Speed Reading

How to Double (or Triple)

Your Reading Speed
In Just 1 Hour!

by Justin Hammond
 Inspire3 Ltd
2nd Floor
145-147 St. John Street
London EC1V 4PY

www.inspire3.com

Copyright © 2012 Inspire3 Ltd

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,
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other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being
imposed on the subsequent publisher.
Contents

Introduction
What is Speed Reading?
Understanding Reading Speeds
Speed Reading Misconceptions & Benefits
Subvocalization: Or, How Reading Works
Bad Habits and How to Fix Them
Techniques to Double (or Triple) Your Reading Speed
Practicing Speed Reading
When You Should & Shouldn’t Speed Read
Conclusion
Appendix
Practice Passage A
Practice Passage B
Introduction

I could never seem to read as fast as my best friend.

When we would spend time reading at weekends, he seemed to devour one

book after another while I slowly chugged through. What took him hours to
read might take me days.

I began to borrow his books rather than read my own in the misguided belief
that it was his books, rather than his reading skills, that governed how
quickly he could read. That didn’t help: I read his books at my own dogged
pace and concluded (falsely) that he would just always be a faster reader.

I believed this fallacy for the next 20 years. As I advanced through college,
and as the length and complexity of the texts I read increased, it took me
longer and longer to complete assignments. I just accepted as fact that it
would take me a long time to read anything, and I spent hours every night
trying to finish my work. I had falsely accepted the fact that my reading pace
was fixed; I wasn’t aware that it could be improved.

Yes, I genuinely believed that I was stuck with my reading speed. Even
though I could read well – after all, I eventually received the highest English
distinction at college, and shortly after wrote a series of best-selling books –
I could not read quickly . In fact, I even attributed my excellent reading skills
to the fact that “I read slowly, so that’s why I catch lots of details and
understand everything I read so well.” Eventually I could read and
understand all kinds of literature with impressive skill. The secret I hid from
all my college classmates, though, was that I was spending around twice as
much time reading as they were.

Even as I completed graduate school courses, I still had no idea how students
could claim they “read the book twice this week,” or “read other books by
this author” in the past week. How did they do it? How did they read so fast?
The only answer I could come up with was that many people were like my
best friend – they were naturally fast readers . I, on the other hand, was a
naturally slow reader. And there was nothing I could do about it.

Like I said, I believed this lie for almost twenty years, until a colleague of
mine introduced me to the basic concepts of speed reading. The first and
most powerful lesson of speed reading is that it is a skill to be learned – not
an ability you’re born with . I couldn’t believe this at first, but I was hungry
to learn more.

Today I’m something of an expert on speed reading. I’ve studied the concept
for years. I’ve created best-selling courses on the topic, sold online today. I
coast easily through texts that years ago would have taken me weeks to read.
I blitz through my emails each morning in record time. I can get through a
newspaper, review business documents and blast through agreements in a
matter of minutes. I save more and more time, every single day. I know the
most powerful strategies behind speed reading, and I also know how to teach
them. Importantly, I also know when I shouldn’t read quickly.

I have tripled my reading speed , which has made an enormous difference to

the way I am able to use my time. And if you follow and apply the skills in
this guide, you’ll find that within a very short time, your reading speed can
double – at least .

Like me, you might have believed for a long time that you couldn’t read any
faster, and that you were stuck for the rest of your life at one reading pace. Or
perhaps you knew you could read faster, but you believed that you would
understand less. Don’t worry – I’ve been there, and I can honestly tell you
that your first step to becoming a better, faster, stronger reader is to let go of
these lies. Developing your speed reading skills is entirely possible. Not
only that, you can actually achieve faster reading speeds all within just an
hour .

Read on.
Chapter 1:
What is Speed Reading?

When I was about four years old, my father gave me a hammer. It was a very
small, very light hammer that was practically good for nothing, but I felt
important carrying it around. If I wanted to pound a nail into a piece of wood,
it took about 100 strikes with this hammer to do it. I was always amazed at
the men who could do the same thing with their massive hammers in just two
or three strikes.

Speed reading is kind of like using a bigger hammer. Yes, pounding away at
nails with my small hammer eventually got the job done, but it took a lot of
time and energy. Speed reading means that you enable yourself to complete
the same reading task, but with much greater efficiency.

The art of speed reading consists of a variety of reading methods and

techniques designed to get you reading faster. These methods focus on getting
you to decrease the number of habits that slow you down and increase the
number of habits that can speed you up. There is no single, simple approach
to speed reading that fits every person. In this book, you will learn about the
various techniques available and ways to practice them, and then you’ll get
guidance on how to select the techniques that best fit your reading patterns.

Once you’re armed with the right tools, you’ll be just as prepared as the
capable craftsman with his fully equipped tool belt. That craftsman is ready
to encounter any situation and is experienced enough to know which tools can
best accomplish the job. He wasn’t born knowing how to use these tools – he
was trained. You too can be trained so that you know exactly how to
approach any text, saving you tons of time and a mountain of energy.

What Will You Get from this Book?

Using the techniques taught in this book, you will (at least) double your
reading speed .
Now, before you zoom ahead and think that by just reading this your powers
of speed reading will suddenly and miraculously improve beyond
recognition, make sure you understand how this book is intended to work. It
is written to reveal the secrets of reading that are rarely taught in schools.

