Could Will read books at superhuman rate?
In movie Good Will Hunting, it is shown that he is super intelligent human who can prove complex algorithms and solve problems very fast than any of the MIT professors.
But in one scene, just before the meeting with his first therapist to whom he called a gay, he read his book. In that scene he was flipping pages like the book contains only images not the text. So is that means he not only have very intelligent mind, but can also read books at a superfast speed?
Here's the video link of that scene.
Best Answer
It's not explicit in the movie but there is a technique called Speed Reading which would seem to be what this scene is intended to show....although I believe that speed reading can be learned.
I'm not sure there is any specific correlation to intelligence but it's a common thing seen in movies to denote the same.
There is debate about how much information can be gathered, comprehended and retained when speed read but some speeds as fast as 4200 words per minute are noted.
The World Championship Speed Reading Competition stresses reading comprehension as critical. The top contestants typically read around 1,000 to 2,000 words per minute with approximately 50% comprehension or above. The six time world champion Anne Jones is recorded for 4200wpm with previous exposure to the material and 67% comprehension.
Wikipedia
The script, as I said, doesn't confirm speed reading but it implies it
Will is flipping through the book at about a page per second.
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Is it possible to read super fast?
The problem is that true speed reading \u2014 a boost in reading speed by at least three times without any loss in comprehension \u2014 isn't supported by the science. "Speed reading is not actually possible," said Elizabeth Schotter, a cognitive scientist at the University of South Florida.What is the highest possible reading speed?
Howard Stephen Berg from the United States has claimed to be the Guinness World Record holder for fast reading with a speed of 25,000 words per minute, and Maria Teresa Calderon from the Philippines claims to have earned the Guinness World Record for World's Fastest Reader at 80,000 words per minute reading speed and ...Does reading more increase speed?
Reading more can definitely improve your reading speed. By reading regularly, you can train your brain to pick up a certain reading technique, enhance your retention skills, and read more words per minute.How fast can the human mind read?
But according to Keith Rayner, a psycholinguist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, observations of college-level readers reveal that most read at a rate of between 200-400 words per minute. Lastly, there's the concept of reading flexibility.The Chainsmokers \u0026 Coldplay - Something Just Like This (Lyric)
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