Introduction to Speed Reading
Learning to Speed Read
Learning to speed read easily, effectively and effortlessly is considered by many to be of life's most rewarding and valuable skills. And with patience and practice, improving your reading speed is something which is at your fingertips.
You may think that speed readers understand less than average readers but people who learn how to speed read actually, in most cases, understand more than slower readers. This is because the process of learning to speed read includes developing reading comprehension. Plus when reading faster you acquire more information and are less likely to get bored of what you are reading. With material which is interesting the mind is actively engaged and stimulated and as you become interested you naturally understand more of what you are reading.
Just like achieving physical fitness through exercise. Reading and comprehension fitness can be improved through reading exercises. Exercises which enhance the ability to speed read, learn and comprehend information.
With the right training you can easily achieve over 500 words per minute. Sound too far fetched? Well, the world record for the world's fastest speaker is held by Steve Woodmore but unfortunately couldn't find a clip of soundbite. But here is a clip of John Moschitta, the previous record holder who was able to speak at 586 wpm. And I think we all agree that talking fast is much harder than reading fast.
In a fast paced world we live in today, effective and efficient reading skills are essential. Helping you read and process large quantities of information quickly, so that you can focus and concentrate on tasks.
Here are some reasons why you may be interested in improving your reading speed:
- To improve your concentration and reading comprehension
- Supercharge your ability to retain information
- Ease and overcome learning difficulties
- To increase reading speeds dramatically
- To better understand how the eyes and brain work together to absorb and retain information
- To increase vocabulary
- To save you time and develop reading confidence
- To simply get through more books - after all there are so many great ones waiting to be read
And here are some reading problems to overcome
- Being selective and deciding what to read
- Understanding what you read
- Retaining the information
- Recalling information
The prospect of improving your reading speed can seem like hard work - but like anything worth doing, the more you practice, the easier it gets.
By learning to speed read your eyes will physically work less hard, because the natural rhythm and flow of the more fluid reading speed allows you to absorb the information rather than reading at a slower pace which gives room for pausing, boredom and loss of concentration - which overall will reduce comprehension and retention.
The problem for many of us is that the last time we had a chance of flexing our reading muscles in practice may well of been when we were studying as a student. So as we grow older, we develop new skills to prepare us for our jobs and responsibilities. However very rarely, if ever do we ever develop our reading skills to better prepare us for the new barrage of information we are exposed to.
The importance of speed reading
Increasing your reading speed has become an ever-important skill to master. In this current information age, we become exposed to 'information overload' and efficient reading and the ability to effectively retain the right information has become ever more useful.
The Internet provides a wealth of information right at our fingertips and with endless pages on the Web, each one filled with useful (and not so useful) information. Reading becomes a survival skill for the moden day. It is important then to learn how to filter information overload better and to improve comprehension and retention so that we can process the relevant information better - two fundamental principles for effective speed reading.
In the same way that it would make our lives much easier if we could skim through useless advertisements - to get to the useful stuff. Improving your reading skills will not only help you read and comprehend faster, but you will be able to quickly tell the difference between the useful and useless stuff by becoming more discriminating about the information you consume. Separating the nuggets - from the noise.
Every day effectiveness of speed reading
The principles of speed reading can help to significantly boost your effectiveness to process information and 'seperate the nuggets from the noise'. Once you have successfully boosted your reading speed you will find that you can breeze through magazines, newspapers, long emails from co-workers, required study materials and enjoy more of those rewarding novels.
Of course for more immersive reading, like novels, it may be more suitable to go at slower rate. A good process for developing your reading speed will provide you with the skills to adjust your reading speed to suit the material that you are covering.
Enjoy your reading
Do remember that reading fast may not be best suited for times when you want to be immersed in your reading such as with a novel. After all, what good is it see the end of a book as the destination - if we miss out on the valuable bits of the 'journey' along the way?
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