These secrets cover the following main points:

• Your reading speed is hindered by certain bad habits that you may or
may not be aware of. Cut these and you’ll increase your speed.
• There are special reading techniques you can apply, which will help you
to naturally read faster.

As the subtitle of this book makes clear, once you’ve drop the bad habits and
applied these techniques, you will be able to double (or triple) your reading
speed typically in just one hour .

Be aware: This book doesn’t do the reading for you. That’s where you come
in!

If you’re interested in doubling your reading speed, then you need to make
sure that you’re doing two things: 1) APPLY what you discover here to your
own reading; 2) PRACTICE these reading techniques. No one ever got good
at anything by just reading a book about it. Real skill and improvement come
from experience.
Chapter 2:
Understanding Reading Speeds

Speed is relative, and you might think that there’s no point in comparing your
own reading speed to those of others (after all, there’s no benefit to you in
finding out someone else is faster at reading).

Yet if you compare yourself to certain reading speed standards, you’ll be

able to work out just what reading speeds you’re potentially capable of.
Imagine you’re an amateur ice skater: if you look at the professional skater
gliding around, you’ll realise you’re capable of achieving far greater speeds
than at present (and you might then work towards improving your skating
speeds).

The unit used for speed reading is WPM – words per minute. It literally
means how many words per minute you can read. (You’ll often see the same
abbreviation for typists who can type a certain number of words per minute.)

How does your reading speed compare to these average speeds? *

Here are the average reading speeds of individuals in key age brackets:

NOTE : This chart only represents AVERAGES. Many people, experts

included, claim that averages mean nothing when it comes to reading. So if
you don’t fit in the average, don’t sweat it. No matter where you are in this
table, you CAN increase your speed.

* (If you’d like to take a quick test to determine what your average reading
speed is, turn to the appendix and follow the instructions for reading Passage
A.)

It can be intimidating for some readers to glance at these average reading

speeds and see where each person measures up. But don’t worry! Your only
goal is to see what is possible – not what is expected. These averages do not
provide any sort of basis for making broader implications about one’s
reading ability, intelligence, or comprehension.

The average educated adult’s reading speed is somewhere between 200 and
300 words per minute. This means that, according to the numbers, the
average adult can read John Steinbeck’s short novel Of Mice and Men – a
text just shy of 30,000 words – in about two hours. However, I’ve never met
someone who’s actually read the book in this amount of time.

Why would this be? Firstly, most people don’t have such levels of
concentration! But, secondly, remember that averages are calculations that
incorporate the reading speeds of extremely fast readers as well as extremely
slow readers. As a result, they’re often not great at describing what is
actually realistic. While many adults read at an “average” reading speed, the
truth is that many adults are slower and many adults are faster. Just keep your
mind focused on the fact that whatever your reading speed is, it can easily be
doubled with the right application of these skills!
Chapter 3:
Speed Reading Misconceptions & Benefits

For years, I misunderstood what speed reading was and how people
achieved it. And this held me back from realizing my true reading potential.
Don’t let this happen to you.

Open your eyes to the absolutely amazing realities of speed reading’s

opportunities and the fact that doubling your reading speed could be only an
hour away.

Here are some very common misconceptions about speed reading:

Misconception 1: “Some people are born with it; some aren’t.” Plenty of
people believe that the ability to blast through the written word is something
you’re either born with, or you aren’t, in the same way some people are
naturally more adept at sport or art.

The Truth: This is a partial misconception. Yes it’s true that some people
are born with the ability to read more quickly than others – in the same way
that some people are born with the ability to run faster than others. But, just
as it’s possible to train to run faster, it’s possible to train to speed read.
Speed reading is a skill that is LEARNED. You might not have been born a
quick reader, but with the right training, practice and dedication, you CAN
double your reading speed.

Misconception 2: “I prefer to enjoy my books, not rush through them.” It

makes logical sense to think that the slower the pace, the more in-depth the
experience. We wouldn’t want to rush through a date with a nice guy or girl –
we’d want take the time to enjoy the experience. Why then should it be
different with books?

The Truth: Our minds adapt very easily to the type of reading we perform. It
is perfectly true that reading slowly may bring a more pleasurable reading
experience. However, in general, there is no relationship between how fast
we read and how much fun it is. In fact, one could argue that doubling your
reading speed will bring you more pleasure because you are accomplishing
the same job in a shorter amount of time. Also, consider it this way: if you
can’t wait to discover what happens to the main character at the end of the
chapter, the faster you read, the sooner you’ll find out!

Misconception 3: “Reading fast means understanding less.” Many readers

feel that they are already reading at the maximum speed their minds will
allow. If they increase their pace, they will lose comprehension.

The Truth: Reading faster actually means understanding more! It doesn’t

seem to make sense at first, but people who read quickly actually have a
better chance of coming away from the text with greater comprehension. This
seems almost too good to be true, but it is a proven fact. Of course, reading
speeds have their limits, but research has proven that you can successfully
train yourself to read at higher speeds and obtain greater levels of
comprehension.

Misconception 4: “I just can’t do it.” If you’re like me, you’ll probably

doubt your own capacity to speed read. Plus, learning how to increase your
speed is a process that takes a little time and practice; it isn’t a two-minute
quick-fix. It is likely that this experience could lead to a few “speed bumps”
and frustrations.

