Read With Speed

All of us on a daily basis read, read, and read some more. We read our psychology, our sociology, our math, our microbiology, and our infamous A&P. While I don't know for sure, I would place a safe bet that a majority of people either don't enjoy reading, enjoy reading but don't remember what they just read, or more likely, don't enjoy reading and don't remember what they just read. Me personally, I'm alittle bit of all three types I've proposed. I enjoy reading, and remember, or comprehend some of what I've read. Ofcourse, the subject matter is a factor as well. I'll easily remember a passage from a newspaper article, but without significant study, I probably won't remember the finer details of my A&P, or heavy, complicated material.

As I've gone through my classes, I've noticed my lack of comphrension. And I'm sure most of you have as well. We spend hundreds of hours studying thinking we will pass that big test, or hope we will.

So I began to wonder "How could increase my reading speed while increasing comphrension?" Tough question, that I found out isn't easily answered. I did some simple research on google, and typed in "speed reading techniques." I came across several products that claim increasing readers speed to thousands of words a minute. Now, having been in sales, I know when something sounds too good to be true, it always is. Always a catch! After further research, I came across a free e-book by Peter Shepherd and Gregory Unsworth-Mitchell. The content in the e-book is what is important here, but they still deserve their credit. The e-book "The speed reading course" seemed short of 40 pages, so I read it. The book intially goes into the neural anatomy, and how our memory consalidates, etc. But I didn't want another Psych lecture, I wanted the good stuff. The "cream filling" in a sense. I continued to read, and I was very surprised at the methods the authors proposed. So myself being a curious fella, I tried it out. I took a free reading test online before using the methods in the book, as a "control." My words per minute(WPM) was 425. The average is 200-250 depending on the source, so I'm not too bad. But like I said, I tried the methods out. I nearly doubled my reading speed to 835WPM and increased what I remembered. This was astonishing to me. Now, this wasn't an instant change. I started practicing on magazines, newspapers, even Cosmo. lol Yes, now I know how to give a guy that special massage, thanks to Cosmo! But more importantly, the practicing on the easy stuff carried over to my textbook reading. I read the chapters faster, and I am able to recite information days after unlike before. I mean, I was able to before, but my studying took a great deal of my time, without being very efficient.

All I'm saying is, are you tired of endless reading, only to forget nearly everything the next day? Do you want to save an extraordinary amount of time?(Sounds like an informercial lol) I'm sure most are saying "yes" right now. I would say by reading the e-book, your reading experience, as well as your learning adventure will be much more fruitful, and worth the time you are already spending. Seriously, take the hour or so, and read the e-book. Don't worry too much about the brain, and neuroscience mumbo-jumbo, but some it is semi-interesting.

The next paragraph is a concept from the e-book, that I wasn't aware of. It is summarized, but you'll get the point.

For instance, when we are taught to read as youngster, we learn to read word for word for word for word for word for word for word for word for word. Last sentence tedious huh? Well, that's how most people read. There is no reason to read every single word, because our brain can comprehend language much, much quicker than that. Also, when we read like this, we "subvocalize." Meaning we move our lips as we read. Ultimately, this drastically slows our reading to a slug's pace. Notice this, whenever you are reading, and you come to something that is difficult to understand, notice if you are using your lips. More than likely, you are. This is a habit that roots from our grade-school days, that is good for then, but not now. We revert to subvocalization because that is what we were taught to do, to better understand something. While that is good for youngsters, we as adults with fully capable and mature brains, have no use for it.

Finally, I haven't always enjoyed reading, because there didn't seem to be any "fun" involved. As I got older, I've grown to liken reading. All I'm saying is, if you are willing to spend hours in the gym, study for a test, hone your skills in a sport, or really, practice anything, why not practice and invest a meager amount of time in reading skills? Ultimately, your small investment in these skills, will pay off in your educational and occupational career.

By the way, I have to say "results may vary," simply because it worked for me, doesn't mean it'll work for everybody else, but it's worth the try!

P.S. For those of you that absolutely despise reading, you never know, you may grow to enjoy reading afterall.

-Andrew

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