Book Review: Speed Reading
I just read a good book about how to read faster and the key point is to realise that most things you don't have to read every word. A quick skim of the contents, then the first paragraph, the first sentence of each paragraph and conclusion will garner about 70% knowledge of what the article is trying to say, especially if it is well written.
The other point is that your mind subconsciously understands and recalls more than what you think it does, and that you can read faster than you can hear. Hence if you are talking to yourself when you read, usually it means that you're reading too slowly.
They have some smart suggestions of how to read faster, with grouping of words together (so you don't read every word), stopping your eyes a few cm before the end of the line (to maximise what your eyes are seeing), and doing the white card thing (but pushing down the pages so that you eyes are forced to move on).
There are exercises to do, but I have to admit I skipped most of them :)
2 comments:
I quite enjoy reading for reading's sake ... some pleasure in reading to enjoy a book, not speed through it. Don't you find you need to go away and think/digest information too? Wouldnt think speed reading take away from that?
Ah, difference between reading fiction and non-fiction. In the case of fiction the aim is to read it from cover to cover and enjoy it.
The key is to recognise that not all info is of value to you, so the quicker you can find what is valuable in an article, the quicker you can drill down to get that info.
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