The Truth: You CAN do it! Think of it like bulking up your muscle at the
gym: you don’t start with the heaviest weights – you start small and lift, and
then you increase the weight slightly and lift again. With time and the right
training method, you will eventually have the physique you desire. The same
is true with your mind – think of speed reading as simply a workout for your
“brain muscle.” In this book, you should be able to get to grips with the
basics in just an hour.

It’s easy to let these misconceptions get in the way of your true potential. But
keep your eyes on the truth and on the prize. Your path to improving speed
and comprehension begins with the motivation to actually make it happen.
Soon you’ll be zooming through texts, understanding them better and saving
yourself loads of time and energy.

The Benefits of Speed Reading

So, now that a few of common misconceptions have been dashed, let’s
consider the benefits of speed reading – which should give you
encouragement as you shift through the techniques in this book.

Benefit 1: You’ll Save Time and Energy. As already mentioned, the most
obvious benefits from increasing your reading speed are saving time and
energy. When you begin applying the principles of speed reading, you can
notice almost immediately how much more quickly you take in information. It
feels like you’re joining the ranks of elite scholars, rapidly gobbling down
huge texts – practically within minutes.

Benefit 2: You’ll Keep Your Mind Alert. One unexpected benefit of

increasing your reading speed is that it can actually give you mental energy
as you read.

How many times have you tried reading in bed before you fall asleep, only to
wake up an hour later with your book still open and see that you have read
nothing? Or how many times do you feel yourself growing more and more
distracted as you read, forgetting paragraphs immediately after you’ve read
them? This doesn’t have to happen. Increasing your speed means making your
mind and body more alert, and therefore more likely to keep going strong for
longer periods of time.

Of course your energy levels depend on a number of factors, such as your

health, the time you’re reading, what you’re reading, what you’ve been doing
and so on. But overall, speed reading is a much more active activity, and this
means it keeps your mind alert.

Benefit 3: You’ll Comprehend and Remember More. A huge and very

surprising benefit of doubling your reading speed is that you can actually
comprehend and remember more . This principle is contrary to what you’d
expect, but it’s true. The next section focuses specifically on this advantage
and how you can make the most of it.

So there is plenty of opportunity and incentive to double (or, yes , triple)

your reading speed. With an understanding of how speed reading works and
how you can take advantage of simple reading principles, there will be
nothing standing between your current I-read-at-an-average-reading-speed
pace and a watch-how-quickly-I’m-turning-pages-now pace.

Speed vs Comprehension, and How to Increase Both

Many readers are afraid of increasing the number of words they read per
minute because they fear their comprehension of the text will suffer. But this
simply is not true.

I used to have this misconception. I used to take pride in my slower-paced

reading, believing that it meant I paid more attention to detail and had a
better comprehension of the text than others. After all, I thought, it makes
logical sense that the slower you go, the more information you remember. But
to double (or triple) your reading speed and improve your comprehension,
you have to let go of this myth.

The truth is that speed reading has been proven to develop your
comprehension. The more time you spend reading at an increased pace, the
more your mind will adapt to comprehending the material you’re reading. Of
course, there is an upper limit to this rule – you can’t immediately try reading
at 1,000 words per minute and expect your mind to keep up. However, when
you double your reading speed, you’re making improvements to your mind’s
capacity for learning.

So, what is “comprehension”? In the context of reading, it is simply the level

of understanding of a text. If you have “basic” or “surface level”
comprehension, you can recall factual information from the text using your
short-term memory. If you have “deep level” comprehension, you are able to
think beyond the text and integrate your own point of view/background
experience with the author’s intentions for the text. You are more of an
“active” than a “passive” reader.
Amazingly, once you begin to increase your reading speed (which will also
mean you’re reading more ), your mind will automatically begin to train in
increasing the depth of comprehension as well. After only a few short weeks
of practice, your mind’s comprehension ‘muscle’ will be thoroughly
exercised and much more capable than before. An active, engaged and well-
exercised mind is better prepared to capture vast swathes of information than
a mind that is used to slower reading paces.

Make sure you take advantage of your new, active mind! Trust that it will
grow, learn and adapt to your goal of doubling/tripling your reading pace. If
you don’t trust that your mind will keep up with your eyes, you’ll never
allow your eyes to move faster. Fortunately, there are lots of foolproof
reading techniques (to be discussed shortly) that will double both the speed
of your eyes and the depth of your mind.

Ready to get started? Before we dive into the techniques, we need to first
briefly look at subvocalization – or, rather, how reading itself works.
Chapter 4:
Subvocalization: Or, How Reading Works

A wedding ring is a piece of metal, but it represents much more. A flag is a

colorful cloth, but it represents much more. Both items are symbols of
something more meaningful.

The first step to understanding reading and learning how to double (or triple)
your reading speed is to recognize that words work the same way. Words are
symbols that represent something more.

What is a Word?

A word is a symbol, if you think about it. Somewhere way back in time,
people decided that every time they combine the letters “T-R-E-E,” they are
going to think about a tall, leafy object with a brown, bark-crusted trunk. The
sound we make with “tree” is an audible symbol for the actual object. We
think about our partners when we look at our wedding rings; in the same way,
we think about an actual tree when we hear the sound “tree.”

