Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile guide, but beware
Review: The 'Whole Mind System' described in this short, easy book is very effective. It is not a list of obvious improvements to the mechanical aspects of reading, but rather a how-to guide on visualization and related methods of honing concentration and utilizing more of your brain in the task of reading. Photoreading reams of blueprints, reports, computer manuals, professional exam study materials, etc. saved me from literally months of frustration. This knowledge was much easier to assimilate and retain than before I used the techniques described in this book.However, the only thing about Scheele and company I like is his photoreading book - not even the 'Natural Brilliance' book. Stay off their mailing list, or they will relentlessly hawk various paraliminal products and seminars that, in my opinion, border on the occult.
Rating: 
Summary: I haven't read the book
Review: But I think I photoread all the comments. The book sucks or it's the best thing in the world. The only time my subconcious works is when the information is in my head and then it works it out in my sleep or some other time. How do you get the information by unfocusing your attention on the book as you flip through the pages? All that comes to my head would be a few words that are easily forgotten 5 page flips later. You guys confirmed it cause I thought there was something deeper than flipping the pages that I didn't know about, and so to find that out I would have had to buy the book. But now I know that all it is is flipping pages every few seconds.
Rating:
Summary: Quakcery
Review: Essentially, this book is composed of information that can be found in other books, but has either been given a new name or changed to fit in his system. The author claims that if one sits and flips through a book at a rate of one page per second our conscious mind will not recall any of it but our subconscious mind will store it and then we will later be able to recall it by using certain techniques. He says to "Preview the book before you photoread, and then to rapid read and skim the book after you have photoread it." If you follow the system, you will find that the information gained (if any) is that which was "previewed, rapid read and skimmed." The "photoreading" step is bogus and does not reap any anything, thus the book needs a new title or should be taken off shelves. The book has a bunch of testimonials on the first 4 pages of his book, on the back and has various stories throughout of people who have benefited from this system. Don't be fooled! (Please note: In my first review, I posted "author claims that if one sits and flips through a book at a rate of one page per minute" which was a typo. Minutes should have been seconds. Sorry for the typo. )
Rating:
Summary: Great book -- I highly recommend it
Review: I heard a radio program about PhotoReading. They promised being able to get through information three times faster--and that got my attention. After reading the PhotoReading website, I got the book. The book exceeded my expectations. While it teaches the basic reading improvement techniques, all of which I had been following, I saw a huge leap in my reading speed when I tried something called the tangerine technique--very cool. It involves putting an imaginary tangerine on the back of the head which has some effect on how the brain reads. My speed increased immediately. (I got to say that it was a little weird doing it, but it worked.) The book also has an unusual technique called PhotoReading, which, they say, is mentally photographing the printed page. It is a way for your brain to absorb large quantities of information. You can PhotoRead a book in 2-5 minutes. If you want to fully understand the information, you have to "activate" the information. While this takes time, I found I can activate an entire book in about 1/4 the time it would have taken to read it. That's better than the promise of three times faster. I'd get the book if for no other reason than to try the tangerine technique. If you are so moved, learn the full PhotoReading system. It's nothing like speed reading. I took a speed reading course twenty years ago--I even repeated the course--and it doesn't compare to PhotoReading. I read some of the other reviews here, and I wonder whether we read the same book. It's been well over a year since I read the book, and I still unconditionally recommend PhotoReading.
Rating:
Summary: When a book sounds too good to be true, it IS!
Review: The author claims that the "subconscious" mind can read (photograph) 25,000 WPM and that you can reactivate this information with various techniques, which do not work. I scrictly followed the guidelines in this book for 2 months, and I did not gain any new skills; instead I lost valuable time. This book will not teach you how to develop a photographic mind, nor will it teach you how to increase your reading speed. The only usefull information, such as: Determine your purpose for reading, enter a certain mind state, review the material, has been around for ages and is common sense stuff. Do you want to buy a 156 page book which only has 3-4 pages of somewhat usefull information, which you probably already are familiar with? Most would answer NO! If you want practical (truthfull) information on how to increase your reading speed and improve your memory, do not buy this book as it will lead you on a dead end path and either end up in your trash can, or quite possibly be cremated and then scattered over the nearest lake. Do not trust the positive reviews. They are posted by people who REALLY want this system to work and who REALLY beleive it's going to work, but in the long haul it doesn't. The ONLY way to learn complex material is through hard work and this book leads one to beleive otherwise. There are some excellant books pertaining to speed reading and memory; (This is not one of them). Some titles I would suggest are: ("The Memory Book" by Harry Lorayne, Jerry Lucas) and ("Break-Through Rapid Reading" by Peter Kump)
Rating:
Summary: Is Photoreading a cult?
