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Kindle Notes & Highlights
instinctual
Since purpose has such power, anytime you sit down to read, set a goal or purpose. Determine beforehand what you want or hope to gain from the material.
Clarifying your purpose helps the mind tremendously. Instead of deciding which of the hundred urges to follow, it has a clear directive. It knows what to tune out and where to turn its attention. In other words, if you want your mind to know and pursue your goals and intentions, you must identify and clearly state them.
whenever you pick up something to read, state the purpose or intention for reading it. The clearer the purpose, the easier it will be for the mind to grasp the information—and the faster you can sift through it.
The key is to determine why you are reading the text or what you want to know once finished. If reading for an assignment, you might ask why the instructor assigned the chapter or section. Two universal examples include: What can I get out of this material or How will reading it help me?
Power of Preview
Preview is one of the most valuable steps readers can take to improve reading speed and comprehension. That’s because previewing gives the mind a framework of what will be discussed. It helps the mind understand the type of information that will be presented and how it will be organized.
erroneous
One reason is that the mind doesn’t necessarily respond to what is happening in real-time, but to what it thinks is going to happen. In other words, the mind is constantly making predictions about the future.
intuition
perpetually
anticipate
the brain is essentially a prediction machine
we respond to people not based on what they are saying, but on what we assume they are going to say. We react to situations not based on the outcome, but rather on our fear and anticipation of the outcome. And we respond not based on the actual question someone asks, but on the question the mind believes is being asked. When our predictions are wrong, mistakes occur.
This is why proofreaders are taught to spell check by reading backward. When reading forward, the mind can guess, based on the context of the sentence or paragraph, the word that should come next. Therefore, we see words as they should be, not as they are. As a result, we increase the likelihood of overlooking mistakes.
dissect
Read the first and last paragraphs, examine words in bold or italics, read any quoted texts, and glance at any illustrations.
Read the front and back covers. Review the table of contents to get a feel for the organization, and notice if the book is divided into sections or parts. Read the chapter headings to get a sense of the topics that will be covered. Next, read samples of the text. If there is a preface, begin there. Read also the entire introduction and conclusion. Finally, skim through the book and notice items in bold, italics, quotes, and any diagrams or tables. While skimming, read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter.
To remember all this, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) recommends the acronym T.H.I.E.V.E.S
delve
Habituate
Styles
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested–Francis Bacon
In summary, anytime you pick up a book or other reading material, don’t just start reading it using your standard pattern. Take a moment to gauge the content and your purpose.
Like most people, you will find it challenging to switch pace. Your habit wants to read all material at the one speed to which it has become accustomed, and going against the habit will create resistance.
one should do before beginning any reading task: define purpose, preview, and change reading style.
Space Reading
Space Reading directs you to avoid looking at the words you are reading, but rather at the spaces in between the words. That's right—at the spaces between words!
scoured
Even • though • you • are • not • looking • at • any • of • the • words • in • this • paragraph • your • eyes • and • mind • are • still • able • to • pick • up • the • text. • This • happens • because • paying • attention • to • the • spaces • prevents • your • eyes • from • narrowing • their • focus • on • individual • words.
to read faster, move from looking at the spaces between every two words to looking at the spaces between every three words. Then, every four words. With enough practice, you can advance to looking at only a few spaces per row of text to quickly grasp the information in that row.
In the beginning, avoid the need to comprehend what you are reading. Simply focus on developing the habit of looking at the spaces and moving from one space to the next. Understanding and comprehension will come naturally as the mind evolved to derive meaning from what the eyes take in. Trust your mind to construct meaning without effort on your part.
The great thing about this technique is that it is not a skill that needs to be learned or developed; it is an innate ability that you already possess. It’s the natural way the eyes and mind work to process information. Therefore, you need only change the habit from looking at words to looking at the spaces between those words.
Space Reading® is trademarked and cannot be reproduced without prior express written permission).
Chunking works on the same principle as Space Reading. As you learned, the eyes have the ability to process an image or object either in its entirety or in distinct parts. When looking at a distinct part, the eyes instinctively focus on that part to the exclusion of all others. This causes us to miss everything around it.
The key to this technique is not to grab words at random but to grab combinations that form a phrase. A phrase is two or more words that form a meaningful unit in a sentence.
A more recent study published in the European Journal of Business and Social Sciences found students instructed on phrase reading significantly outperformed those in the control [group] in reading speed and comprehension
Although both work on the same principle, they function independently of one another. That is, they can’t necessarily be used together because it is difficult to effectively look at a space and chunk at the same time. When reading, you will either look at spaces or at chunks of words, but not both
Subvocalization is the act of pronouncing every word you read. When subvocalizing, you either say words out loud, hear them spoken in your mind, or move your lips to their pronunciation.
greatly reduces reading speed by adding an unnecessary step, or steps.
auditory
Fixation occurs during reading as well. When reading, the eyes stop and fix on words to see them clearly. They don't stop for long, but they do, indeed, stop with each and every word. This quick pause gives the eyes an opportunity to pick up the text.
Fixations also reduce comprehension. Meaning is easier to pull from groups of words than from individual words, or even single letters.
First, by reducing the number of words you fixate on. Second, by decreasing the length you hold each fixation.
regression, which is similar to fixation, but instead of stopping to look at words you are reading, you stop to go back to words you’ve already read. So, regression is the act of reading the same text multiple times.
Regression also reduces comprehension.
regression breaks flow and speed reading is all about flow.
with regression, you lose the flow and structure of the text, forcing the machine to be constantly re-started. Even worse, by backtracking often, the mind and eyes never get a chance to get into flow. This severely limits reading potential. Overall, regression doubles, or even triples, reading time and may not even result in better comprehension.
Much like fixation, regression is a natural visual process.