The cool part about this symbol is that our minds don’t have to do much
work. We are automatically trained from the time we are young what to think
of when we hear “tree,” or any other word.

Now, it gets slightly more complicated when we think about writing. If a

sound symbolizes a concept, then writing symbolizes a sound that symbolizes
a concept. Think about the words on this page, for example. Are you reading
them out loud? Chances are that you’re thinking the words silently in your
head and you still make meaning out of them. This means that your mind sees
the written letters, thinks about the sounds those letters represent, and then
connects these sounds to the meanings. This process is called
subvocalization. Look at the diagram below for how it works:

Long story short, words are symbols of ideas. When we talk or read, we’re
really just using symbols to communicate what we’re thinking.

This process of subvocalization can actually slow down your reading speed,
because you’re trying to pronounce each word in your mind. However, over
the next couple of chapters, we’ll look at how you can stop subvocalization
altogether, and start reading blocks of words at once – to help you start
reading at record pace.

That’s all for now. Yes, this chapter is short – but you need to understand the
essentials behind how reading really works in order to comprehend some of
the techniques that follow. For now, just keep these ideas in mind – and let’s
continue.
Chapter 5:
Bad Habits and How to Fix Them

In order to double or triple your reading speed, you must be able to monitor
and control the bad habits you indulge in when reading. You won’t be able to
improve your reading skills without first examining what makes you a slow
or average reader in the first place.

Below are some of the key ways in which adults unwittingly slow themselves
down as readers. Some – maybe even most – may apply to you, and you
might not even be aware of it .

You’ll also find a list of techniques for fixing the bad habits, thereby helping
you toward the goal of increasing your reading speed. Remember: the more
you apply the techniques, the faster your reading pace will improve.

In the chapter after this, we’ll look at some of the real secrets to seriously
speeding up your reading.

But for now, let me ask: what’s slowing YOU down?

Issues Before You Even Start Reading

1: Suboptimal Physical and Mental Conditions. You may never have

considered how much your physical and mental conditions affect you, but
they can have an enormous impact on the speed and manner in which you
absorb written information. Your ability to read fast is directly related to
your physical and mental state. The following factors are guaranteed to slow
down your reading:

• You’re tired – Many people like to read before going to bed, but the
truth is you’re better off just going right to sleep. You won’t be reading
at your peak capacity if you’d rather be sleeping.
 • You just ate a lot – After you eat any meal (but especially a big one),
more blood is rushing to your stomach than to your brain. Your brain just
isn’t going to be in top shape at this point.
• You have things on your mind – You need to have a clear, focused mind
in order to reach an optimal reading speed. While some people can
block out all other thoughts, many others can’t.
• You’re in an uncomfortable position – If you’re uncomfortable, you
won’t have that clear, unfocused mind mentioned above.
• You’re TOO comfortable – … But don’t make yourself too
comfortable, or you’ll end up convincing your body that it’s time to go to
sleep.

HOW TO FIX THIS : If any of the above seem to be affecting you, it’s still
okay to read, but understand that you would gain better results if you went to
sleep or waited a little first.

2: Distracting Physical Environment. You also need to be aware of the

conditions of your immediate physical environment. The things around you
frequently serve as distractions that inhibit your top reading speed. Take a
look at the biggest blunders readers make when selecting a location to read:

• Noisy environment – Psychological studies have proven that our minds

cannot pay sharp attention to two things at once. For most people, even a
little conversation behind them or the football game turned down to a
low volume will be a distraction; your mind won’t be able to distinguish
the sounds of its own reading.
• Visual distractions – Reading in a crowded place where there’s plenty
of activity, or even reading in front of the television, means that there’s
lots going on in your peripheral vision that can distract your eyes from
staying glued to the page.
• Electronics – Electronic devices are definitely a distraction – no doubt
about it! If you’re trying to speed read with the television on, Facebook
open on your laptop and a text message on the go, you won’t be able to
get much reading done!
HOW TO FIX THIS: Simply decrease the number of distractions in your
environment. Speed reading requires that your attention be centered on your
reading.

Issues While You’re Reading

3: Reading Out Loud. The mind moves faster than the lips. When you’re
reading out loud, you’re focusing on things like enunciation and elocution,
plus you’re pulling in so many more parts of your body: your lips, mouth,
tongue, jaw, throat, lungs and so on. Each word needs its individual attention.
Your mind doesn’t need to work on this level. If you can choose between
reading out loud and reading in your head, then choose to read in your head.
Reading silently is easily five to ten times faster than reading out loud.

Think you’re safe? Not yet. “Ha,” you think. “I don’t read out loud at all.”
But check yourself on this. Some people actually do read out loud without
realizing it . You might not be reading loud enough for someone else to hear,
but many unsuspecting people are surprised to realize that in fact they are
moving their lips.

Amazingly, some people realize that while they aren’t moving their lips, they
are moving their throat muscles! You could be doing this too – telling your
throat to reproduce the sound of each word. This problem is strongly
connected to #4 – subvocalization – below.

HOW TO FIX THIS : This is simply a case of monitoring yourself as you

read and discovering if you move your lips (or any other part of your body
related to speech) as you read. If you find you do this, then make a conscious
decision to stop – you’ll soon be able to end this bad habit, and you’ll notice
an immediate increase in your reading speed.

