I did take speed reading courses myself. Sure, it helps you speed-read, skimming over sections that seem unfamiliar, and detect when you need to slow down, because the subject matter becomes too unfamiliar/new. I've also had the impression that retention improves a bit after the couple of training days - at least that's what the workshop instructor makes you believe (it's their job to sell success and good feelings so that you recommend the course to your peers).
In the end, I highly doubt that anyone who claims to have such high speeds is sincere. The simple fact is that marking text with a highlighter, making notes (with a pen) and thinking about the content (do you?) takes time. If you accounted for that and took the average, you'd get lower numbers. And that is fine.
There's ample evidence that such kinds of speeds are not generally possible with every kind of book. See e.g. https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2015/01/19/speed-reading-re...
I did take speed reading courses myself. Sure, it helps you speed-read, skimming over sections that seem unfamiliar, and detect when you need to slow down, because the subject matter becomes too unfamiliar/new. I've also had the impression that retention improves a bit after the couple of training days - at least that's what the workshop instructor makes you believe (it's their job to sell success and good feelings so that you recommend the course to your peers).
In the end, I highly doubt that anyone who claims to have such high speeds is sincere. The simple fact is that marking text with a highlighter, making notes (with a pen) and thinking about the content (do you?) takes time. If you accounted for that and took the average, you'd get lower numbers. And that is fine.