Speed Reading with the Right Brain: Learn to Read Ideas Instead of Just Words

by David Butler

This means the left brain handles information one step at a time, while the right brain looks at whole patterns of information simultaneously.

Tapping the right brain was the answer,

it teaches you how to strengthen your comprehension and then let your reading speed increase on its own.

What Your Speed Means Based on studies of average adult readers, here are some basic speed categories: 1 out of 2 adults can read 200 WPM (“average” readers) 1 out of 10 adults can read 300 WPM (“good” readers) 1 out of 100 adults can read 400 WPM (“fast” readers) 1 out of 1,000 adults can read 600 WPM (“speed” readers)

READING IS COMPREHENSION.

comprehension wasn’t just a part of reading; on the contrary, reading was nothing but comprehension.

Seeing text and recognizing words, was only the delivery process—but it wasn’t reading. The words delivered raw data to my brain, but this data wasn’t actually read until I understood it.

You haven’t read anything until you’ve comprehended it.

What is most important is that the phrases make sense to you and are easy to imagine.

people

Skin horse refers to his toymates as "people"? Interesting....

playthings

Toy being reverted back to "playthings" when the author is talking in the sense of Nana.

Sometimes the easiest way to find the solution to a problem is to make sure you are asking the right question to begin with.

Other skills—such as previewing, asking yourself questions, mind mapping, etc.—might be useful, but none of these are really about reading; they are about everything around reading. If you want to know more about these peripheral skills, there are abundant resources already available.

I call these skills "soft skills".

this book focuses on exercising your mental processing, because reading is essentially a mental activity, not a visual one. Therefore, the instructions and exercises in this book are intended to strengthen your powers of concentration and focus.

For now, realize that in order to conceptualize ideas, you’ll need to be able to read whole phrases at a time, because there is seldom enough information in individual words to form meaningful mental concepts.

But, do not rush your reading. You mostly want to concentrate on involving the powerfully equipped parallel-processing visual machinery of your right hemisphere, to transfer the reading data from the wordy left side, through the thick bundle of nerves of the corpus callosum, and over to the right side for visualizing and conceptualizing. You want to experience what it feels like to “see” the meaning of what you read.

Today there really is only one limit to the information available, and that limit is us. Our reading speed is the only limit there is to the many things we can know and the many stories we can experience.

A superior reading skill can give us greater access to this expanding cornucopia of information, and access to this information can have a powerful effect on our lives. It can make our lives easier, happier, and even safer and healthier—which might even mean longer!

You are not just reading new information, but conceptualizing it and associating it with previous information. Each of these complex memories creates even more association points for future memories to attach to. The more you know, the easier it becomes to know more. And more knowledge is more power.

The real power of human intelligence is not in the collection of information, but in the connections of information.

With the explosion of information available through e-readers and the internet, we are likely witnessing a fundamental transformation of the world. In fact, we are probably at the beginning of an unprecedented information and knowledge revolution—a quantum leap in the development of human intelligence and potential.

A rocket ship is about to take off, headed for the future, but only those with excellent reading skills will be aboard.

If you are careful to read slightly faster while concentrating on imagining the meaning of what you read, there will still be less of a tendency to say the words.

just concentrate on the visuals but avoid going too slowly.

3 Mind Tricks to Power-Up Your Reading Read meaningful groups of words at a time. Concentrate on whole ideas instead of words. Conceptualize the meanings of those ideas.

So, how do you improve your comprehension? The answer is surprisingly and almost deceptively simple: by improving your thinking.

The main point here is that larger, more complex ideas have many more possible points of contact in your mind.

Your mind will also instantly pay more attention because humans are very visual animals and images are what our brains crave most.

Please note that I will often use the words "conceptualizing" and "visualizing" interchangeably.

Now, although conceptualizing is actually a simple trick, it may not seem so simple to sustain at first, and you may feel yourself going into and out of the conceptualizing zone. Here’s why:

However, it takes practice to learn to “see” ideas as you read, and at first this process may slow your reading.

The problem is that your chain of comprehension becomes broken when you skip a piece of information.

Keep These Tips in Mind Visualize. The brain is wired to notice and react more quickly and emotionally to visuals.

Phrases are ideas, not sounds; think about what they mean. Words in phrases give each other context and become more meaningful. Looking for that meaning will help you to see those word-groups. If at times you get stuck and lose concentration, stop focusing on speed. Refocus on ideas by forcing your brain to visualize. Concentrate on comprehension and the speed will come.

it’s a simple uncommon-sense solution to reading more efficiently, effectively, powerfully, and quickly.

Another helpful thing to notice is that the last word is often the “key” word in each meaningful phrase.

may seem like a lot to think about while reading, but it’s only another helpful tool for focusing on ideas versus words.

remember that speed is the result of better comprehension.

They know that power comes more from good technique than from physical force. This same principle of technique over force also applies to reading.

"Practice doesn’t make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." —Vince Lombardi

In the 1960s, psychologists Paul Fitts and Michael Posner described the three stages of acquiring a new skill.

away from that third, "good enough" stage. This strategy consists of three elements: Focusing on technique. Keeping attention on the goal.

Getting constant feedback.

The secret to reaching higher skill levels is retaining conscious control and staying out of the autopilot mode. Consciously concentrating on technique is more effective than simply putting in more hours of practice.

All this additional concentration may seem challenging, but think about what this is doing—this concentration is literally strengthening your brain. New discoveries about the neuroplasticity of the brain have demonstrated that the brain actually restructures itself to meet new cognitive demands.

According to Nassim Taleb’s book Antifragile,

In the long run, not having good reading skills will end up costing you more than the effort needed to acquire them.

the law of inertia works both ways, and once a body (or a mind) is in motion, it tends to stay in motion.

This change of speed can sometimes break you out of a rut, like rocking a car back and forth to get traction if you’re stuck in a mud hole. This

This short discussion of the history of reading will make it easier to understand this skill that we’re seeking to improve.