NOTE: The issues below are very important, and represent the most crucial
secrets for speed reading success – so please pay very close attention!

4: VERY IMPORTANT: Subvocalization. In Chapter 4, we discussed how

reading works, how our minds turn written symbols into sounds and sounds
into meaning. This process is called subvocalization. While it’s an important
aspect of reading (in that it enables us to derive meaning from what we read),
it’s possible that it’s slowing you down as a reader more than is necessary
(because you’re trying to pronounce each word in your mind in order to
understand it).

When you subvocalize, your mind focuses more on the “sounds” of words
than it needs to.

Read this sentence in your head:

“Jimmy went outside and tried to climb the tree.”

What did you hear? Are you trying to pronounce each individual word
(“Jimmy” “went” “outside” etc.)? If the answer is yes, you’re probably
taking up too much time subvocalizing.

HOW TO FIX THIS: Unlike #3 above, subvocalization refers to what’s

going on in your head, not the literal movement of lip muscles. It is therefore
much harder to detect. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible though...

As you read, try to “listen” to what’s going on in your mind. If you’re hearing
the individual sound of every word, that means that you’re making your mind
work much too hard; doubling your reading speed will be difficult.

The aim is to decrease subvocalization. Since words are directly related to

meaning, controlling what you “hear” in your mind means that you can
decrease the amount of time it takes to construct meaning.

This is an incredibly important technique, and we’ll cover the practical steps
to abolishing subvocalization fully in the next chapter. For now, just
consciously try to note when this happens, and reduce it in your mind if
possible.
5: VERY IMPORTANT: Regression : When you’re reading, your eyes are
not strictly moving in the left-to-right, top-to-bottom motion that you’d
expect. Due to a lack of attention, control, or both, your eyes go back several
lines or paragraphs and reread something that you’ve already covered. This
can be a conscious or unconscious habit.

Sometimes your eyes just don’t want to move in the right direction and
inadvertently glance back at other portions of text. Other times, your mind
thinks of a quick question or lacks a speed reader’s confidence, forcing you
to go back and get more information about something you recently read.
Sometimes, you’re just tired or distracted. Whatever the reason, regression
negatively affects your reading speed because your eyes are not moving
forward all the time.

(Note: Keep in mind that these are problems that get in the way of fast
reading . Going back and rereading text is often considered a good reading
skill when you’re trying to get the most meaning. So, if you don’t understand
something you’ve read, definitely go back and read it again. If you’re
interested in reading at more than twice your current pace, be sure to choose
texts that are easy enough for you to understand the first time.)

HOW TO FIX THIS: Again, self-monitoring is the key to determining how

largely you are affected by regression. Try to pay careful attention to where
your eyes and mind are going. Your eyes should move forward, line by line.
Your mind should keep up with your eyes. If you find that either your eyes
automatically revert to previously read text, or if you find that your brain
doesn’t understand or can’t remember what you’ve already read, then you are
guilty of regression.

Like the other bad habits of reading that slow you down, self-monitoring will
be your saving grace. The more you can control your eyes and keep your
mind focused, the more forward and less backward you will read.

A useful tool to use is an index card or other small “blocking” device. As

you read, place this card over what you’ve already read. As you progress
down a page, the card will cover more and more of the text. This will restrict
you from going back, and also help you realize how much and how often you
try to regress.

6: VERY IMPORTANT: Erratic Eye Movement : This is similar to

regression, but worse. With erratic eye movement, your eyes don’t just revert
back to previously read text – they might also jump forward, glance at things
outside the text, skip too far down or even stop dead, mid-sentence.

You want to make sure that you’re reading in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom

movement, but your eyes are doing anything but! What’s more, they might be
doing this without you even knowing.

Remember that sentences, not individual words, have meaning. When your
eyes stop, pause or wander, it means that you’re probably trying to derive
more meaning out of an individual word rather than out of the sentence’s
complete meaning.

HOW TO FIX THIS: You guessed it: self-monitoring. Our eyes are
naturally active creatures that often have minds of their own. When you
consider how much information they can take in at any moment, it’s amazing
how much control we do have over them. If you detect that your eyes do not
in fact take in words at a natural, fluid rate and movement, then you need to
practice. Just like a golfer needs to practice the fluidity of his stroke to get
the right “feel,” a reader who wants to increase his speed needs to get the
“feel” for what his eyes should be doing.

Prepare to Identify Your Bad Habits

The list of bad habits above – and the importance placed on identifying them
– may seem a bit daunting at first. Here are some tips and tricks to ease you
into the process:

• Self-monitor – As you’ll have read, self-monitoring is the primary tool

for getting rid of bad habits. You may not have retina sensors, EEG
readers or lab equipment, but you should still be able to “catch yourself
in the act” of bad reading habits if you pay close attention. Once you
 recognize which of the above habits are indeed slowing you down, you
are giving yourself the power to stop those habits.
• One habit at a time – Don’t focus on all of the habits at once: you’ll go
crazy and will probably make yourself commit them all even more than
you would naturally. Instead, focus only on one at a time.
• Practice thinking about each of these bad reading habits – It may take
some time to get into a routine of self-monitoring for these bad reading
habits. But once you do it, you’re already empowering yourself to stop.
Your goal is to decrease the bad and thereby increase the good. You’ll
find that if you can stop yourself from performing any of these bad
reading habits, then your speed will automatically increase.