Review: How is it that most people cannot see through the mysticism and realize that photoreading is no more than a collection of standard study techniques wrapped in nouveau packaging? To prove my point, take the photoreading material, rip out all mention of the photofocus and photoreading hoopla and hand the remainder to an uninitiated. See if you get similar results as with including the photoreading step. You will, because the photoreading process is nothing more than a light skimming prior to a more routine skimming (which is REQUIRED to "activate" the recall of what you've photoread), so you're actually reviewing the material over and over again: in other words, repetition - the oldest and most basic of learning techniques. You are NOT doing anything revolutionary here. I know some of you might like to think otherwise, but if these of you are not busy "photoreading" you're probably off earnestly conjuring at your Ouija boards. To summarize: employing the techniques as described will give you a good general idea of its storyline or underlying concepts. However, this overview is no better than getting yourself a subscription to the executive book summaries club, where they try to summarize the bestselling business books of the day in three pages or less. This will NOT help you when any level of detail is required. You will NOT instantly memorize or be able to recall every line command offered by the Cisco IOS. Nor will you be able to remember word-for-word and line-for-line what, say, Calpurnia says to Caesar prior to his demise in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' - and, unfortunately for photoreaders, if your teacher or professor is aware of Cliff's Notes and doesn't like them, this is exactly the type of thing on which you will be tested. On this same note, if you're reading 'Julius Caesar' for leisure, why the heck would you want to skim through it? By now, we should all know the general plot behind the book even without ever reading it. However, we read it anyway to enjoy Shakespeare's style and prose - the exact things to which photoreading urges us not to pay attention. Photoreading is less of a breakthrough technique and more of a marketing phenomenon. Don't be taken in by some of these bandwagoners. Take up photoreading ONLY if you're interested in some of the basic study techniques it regurgitates and not in the actual photoreading crock itself. Then again, if that's the case, there are many more books out there that discuss those topics in better detail...and without all the sales hype you'll find here.
Rating:
Summary: Y'All Are Kidding, Right?
Review: This book is one of the biggest absurdities I have ever laid eyes on. It promises to teach you to read 25,000 words a minute. But guess what. It doesn't. You don't READ 25,000 wpm, you SKIM (at best). PhotoReading itself entails nothing more than looking at the pages with unfocused vision. That's it. The rest of the "Whole Mind System" is a patchwork of other people's accelerated learning techniques. There is also a great deal of self-advertisement. There is absolutely nothing in this book that is unique and useful. You'd be much better served buying a good book on speed reading. I used the techniques in this book for about 4 months in my college work, regularly and conscientiously. I can say it's hogwash. Absolutely asinine mumbo-jumbo. Do yourself a favor. Skip this book.
Rating:
Summary: Do not waste your money on this rubbish
Review: I wish I could give this book no star at all, because it doesn't deserve any. The clue is in Mr. Steele's own assertion that most books are more than 90 % fluff: his book certainly is. But not so the books that I read or teach. If Mr. Steele were to apply his technique to reading James Joyce or Proust or Toni Morrison or Jacques Derrida for my class, he would make a very big F at the end of the course. So would anyone who buys the silly ideas in this book. No, you do not understand a serious book through the kind of trickery that Mr. Steele suggests. Beware. There are many snake-oil peddlers out there. There ought to be a law protecting consumers from folks who peddle wares that do not deliver. This should apply to books as to other products. All those who found this book unsatisfactory like I did, should be able to ask for their money back.
Rating:
Summary: A Sham
Review: Huh. I thought I was perhaps the only person who had ever read this book...Guess not. I tried PhotoReading for an entire semester of graduate work, and I can assure you, that for serious students, it simply doesn't cut the mustard. This is not reading. It's browsing, skimming. But it isn't reading. The author seems to think that only about 10% of everything we read is of substance, and that PhotoReading will help us pull that 10% out of its environment of useless dross. It simply isn't so. The previewing and review techniques may be useful, but these are very standard critical reading skills, and have nothing to do specifically with the "PhotoReading" portion of the "Whole Mind System." This book is a shameful act of self-promotion, in my opinion. There is no substitute for hard work.
Rating: 
Summary: I can see effects within the first few days of trying it!
Review: To all of you who may be a bit skeptical, It worked for me within 3 days of completing the book. First example, I enjoyed reading Michael Crichton's Timeline with the system. It felt like watching a movie, only better! I read the 400+ book in 5 days, with Photoreading and previewing. Second example, I PhotoRead a book entitled "Parallel Universes" and the next evening, I began to get these new ideas about Quantum Physics that I've never even thought of before (of course, I've had some background knowledge). True enough, when I returned to the book, those ideas that came into my head were really inspired from the book which I PhotoRead. So I urge you budding PhotoReaders out there to have faith. A true genius is one who possesses deferred gratification.
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