I simply read a lot of science fiction/fantasy as a kid, and it happened naturally. I would view claims that a random person could be taught to read at my speed with skepticism. But I've met other people who read as fast as I do.
As a kid I thought I was simply a slightly fast reader until I happened to take a copy of https://www.amazon.com/Clan-Cave-Bear-Jean-Auel/dp/060961097... to a bath. I started, got caught up with the story, finished it, and finished my bath. My mother was so astounded that she quizzed me to verify I had actually read the book, and then estimated how what my reading speed had to be.
The weirdest thing is that my brain really does play catchup. I told my mother to test me by picking random spots and reading a few sentences. I was then able to tell her what was going on, and when handed the book could find the passage. That I was able to do. But the book was still jumbled up in my brain - I couldn't have given a plot summary for a day or so.
I strongly suspect that this kind of "brain pipelining" with large amounts of buffering is critical for really fast reading. Get every slow step out of the loop, only do what's fast. Let the slow bits of your brain catch up.
Does that take any enjoyment out of reading for you? I tried speed reading for a brief stint, but then decided to stop. For me reading a good book is like savoring good food, I wouldn't want to chug it down.
Not speaking for btilly here, strictly for myself: I think it depends on the kind of book, kind of writing, and personal expectations. When reading a novel, I'm mostly interested in the story and character development, and less in things like long descriptions of the environment (which Jean Auel does, a lot, though maybe not as much in the first one IIRC). I'm like the kid always asking "what's next" even before the narrator finishes his sentence.
So I like to read fast, and maybe there are some things I'm missing but I don't feel like that's a loss.
Mind you I'm not really speed reading (I think), I just read pretty fast. And skip uninteresting pieces of text (by skip I mean read some words or parts of sentences here and there, like the start and/or end of paragraphs, to know what the text is about so I know where to resume normal reading).
Now food is something else entirely :) I'm a pretty fast reader but a slow eater.
It depends on the book. Most sci-fi/fantasy I enjoy at speed. Anything where I want to find out what happens NEXT. But poetry and math I would want to read more slowly. I read more quickly than I think, and a full appreciation of the rhythm of language takes time.
What I do isn't what most people call speed reading, though. I don't skip any words, and can recognize and pull out exact phrases. I don't know how much text I could hold like that. When I was 19, a long book. But I think my capacity has gone down with age.
As a kid I thought I was simply a slightly fast reader until I happened to take a copy of https://www.amazon.com/Clan-Cave-Bear-Jean-Auel/dp/060961097... to a bath. I started, got caught up with the story, finished it, and finished my bath. My mother was so astounded that she quizzed me to verify I had actually read the book, and then estimated how what my reading speed had to be.
The weirdest thing is that my brain really does play catchup. I told my mother to test me by picking random spots and reading a few sentences. I was then able to tell her what was going on, and when handed the book could find the passage. That I was able to do. But the book was still jumbled up in my brain - I couldn't have given a plot summary for a day or so.
I strongly suspect that this kind of "brain pipelining" with large amounts of buffering is critical for really fast reading. Get every slow step out of the loop, only do what's fast. Let the slow bits of your brain catch up.