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Turtle000
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04 Apr 2008, 6:46 am

I was wondering if anyone else does things backwards like me. For example sometimes when I'm reading something like an article, I'll start reading it from the last paragraph and just go backwards. Or I'll look through a magazine starting from the back. I'm not entirely sure why I read backwards. Sometimes I'll look at something and just feel like it's too much for my brain or something and then reading backwards is just so much easier.
I never read books backwards. I do have a habit of reading a little ahead though just to see what's coming up.
I do the same thing with messages I get. If it's a long message I scan over it to see what it's all about. I have to try really hard to just read it straight down and not from the end.
I've noticed I also like to sometimes do tests backwards. I might start from the beginning, but then go to the end and work my way back.
My brother also pointed out to me that I put my books backwards on my bookcase. I put them alphabetically from right to left, but he says the correct way is left to right. Is that right? I'm just used to always looking right to left.



Tim_Tex
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04 Apr 2008, 6:49 am

No, I just reread something until I can understand it thoroughly.


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Scarlet_N
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04 Apr 2008, 7:36 am

Maybe this has something to do with dyslexia?

Yes, I read magazines backwards. Never thought about it myself before you mentioned it :)



Detren
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04 Apr 2008, 8:03 am

You might want to consider learning Hebrew, chinese, or is it japanese? One of those reads from right to left. You might be a natural, (if you have an affinity for languages.)

Are you left handed? It's easier to pick up a magazine and flip from the back and have something catch your attention left handed.

Skimming a note for content before reading is perfectly "normal". Many people also "sneak a peak" at what might be coming next in the book they are reading. Might be a suspense factor? The others sound a touch dyslexic to me, but all the medical stuff I am seeing looks like mixing up of letters, not a reversal of everything. I did, however, find a small abstract HERE about a little test they threw some poor readers from a dyslexic source.

As for me, If something is backwards I don't really stumble on it, I can read it at a slightly slower rate, sometimes I do check out the back of a magazine first (mostly becuase I am bored and just fanning through it and a picture catches my eye (left handed)). I NEVER sneak a peak at the next part in a book, it ruins the surprise, then again, I've never snuck a peak at my Christmas presents either.



tomadao
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04 Apr 2008, 8:09 am

Yeah, sometimes I read magazines and do tests backwards, too. But this doesn't seem wrong for me. Somehow, I feel more 'comfortable' reading a magazine backward.



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04 Apr 2008, 8:33 am

I do tests backwards, always. And my reading of articles (save in scientific journals) and magazines tends to be piecemeal... I'll jump from paragraph to paragraph in no particular order. In the end I have all the information, right? I do this for e-mails and messages as well. The longer the message, the more likely I am to jump around.

Books I always read start to finish.



poopylungstuffing
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04 Apr 2008, 8:49 am

left-handed...read magazines and newspapers backwards. Have done tests backwards before...may often examine things in a piecemeal neither back nor front manner



Sora
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04 Apr 2008, 8:53 am

I was wondering about the same lately!

I start reading backwards, then switch to reading from the first page/line later.

I also often skip and read the two pages of the book all at once. I start in the middle of one page, shift to the beginning, to the end of the other page, to the end of the one page...

I do this voluntary when I just scan pages and 'read' the words later in my head. That only happens with school books though, since I often do not want to read them until a few minutes before class. Then I must go through two pages in less than 1 minute, urgh. I'm so glad I'll never be in the position in which I must do again.

To read from the first page/first line to last page/last line I must also concentrate. Or else my eyes automatically shift over the page in an irregular pattern.

I try to read from right to left - instead from left to right. You're not left-handed are you? (Someone else asked already, but:) I am and I've been told starting to read/write from the right to left happens to children who are lefties frequently. For some reason, right-handed children naturally do the opposite and start left. While left-handed children are sometimes found to automatically try to start at the first line of the right side.

Hebrew, from right to left, is awesome! Very easy to read this way.



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04 Apr 2008, 8:54 am

Detren wrote:
You might want to consider learning Hebrew, chinese, or is it japanese? One of those reads from right to left. You might be a natural, (if you have an affinity for languages.)

Are you left handed? It's easier to pick up a magazine and flip from the back and have something catch your attention left handed.

Skimming a note for content before reading is perfectly "normal". Many people also "sneak a peak" at what might be coming next in the book they are reading. Might be a suspense factor? The others sound a touch dyslexic to me, but all the medical stuff I am seeing looks like mixing up of letters, not a reversal of everything. I did, however, find a small abstract HERE about a little test they threw some poor readers from a dyslexic source.

As for me, If something is backwards I don't really stumble on it, I can read it at a slightly slower rate, sometimes I do check out the back of a magazine first (mostly becuase I am bored and just fanning through it and a picture catches my eye (left handed)). I NEVER sneak a peak at the next part in a book, it ruins the surprise, then again, I've never snuck a peak at my Christmas presents either.


Peek sneaker, or is it sneak peeker? topic

Interesting. I do that to get info quickly, because I am so used to reading very abstract language, the easier newspaper/magazine stuff is skimmed through rapidly.

Thanks for the link. I am not dyslexic.


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Turtle000
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04 Apr 2008, 12:48 pm

I had thought it would make more sense if I was left-handed, but I'm a rightie.

Thanks to everyone who've answered.



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04 Apr 2008, 12:51 pm

I do the same as the OP. I also like to watch movies from a few minutes after the beginning. This is because I don't have the patience for the slow introductions and also usually the geest is in the end.


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04 Apr 2008, 1:11 pm

I tend to read things backwards too. Especially lists or other short points of information, but I do the same with paragraphs and other long pieces of text too.

Quote:
Sometimes I'll look at something and just feel like it's too much for my brain or something and then reading backwards is just so much easier


That's why I do it too. When given a long list or a long piece of text to read. Reading from top to bottom seems to overwhelm me somewhat. Reading from the bottom up, however, seems to be much easier for my brain to handle, for whatever reason...

I'm diagnosed Hyperlexic, so maybe it's something to do with that?



Brandon-J
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04 Apr 2008, 1:15 pm

Nah I don't never read backwards. I sometimes feel tempted to figure out what's going to happen at the end before I read it ,but I always tell myself to read from the beginning to figure out why and how.



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04 Apr 2008, 3:51 pm

No,but I write backwards(on paper). Like...mirror image backwards.


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Thor
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05 Apr 2008, 7:46 am

I always read newspapers and magazines backwards. More exactly, I read the front cover, then the back cover and then I read the paper backwards.

The same with webpages. I scroll down to the bottom and start reading from the last paragraph to the first. Sometimes I jump paragraphs, then I go back, and in the end I've read all the article but in a weird order.

In tests, I answer the first questions, then I go to the last one and do all the test backwards.

I don't know why I do this. It's just the right way to do it for me. I am left-handed but I don't know if this has something to do with this habit.


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coopert
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06 Feb 2010, 3:02 pm

I was searching the internet for other people who read books, and other texts backwards.I do not read individual letters/words backwards. I've done this for years. I've only met one other individual who does this. I thought there must be a reason why we prefer to read this way.I mostly read non-fiction books, so this would include topics such as history. I do like to get to the bottom line and avoid superfluous information.