A speed reader reads up to six or seven times faster than the average reader. This is due to the fact that, unlike in the second, the first reads per line instead of by word.
While the average reader has the ability to skip a word and still understand the meaning of the text, the speed reader reads only one or two words of a line and gets the same result. This means that both the degree of concentration as the ability to understand the speed reader should be much higher; this way you can retain apprehended knowledge.
What are the advantages of knowing to read faster?
- Save reading time, you read more in less time
- Remember better what you already read because you are more focused on it
- The brain and eyes work less time reading than before.
10 tips to learn how to be a fast reader
- Try not read word for word. You must forget the way you learned to read in childhood to adopt this new technique.
- Avoid repeating the words in your mind (subvocalization), this only slow down your reading speed and retention capacity. If you notice that you are unconsciously doing this operation, try counting to 10 times repeatedly as you read to break the habit.
- Practice seeing and capturing text blocks without stopping in each one. Leafing text, keep your look in moving and stresses the lines with your right index finger. If you use pencils or pens to do this you can scratch the surfaces of the computer, the tablet or the device that you use.
- Assures the top part of the book with the left hand, so you can turn the page without decreasing the reading speed.
- Read the titles and subtitles.
- Leafing through the introduction. This allows the eyes to understand text blocks instead of reading slowly word by word. Your mind will understand the meaning, trust it and do not reread.
- Set goals of the reading: What information you must obtain from the book. From there parses the text with these goals in mind. Example: If the book is about the history of space exploration, reading your goals should be: find out when performing the first space flight, the budget, the emergence of the NASA….
- Pay attention to what you read and search for the answers to the questions that you face in your goals.
- Notes once you’ve finished the book. This will allow you to test your understanding and retention capacity and increase reading speed.
- Take a break for every hour that you devote to this technique.
