Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour (Mental Performance)

by Kam Knight

The eyes do not operate alone but work in conjunction with the brain. In fact, the eyes are directly connected to the brain, which leads many to suggest that the eyes are an extension of the brain rather than distinct, separate organs. Scientists estimate that as much as 65 percent of the brain is used to process visual information.

reading and comprehension go hand-in-hand, so in addition to improving reading speed, you will learn to improve comprehension. After all, the purpose of reading faster is to learn more information. What good is reading quickly if we can’t make sense of and retain that information? Improving speed without improving comprehension is not speed reading. The aim is to help you read faster and with greater comprehension.

Habits are routines or behaviors that are repeated so often and for so long that they become automatic—and then permanent.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why—Mark Twain.

Purpose improves mental function, increases concentration, and actually repairs the DNA.

Purpose is incredibly valuable to reading as well. When a goal or purpose is applied to a reading assignment, suddenly the mind stops wandering, and instead, becomes focused on the material at hand.

Anytime 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 interpret the information—and the faster you can sift through it.

Two universal questions include: What can I get out of this material or How will this reading impact me?

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions—Albert Einstein

preview material before reading it. That means scrolling through the text, scanning the table of contents, major headings, any words in bold or italics, visual aids, and any information that seems important.

Preview is one of the most important steps readers can take to improve reading speed and comprehension.

mind is continually making predictions about the future.

Skilled readers almost never read a text cold. Instead, they examine it first with preview.

Articles and Reports Read the first and last paragraphs, examine words in bold or italics, read any quoted texts, and glance at any illustrations.

read samples of the text. If there is a preface, begin sampling the reading there. Read also the full introduction and conclusion. Finally, skim through the book and take note of items in bold, italics, quotes, and any diagrams or tables. While skimming, read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter.

The goal of preview is to sample the material, not get caught up in details.

3 to 5 minutes for lengthier ones, such as books and manuals.

By skipping preview, the mind is likely to make inaccurate predictions, making it difficult to understand the material.

speed reading isn’t about how fast one moves through text but how fast the facts and ideas can be comprehended.

Finally, preview can help determine if the text will meet the goal or purpose you established

Condition your brain and habits to understand that it's not okay to proceed without preview. Let them know not to push you into reading without previewing it first.

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!

Think before you speak. Read before you think–Fran Lebowitz

Subvocalization is the act of pronouncing every word that is read. When subvocalizing, you either say words out loud, hear them spoken in your mind, or move your lips to their pronunciation. Any one of these acts is subvocalizing. Subvocalization greatly reduces the speed at which you read by adding an unnecessary step, or steps, to your reading.

problem is that speech is a relatively slow activity. Our mind can’t say a word as fast as it can see it. This makes it impossible to read faster than we talk. By vocalizing words, out loud or in our head, we force the mind to read slower than its potential. Essentially, the mind is forced to perform two tasks at once.

Subvocalization is a behavior that starts when we first learn to read, because we are taught to read phonetically. We read out loud to connect the right sound to the right word. This is necessary for the brain to learn the words and develop associations with those words.

Once we become fluent, we stop reading out loud but continue the phonetic process.

The obvious way to reduce fixation is to pick up more words each time the eye stops. You learned to do this in the last section through space reading, chunking, and limiting subvocalization. These techniques were designed for this exact purpose.

regression is the act of reading the same text multiple times. Regression is common among readers; the average reader regularly revisits passages he or she has already read.

Most importantly, regression breaks flow, and speed reading is all about flow. It’s about syncing the pace of the eyes to the rhythm of the mind.

The most common reason for regression is that our eyes fixate on the wrong spot. As we read, we may lose our place on the page, or we may land our eyes on a spot much further along than we intended. As a result, we must go back and find the right spot.

Strategic vision is the ability to look ahead and peripheral vision is the ability to look around, and both are important–Carly Fiorina

Speed reading, as we’ve discussed, is about picking up more words in a single glance or fixation. In order to effectively develop this ability, it’s critical to expand visual range.

Visual range is the ability to see objects beyond your direct line of focus.

By expanding your visual range, you can see both what’s in front of you and on both sides without the eyes moving. This increases the capacity to capture more words in a single glance.

The goal of the table is to focus attention on the text in the center square while using peripheral vision to identify as many numbers and letters as possible in the outer squares. It is one of the best ways to open visual awareness.

Employing the Shultz table is a great way to train and expand peripheral vision. Practice using the tables until you can comfortably see the outer numbers with your peripheral.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events–Eleanor Roosevelt

Paragraphs are the fundamental units of all writing because they are the building blocks, much like bricks to a house, which hold together a piece of writing.

Topic sentences are what keeps the conversation going from one paragraph to the next.

not knowing the definition of a word dramatically slows reading. Our eyes fixate on unfamiliar words longer, and there is a greater impulse to regress.

A strong vocabulary is essential to increasing reading speed.

Studies show that people with a strong vocabulary not only understand more but read faster.

The stronger the vocabulary, the more words the brain can recognize and ...

Reading is an active, imaginative act—Khaled Hosseini

Keep in mind the goal is to visualize and read at the same time.