‘I think books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you most need them.’
Emma Thompson
I do not intend to introduce any new techniques in this chapter but rather to consolidate and summarise those from the previous chapters.
I will return to the questions regarding your beliefs and preconceptions about reading posed in Chapter 1. Hopefully you will have changed your mind about some of these as a result of reading this book. Any journey can suffer minor setbacks along the way so I will tackle some frequently asked questions regarding continued progress and practice. One final note worthy of inclusion is the application of speed reading to alleviate dyslexia and related conditions. I urge you to recommend speed reading to anyone you know with dyslexia as this is not something that sufferers would automatically think of trying. In many cases the techniques can have a very positive impact.
You can remember the main speed reading techniques by the acronym GO FASTER. This stands for:
- Guide your eyes
- Only go forwards
- Fixate for shorter periods
- Attitude – positive and alert
- Stay on the page
- Take in meaningful chunks
- Expand your field of vision
- Relativistic reading
Look back at the progression chart in the Introduction and work out how much your speed has improved. If you think about it, you have only done 12 tests, compared with thousands of readings the ‘old’ way. Speed reading is therefore still a fragile habit.
This book is only the beginning of your journey to becoming a super speed reader. Do not let yourself lapse into old habits. I suggest that you repeat the relativistic exercise (see Chapter 7) before any extended period of reading. Try to implement the techniques in this book whenever possible in your day-to-day reading. With sustained practice you can continue to progress to almost any speed you desire.
The following graphs show improvements in speed reading on recent courses. When working with a group, all reading tests are only one minute in duration.
Do you remember our list of statements from Chapter 1 that you identified as true or false? In fact, all the statements are false. Let’s consider each of them in turn:
Don’t subvocalise (say the words under your breath to yourself or hear the words in your head)
As we saw in Chapter 8, subvocalisation doesn’t markedly slow you down and, if used appropriately, can greatly aid both comprehension and recall.
Using your finger to point to words on a page is wrong. It slows you down and is childish
Using your finger or, even better, a slender pointer as a guide for your eyes is very valuable. Contrary to slowing you down, it actually speeds you up! Being ‘childlike’, rather than ‘childish’ is a positive thing. As children we correctly and naturally pointed at words.
To understand a book’s contents you must read it ‘slowly and carefully’
As I have stated many times in this book, reading ‘slowly and carefully’ is the worst possible advice that a teacher can give. Reading ‘rapidly and accurately’ would be nearer to the best advice. I am saddened that this is what I was taught at school and annoyed when I see the same myth perpetuated in schools today.
Always start reading at the beginning of a book and go through to the end
This may be good advice if you are reading a detective novel and you don’t want to know who the murderer was until the final few pages but for virtually any other type of book, especially study texts, this is bad advice. It is far better to get an overview first, then read the bits that are relevant. It is very rarely that you need to read any book cover to cover, even this one!
Go back and understand what you are reading before you continue reading
This destroys your rhythm and disrupts comprehension. Press onward and you will build more context. It is far easier to see where a jigsaw piece fits when all the pieces around the space are completed. Authors restate the same thing in different ways and elaborate upon a point.
Each word must be read separately
As I explained in Chapters 3, 7 and elsewhere, words should be read in meaningful chunks. This is one of the key speed principles. An added benefit is that these chunks are units of thought so fit together better than disjointed single words, thus making more sense.
As you read faster, your comprehension drops
On the contrary, as you read faster your comprehension increases. Reading slowly gives your mind too much time in between assimilating words so that it can drift, freely associate and wander off the point. If you read quickly there is no time for this to happen so you are more focused and your thoughts more closely follow the author’s ideas.
Look up a word that you do not know right away
If you get to the end of a chapter and still don’t comprehend what you have read, then add the new words to your vocabulary learning list and look them up, but not before.
It isn’t natural to read fast
It isn’t ‘normal’ to read fast but it is absolutely natural. What could be more natural than reading at the speed you think?
You cannot appreciate the material if you read it fast
As I have stated many times, you get a better appreciation of material if you read it fast. If you want to savour the evocative language of a poem and let your imagination roam freely, nobody is going to stop you, but the decision is yours.
Motivation plays no role in reading speed
This is so important to reading that I devoted almost the whole of Chapter 4 to motivation. Your frame of mind is absolutely key to the effectiveness of your reading.
It is not necessary to rest or exercise your eyes
Resting the eyes and changing your focus from time to time is vitally important to maintain healthy vision, prevent excessive tiredness and continue to be able to assimilate the words on a page or screen.
Comprehension should always be 100 per cent
It is very rare that comprehension is 100 per cent, no matter what speed you read at. It is usually unnecessary to have 100 per cent comprehension. You do not remember 100 per cent of what you read and you wouldn’t want to. Imagine if someone asked you a question about something that you had read and you had to recite every single word. You comprehend, understand and store the salient details and important points.
You cannot see any wider than a page
The only conceivable way this could be true is if you wore horse’s blinkers and held the book directly in front of your nose. As you experienced in the exercise at the end of Chapter 4, your visual field is far wider and higher than a page.
You can only read what you are directly focusing on visually
You can take in a whole page in your peripheral vision and get useful information from it, so your central focus is only part of your brain’s reading resources.
You must not mark or write on books
You must not mark or write on library books in ink. You can write on any book in pencil. Highlighting, underlining and writing in the margins improves a book and makes it your own. When I was at university, old textbooks were sold off in the student’s union after the exams. There was always demand for the books that had belonged to someone who got a first class degree as they had the best notes in the margins!
How do I speed read when travelling?
The best environment for reading is an office or study with a desk, appropriate lighting, decor and seating. However, you may find yourself in situations, such as whilst travelling, where you have time to read but less than ideal conditions. In these instances you have to be pragmatic and sacrifice some of the techniques.
