I will register as graduate student, and my friend has suggested I attend a speed reading class. (He is MBA student). I don't know whether it is good to attend this course or not, but at this moment almost of my textbook required time to think about its content.
Has anyone applied speed reading with technical books? Is it good to attend this course?
In my opinion learning speed reading is a must. It helps you on so many levels. Speed reading also doesn't just mean that you are able to read faster, it also means that you are able to read with better comprehension.
Good technical books are also edited in a good way. So when learning speed reading techniques, you will also encounter such things that the first sentence of each paragraph should be the most important sentence in that paragraph. That information can be used together with different learning techniques.
If you already know a language, you can speed-read. Just go through the structures and implement them on a computer at the same time, all while changing them and experimenting with constructs.
If I think I can understand the language fairly well, I just go through basic concepts like conditions, looping, structures etc... and see how they relate to the languages I know, and where I find something new, I pause to read more. Works fairly well for me.
If you are totally new to programming, then no, you have to go through the book without speed-reading and skipping.
Personally I think Speed Reading is a vital skill for anyone in this so-called information age.
Speed Reading is a collection of techniques, understandings, adjustments in behaviour and practiced abilities. It's not just a single technique for increasing words-off-the-page speed (although that's what the headline figures might have you believe).
Also don't get too hung up on the massive claims of some speed reading proponents. If you can get 10k WPM great! I think most speed readers get around 1k WPM without loss of (or often increased) comprehension. Obviously with highly technical material, especially that which you're seeing for the first time, the words-off-the page speed is not going to be the bottleneck, but there are many aspects to speed reading that improve comprehension at any speed, and which often work better at higher speeds (imagine listening to someone who speaks very slowly - how much harder is it to follow them - and avoid being distracted!).
I also believe that what we learn from speed reading can be applied even to writing code. I have written a series of blog articles on this, which are now being prepared for publication in a C Vu - a developer's journal.
I think speed reading is must. One particular book that I liked is Tony Buzan's "Speed Reading Book".
It has varied range of tools and exercises that let you measure the improvements as you go along. And I have found that I doubled my speed in about a month and did not loose much on comprehension in fact has some gains on that front.
When you learn to speed read, you have options for reading faster. Without speed reading training, you are stuck in the slower speeds with no choice!
Reading technical material requires attention be paid to it by NOT reading in a comfortable place - like a couch or recliner - rather upright at a desk or table, ready to take notes by your side. It also helps to pre-view the chapter or section first to give you the overview. You do this by reading the intro, the first sentences of each paragraph only, and the conclusion. Then when you go back to read in more detail, you have a better idea what you are reading and aren't surprised by what comes your way.
If you are really serious about improving your reading abilities, consider Rev It Up Reading online course. A solid educational course with lots of practice exercises.
I have my doubts that speed-reading is any use in a technical subject like math or programming. You can't learn these subjects well without knuckling down and completely understanding every example and every equation.
I used to teach a required programming course at a liberal-arts college, and I had many serious students whose major was not technical. Many of them had excellent liberal-arts study skills - reading. They would read the programming text before going into a test and then wonder why the test was so hard. Over and over I had to explain that the way you learn this material is by writing programs, making mistakes, puzzling through the mistakes, and getting the "ah-hah" experience when a light dawns. Reading alone is way too passive.