was worth $100+ to me last semester.

73 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A tool for a certain type of reading- not for all types, November 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Photoreading, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

I'd like to remain anonymous because I've said online before (not here though) that Photoreading did not work for me and I probably turned people away from it with my negative comments. I did the tape course about a year ago and came to the conclusion that it didn't work as well as they claimed. Anyway, I just gave my final speech in speech class and I used what I learned in Photoreading to prepare for them all. Before this semester I really had no way (other than pleasure reading) of testing it. I spent approximately 5 hours this semester preparing all my speeches. Everyone else spent between 30 and 50 hours on the 4 speeches we had to do. I've come to the conclusion that Photoreading is for research reading, not pleasure reading. I feel terrible for badmouthing it before and hope someone will listen to me now when I say IT REALLY DOES WORK if you are reading to solve a specific problem or have specific questions you need answered. The book has alot more information than the course. Most of the course is wasted on relaxation exercises and the guy repeating stuff that's just in the book. Reading 1 book at a time is a total waste of time using this system, in my opinion. It's really good for taking on huge projects requiring reading multiple books and searching within mountains of information. Used on 1 book it can be beaten by normal speedreading. When it comes to pleasure reading, forget it. I just wanted to set the record straight. It's a tool for blasting thru non-pleasure reading and I highly recommend it if you're a student or have a job requiring alot of reading.