Once you’ve managed to break these bad habits, you’re on your way to
becoming a pro speed reader. If you’re really interested in taking your
reading pace to the next level, pay close attention to the next chapter. Here
you’ll learn more about some of the REALLY important techniques you can
use to double (or triple!) your reading speed.

Before Moving On...

Before moving to the next chapter, read the passage below several times; try
to eliminate a handful of the following bad habits when you read:

• Suboptimal physical and mental conditions

• Distracting physical environment
• Reading out loud
• Subvocalization
• Regression
• Erratic eye movement

Try to take one of these habits at a time and see if you are guilty of doing
them. Once you discover which ones you’re doing, you have that much more
power to stop yourself and to apply the skills listed in the next section.

PRACTICE PASSAGE 1
Goal: Find out what your bad reading habits are!

Do You Struggle With Proper Piano Fingering?

Watching Bugs Bunny get his fingers tied into knots while playing Franz
Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2 makes us chuckle on the outside, but on the
inside we piano players know that there is some truth to the image. In
every piano student’s mind, deep in some illogical, fear-driven cavern,
there resides the notion that we might sustain some freak, inexplicable
injury because of our pianistic incompetence. Or, not infrequently,
watching our fingers slide around the piano uncontrollably reminds us of
watching a three-legged horse on roller skates try to navigate down a
slip’n’slide .

Aspiring piano students need to know what constitutes proper piano

fingering so that instead of sloppily banging on random keys, they can
gracefully glide through difficult music passages. One of the first
approaches a student can take to learning proper piano fingering is to
know the scales and the designated fingering for every single one. Scales
are a great way to acclimatize the fingers to the keys and to reinforce the
best ways of hitting the notes. The more quickly and fluidly you can play
scales, the more likely you are to have appropriate fingerings when
playing pieces .

Now, those black keys can be pesky: Their positions make trouble when
trying to squeeze fingers between them onto white keys or to play a
passage that requires alacrity. Because these keys are positioned farther
away from your fingers than the white keys, it makes it especially difficult
for your sympathetically shorter thumb to reach them. Some strict
fingering experts declare that the thumb should never strike a black key.
Good for them, but this rule comes with its own complications. A more
seasoned performer should concertedly restrain himself from overusing his
thumb on black keys, but no strict rule could possibly apply to all passages
.

While there may not be any law mandating specific fingers for specific
notes during specific passages of specific songs, music editors, thankfully,
give their advice. As you flip through various pieces you’ll notice the
inconspicuous numbers written neatly above certain notes. Try these out.
While no one would ever claim these are the “correct and only” fingers to
use on these notes, they’re probably your best bet at playing a passage
smoothly. Sometimes the fingering may feel awkward at first. That’s okay –
try them out, but don’t feel like some stuffy, glasses-wearing editor is
frowning down on you if you decide a different fingering is better .

In fact, everyone’s fingers are different, so it makes sense that certain

fingering suits performers differently. The real approach to finding the
proper piano fingering is discovering through trial and error which is the
best for your own hand. As long as you can play a passage accurately and
smoothly – and as long as your fingers aren’t getting tied into knots – then
your fingering choice is the correct one .
Chapter 6:
Techniques to Double (or Triple) Your Reading Speed

Perhaps this is the section you’ve been waiting for, the reason you’re reading
this book.

Here, you will discover some of the most important techniques you can use to
increase your reading speed. That means that if the average adult’s reading
pace is 200–250 words per minute, then after applying these techniques you
can increase to 400–500 words per minute, minimum .

Remember the “bad habits” and from Chapter 5? Well this chapter goes into
detail about the directly contrasting good habits you should develop instead.

Of particular importance here are techniques #3 “Read Phrases Instead of

Words” (stopping subvocalization and reading blocks of words) and #5
“Meta-Guiding.” Be sure to give these techniques special attention, as they
will be responsible for 80% of your reading improvement.

Right, let’s dive in...

Before You Even Start Reading

1: Improve Your Physical and Mental Conditions. To get your mind in peak
reading condition, you need to treat your body and mind well. Here are the
two best ways to make sure your body is ready:

1. Make sure you are feeling energized – eat right and exercise. Don’t try to
read when you know you are tired.
2. Sit up straight – your posture impacts your mind. Remember that you lie
down to sleep, not to read. Sitting up in a chair, on a couch or at a desk
is the best position. Some people even stand and slowly pace.
APPLY IT NOW: How are you reading this text? If you have a computer,
chances are that you are sitting at a desk … but are you sitting up straight or
slouching forward?

With a Kindle, laptop, iPad or printout, are you lounging as you read this? Is
it late at night? Are you tired, energized, angry, excited?

However you’re reading, take a moment and adjust yourself. Get into a better
posture. Maybe you need to go to another room or to an entirely different
location. How about putting off the reading until your mind is more alert?

2: Pick a Suitable (and Non-Distracting) Reading Environment. Your

chosen reading location can mean the difference between quickly absorbing
your material and lagging behind. Before you read, be sure to limit the
number of distractions: select a location that is prone to few noises and
visuals, and make sure you remove any personal objects that might get in
your way. It will also help to keep in mind that you wish to double your
average reading pace: this will keep you motivated toward finding the ideal
reading environment.

