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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.

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    While it's generally an easy way for a filmmaker to show that somebody is ultra intelligent, speed reading really isn't that difficult so I imagine so.
    – Anthony Grist
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 21:17

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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.

Script

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  • I never knew this speed reading kind of thing is there.
    – sirajalam049
    Commented Sep 2, 2017 at 4:39

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