Double Your Reading Speed in 25 Minutes

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Double Your Reading Speed in 25 Minutes

• Jason Jerald
• Comp321
• 2/10/2006

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Motivation

• Can you imagine
• Reading a novel in 30 minutes?
• Re-reading material several times to insure you
  did not miss something and to reinforce the
  information?
• Reading a newspaper article in seconds?
• Make reading worth your time?
• Easily completing all your Comp321 reading?

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The Bad News

• We were taught the wrong way to read
• We are limited to 300 wpm using this method

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The Good News

• Anyone can learn to speed read
• Fairly easy to improve rates by 3-5 times
• Increasing speed increases comprehension and
  memory

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More Benefits Than Just Speed

• Better comprehension
• Short term memory shove ideas into brain
  quickly
• Less time for mind to wander
• Concepts instead of words (mind can only hold
  about 5 chunks at once)
• Faster thought processes

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Strategies

• Be motivated!
• Preview
• Proper eye movements
• Avoid regression
• Enlarge chunk size
• Do not subvocalize
• Relaxed concentration
• Rhythm
• Many others

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Using a Point of Focus

• Glide your fingers or a pencil just below the
  line you are reading in a raster pattern
• Using a pointer provides a rhythm and prevents
  regression
• Are you reading behind, at, or ahead of the tip
  of the pointer?
• Try it!

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Reading ahead

• Those reading a word or two ahead of the fixation
  point read much faster (left-brain readers)
• Try it!

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Subvocalization

• Subvocalization is the process of saying the
  words in your mind as you are reading
• What if we could remove subvocalization?
• This is harder seen than said!

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De-Vocalization How to

• The auditory part of the brain can be operated
  independently from the visual part of the brain
• Say a mantra (ohm ohm ohm), keyword, count a
  rhythm (1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4), or hum a song as you
  read visually
• At first this may seem difficult but after a few
  minutes becomes easier
• Try it!

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Expanding Field of View

• Groups of words
• Left to right then right to left (backwards
  reading)
• Whole lines
• Multiple lines
• Words, sentences, paragraphs, pictures become
  pictures

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Caveats

• Comprehension and memory decrease at first
• Easy to go back to old ways of reading
• Increasing rate becomes harder to improve upon
• Must be in right state of mind
• Technical material more difficult

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Double your Reading Speed!

• Relax
• Close eyes
• Let go of any tension in body
• A few deep breaths
• Briefly think about topic
• Briefly think about speed goal (2x first test)
• Finger or Pencil Ready
• Dont worry about following precisely
• Focus on speed
• Do not worry about comprehension for now
• Do not regress
• Read as fast as possible when I say go

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Recommendations

• Zadil, 1999, The Speed Reading Workbook
• Start here
• Skousen, O.D., 1986, The Alpha-Netics Rapid
  Reading Program
• Intense program
• EyeQ Software
• http//www.infmind.com/