APPLY IT NOW: Where are you sitting right now? What is going on around
you? Are there devices you can turn off? Are there any visual or audible
distractions? How are the temperature and comfort levels?

Bear in mind that different people are distracted by different things. Some
people can read very well in, e.g. Starbucks, whereas others would find the
coffee grinding and Grande-ordering activities too much! Which setting suits
you best?

While You’re Reading

The following speed reading tips are specifically related to the habits of your
eyes and mind while you read. Pay careful attention to the following
recommendations, and make sure you take action on the APPLY IT NOW
sections for immediate practice!
3: VERY IMPORTANT: Read Phrases Instead of Words.

Subvocalization, as you read in the previous chapter, loosely means that

you’re thinking about – and internally pronouncing – every word on the page.
But this next technique will amazingly shrink the amount of time and attention
you dedicate to each word. Get ready to think about reading in two, almost
shocking new ways:

• You don’t need to think about sounds of words!

• You don’t need to read every word!

These two ideas may seem to radically disagree with everything you’ve
learned about reading. But if you can embrace these revolutionary ways of
approaching texts, you will increase your speed exponentially. Here’s how
you can understand and apply these techniques to at least double your speed:

You don’t need to think about the sounds of words :

In Chapter 4, we discussed how thinking about the sounds of words helps us
to understand their meaning (subvocalization). Yet in Chapter 5, we looked at
how sounds (through both reading out loud and subvocalization) can slow
down your reading speed.

So how do you avoid thinking in terms of sounds if sound is central to the

concept of how words work? The answer: You skip straight from the letters
to the meaning .

Basically, you need to trust our mind to quickly construct meaning.

We touched on this concept earlier – in Chapter 4: once you know how your
mind processes reading, you can cut out the unnecessary steps. Do not focus
on the sounds that words make – you simply don’t have to. Your mind is fast
enough that it can easily take familiar written words and immediately connect
them to meaning.

If you’re focusing on the sounds of words, you don’t quite trust your mind
enough to do what it is made to do. Real speed readers – individuals who
have more than doubled their speed – know that a simple momentary glance
is all that’s needed to derive meaning from written letters.

Achieving this level of comfort and intimacy with words is slightly

difficult... but only slightly. The key is to practice reading at a pace where
you simply cannot pronounce words or think about their sounds. When you
read at an increased pace, you will be training your mind to quickly and
accurately construct meaning. This implies, of course, that you’ve broken a
number of those bad habits that slow you down. Basically, if you practice
speed reading, that means you’re getting your mind to think very quickly
about what it sees. The faster you’re reading, the more quickly you’re making
your mind work. So think less about sounds, and more about meaning and
about speed.

You don’t need to read every word :

If you are like most people, then you probably try to make sure that your eyes
capture every single word. But this only slows you down because you don’t
actually need to read every word. Have you ever had someone mumble
something to you and you only caught a few words? Chances are that you
were still able to understand that person. But how did you do it? Your ears
heard only a few important words of their message (“watch … for …
sharp”), but your mind was able to unconsciously fill in the blanks with
“Watch out for the cat’s sharp claws.”

Just like you don’t need to hear every single word, you don’t need to read
every single word. If you think about it, each sentence usually has only a few
important words – the rest is just “filler.” How many relatively meaningless,
“connecting” words (like the, is, and, of, with , and so on) are in each
sentence? Many. When you pick up your reading speed, you’ll start trusting
your mind to automatically absorb these filler words so that your attention
will only be consumed by those few important ones in each sentence.
It’s also important to remember that when you’re listening to conversation or
reading text, you’re often aware of the context surrounding the words. You
know, for example, that you’re about to read a newspaper article about the
economy, or a romantic fiction novel. Without this context it would be more
difficult to ignore the “connecting” words.

This means that you don’t want to think about passages word-by-word; you
want to think about them phrase-by-phrase. We will define a “phrase” simply
as a small group of words, between three and ten words long. Look at this
sample sentence:

“I went to the store and bought eggs, but I forgot to get the
bread I needed.”

If you try to read every single word, then you are reading 17 individual
words. But if you trust your mind to “fill in the gaps” and make meaning out
of phrases, then you might read only these four phrases:

“I went to the store | and bought eggs, | but I forgot to get |

the bread I needed.”

By breaking this sentence into four phrases, your mind will be able to absorb
the information much more quickly and deal with only four concepts instead
of 17. And your eyes will also be able to gaze from left to right much faster,
since they will be prone to pausing less. Some refer to this as “visual span
enlargement,” since you are enlarging the area that your eyes see at one time
from one word to a set of words.

Again, to do this successfully requires practice. The more time you spend
reading at an increased pace and trying to absorb more than one word at a
time, the more your mind will adapt to this style. Once this technique
becomes routine, it’s easy to imagine how your reading speed can more than
double!
APPLY IT NOW: Read the passage below at least twice.

1. The first time, try to pay attention to your physical muscles (lips, mouth,
tongue, etc,). They should not be moving at all! You might be surprised
at your body’s habits while you read, though!
2. The second time, pay attention to what your mind is doing while you
read. Are you trying to pronounce each word in your head? Try to let
your eyes flow quickly and naturally over the sentences so that your
mind is forced to grasp the immediate meaning of words, not the sounds.