On aeroplanes, especially travelling economy class, if you were to hold your book at almost arm’s length you would be hitting the head of the person in the row in front. In this case hold the book as far away as you can in the confines of your seat. Try to maximise the amount of light available, ideally with the window blinds up if travelling in daylight. You can still use a guide, take in groups of words, avoid backskipping and minimise fixation times. Another problem with aircraft is the noisy environment. You can wear earplugs and possibly noise-cancelling headphones on some airlines.
If you travel on trains, try to get a seat with a table. In this case you are able to apply all the techniques as it is almost like sitting at a desk at home. You do need to be mindful of other passengers and not monopolise the whole table but this shouldn’t be a problem if the train isn’t especially full. If you are forced to have one of the airline style seats you have to follow the guidelines above for planes. One major problem with trains is the vibration that makes it slightly difficult to use a guide effectively. Try your best.
Buses, coaches and tube trains also have the problem of vibration, noise and lack of space. Once again you may have to sacrifice holding the book at the correct distance but will probably be able to use most of the other techniques.
Do not be put off by the odd looks of other passengers or your own self-consciousness. As long as you are not inconveniencing others or getting in their way, any issues they have with your reading techniques are their problem, not yours!
Your comprehension and speed will not be anywhere near your peak but nevertheless you will be better off than reading ‘traditionally’.
How do I continue to practise once I’ve finished reading this book?
The goal of speed reading is to use it in your everyday reading. It is relatively easy to calculate your reading speed. If you are reading Microsoft Word documents you can use the ‘word count’ function to determine how many words you have read and time yourself. If reading a book, just count the number of words in four or five lines, take the average and then multiply this by the number of lines you read. This will not be absolutely accurate but is good enough to gauge your progress.
What do I do if my speed reaches a plateau and I don’t seem to be able to progress?
Keep up your practice. It may take a little while but do not be put off. Make sure that you are applying all the techniques in this book, paying special attention to the procedures for managing your state-of-mind in Chapter 4.
What if my speed goes down?
Whilst your average performance should move upwards there will probably be some instances when you suffer temporary setbacks. This is to be expected. The important thing is how you deal with these. Don’t beat yourself up, be despondent or frustrated. ‘Failures’ are a great opportunity to learn. Analyse what went wrong and try something else.
‘Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.’
Thomas Edison
Dyslexia
One of the surprising applications of speed reading is to help dyslexics to read more efficiently. This is counterintuitive as you may think that if someone struggles to read in the traditional way, it is fruitless to try to apply a more advanced technique.
According to the British Dyslexia Association, 10 per cent of the British population are dyslexic, 4 per cent severely so. Some studies show that the condition tends to be more prevalent in boys than girls and often runs in families. It has no relationship to IQ and sufferers of dyslexia are generally of average or above average intelligence with more developed artistic abilities. The symptoms of dyslexia can differ from person to person, and each individual with the condition will have a unique pattern of strengths and weaknesses. However, some typical symptoms include:
- Slow writing speed – someone may be very knowledgeable about a certain subject but they may have problems expressing that knowledge in writing.
- Problems with reading fluency – reading fluency is the ability to read text smoothly, rapidly and automatically, without having to use any, or little, conscious effort. In adulthood this often leads to efforts to conceal difficulties including:
- trying to avoid reading and writing whenever possible;
- relying on memory and verbal skills, rather than reading or writing.
Using a guide for reading can significantly help in reading fluency. Moving the guide in a smooth fluid motion allows the eyes to track across the page more smoothly and rapidly.
A related condition, often misdiagnosed as dyslexia as it has similar symptoms, is Irlen Syndrome or Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS). This was first identified by educational psychologist Dr Helen Irlen whilst working with adult learners in California in the early 1980s.
SSS is a specific type of perceptual problem that affects the way the brain processes visual information. It is not an optical problem. For those with the condition, the brain is unable to process the full spectrum of light. This results in a range of distortions in perception of the environment and the printed page. These include text that drifts, shifts, shakes, blurs, runs together, disappears or becomes difficult to see. It is often exacerbated by environmental factors such as lighting, brightness, glare, high contrast, patterns and colours.
Reading more rapidly alleviates this problem. The rate of movement or drift of text remains constant whilst reading speed increases. Thus the amount of drift relative to the number of words read decreases. Or put more simply, the words have been read before they’ve had a chance to go anywhere!
In addition to speed reading, coloured overlays that reduce glare can eliminate the problem. The company Irlen UK also offer tinted lenses customised to block the specific wavelengths of light that affect the sufferer.
Range reading
One very important aspect of speed reading is that this is only one option in a range of reading speeds. It all depends on your needs.
If you have limited time and need the gist of a report then you can skim it at 3,000 words per minute or faster. You won’t get a very high level of comprehension but you won’t need it.
If you want to study a chapter of a textbook in depth you might read it at 600–800 wpm and then possibly make notes or create a Mind Map.
If you are reading fiction to relax, you may read at anything from 200–400 wpm. You can read fiction much faster, as Anne Jones showed with Harry Potter.
If you want to savour a poem, you could read at 100 wpm. Or read it once quickly and once slowly or even several times.
If you take a book to bed with the sole aim of going to sleep, you may read a few pages or even a few paragraphs and fall completely asleep. Your reading speed will be 60 wpm or maybe even slower but it is perfect for the purpose.
Usain Bolt can run 100 metres in 9.58 seconds but I am sure he occasionally likes to take a stroll to the shops! Just because you can read very fast doesn’t mean you always have to. It is always your choice.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this book and I wish you brilliant success in your future speed reading.