You may need to read the passage multiple times , in order to practice both
techniques above.

PRACTICE PASSAGE 2
Goal: Read phrases instead of words, and be on your way to doubling your
reading speed!

David knew it wasn’t his fault, but he choked on his heart every time he
thought about it. Dense rows of skin buckled around his forehead, and his
eyebrows threatened to furrow themselves into his eyes until they squeezed
out small drops of moisture. The tears slid their way down his red cheeks
and dripped off his chin, gathering onto two intertwined fists. The fists
visibly trembled. A small creak escaped the wooden plank supporting his
knees as David shifted his weight, and although he had forgotten it for the
moment, his knees were sore. Other discomforts, like the stifling suit collar
and flimsy dress shoes, went equally ignored; yet although David’s lips
moved mechanically, he spoke no words. The words he sought still did not
come. He was as silent as the body that reposed before him .

4: Locate the Most Important Sections of Text. Not all parts of a story or
passage are created equally. Very good, very fast readers know that certain
sections within texts have the most important information, while other
sections have less important information. Naturally, they pay more attention
to those sections that contain the most important information.
So, where are these important sections? Most of the time, authors put what
you need to know in specific locations. Here are the prime locations for your
eyes and your attention:

• Titles
• Headings
• The first sentence(s) in a paragraph
• The last sentence(s) in a paragraph
• The first paragraph(s) in a passage
• The last paragraph(s) in a passage
• Sentences with bolded , underlined , or italicized words
• Picture captions

You can dramatically increase the volume of reading you do in a given time
by making sure that the bulk of your attention is given to the above listed
elements. When you do, you’re giving yourself two advantages: first, you are
getting the main ideas of the passage and therefore making it clear to yourself
what the point of the passage is; and second, you are allowing yourself to go
even faster through sections that are not part of these “prime information”
areas.

It takes a trained eye and mind to really get the right ideas the first time. Just
like in #2 – where experienced speed readers know they can pay attention to
some words more than others – experienced speed readers know that they can
pay attention to some sections more than others.

APPLY IT NOW: Remember that you don’t have to read every word. You
just have to read the important ones. Getting your eyes to automatically float
to the appropriate information can become automatic, but only with the right
practice.

Read the passage below, but before you do so, review the list above of
places where the most important information is usually found. Then, as you
read , pay more attention with your eyes and mind to the points on that list
. Spend a few seconds looking at and reading each important part, but only a
few moments skimming through everything else.
PRACTICE PASSAGE 3
Goal: Pay close attention to the most important sections of the text, and
simply skim everything else; this will help you to double your reading speed!

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5: IMPORTANT: Meta-Guiding. This is a fancy sounding word for a

simple concept: All you need to do is use your finger, a pointer (like a
pencil) or an index card to trace in front of your line of vision as you read.
This serves as a motion guide, and will help your eyes maintain their speed
and fluency, and reduce the erratic or regressive eye patterns that slow you
down.

APPLY IT NOW: Try reading the passage below with TWO different tools.

1. Tool 1: Grab a pen or pencil and place it just to the right of the first
word. Then move the pen/pencil across the line at a speed with which
 your eyes can just keep up. Do this line by line until the end. This gets
your eye to follow the pen/pencil, keeping your eyes steady and sort of
“pulling” them along at an increased pace.
2. Tool 2: When you read the passage a second time, grab an index card or
sheet of paper. Place the card or paper underneath the line that you’re
reading. This, like using the pen/pencil above, will help keep your eyes
steady and restrict them from getting distracted.
Another way to use an index card is to place the card over what you’ve
already read. As you progress down a page, the card will cover more
and more of the text. This will restrict you from going back.

A great trick while using an index card is to mark caret symbols (^) every
inch along your index card. This will help you to read phrases rather than
individual words (see tip #3 above). As you improve, use a new card with
the carets further apart – so that you read larger phrases at a time.

PRACTICE PASSAGE 4
Goal: Use meta-guiding to maintain your eye reading speed and flow.

A Mended Heart
When he saw her across the park, his heart nearly leapt into his throat and
choked him. He wriggled a finger between his neck and collar to loosen up
the tightness he felt there, and then unconsciously smoothed down his suit
jacket and pant legs. Small patches of sweat were wiped onto his fabric,
but he knew that he had made a promise, and he couldn’t wait to keep it .

She sat alone on the bench, serenely observing the children feeding the
geese. Her expression went unchanged, studying the young boys and girls
who timidly approached the birds with quivering crusts of bread. Her face
was not particularly fascinating – it was old. It wore the characteristics of
a woman who suffered a life of worry and preoccupation; a face that could
have been called beautiful once, but years of faltered expectations had
worn away a once prominently confident countenance into little blisters of
woe. The soured eyes hosted bulging, sagging skin beneath them; her hair,
once a brilliant blonde, now a fizzled white; her legs looked like two
withered flower stems .
“She’s just as beautiful as I remember,” Jeffrey murmured to himself once
he caught his breath. His fingers fumbled into his pocket and brought out a
small handkerchief. He dabbed it on his perspiring forehead. His other
hand wandered into his other pocket, where they felt for the thousandth
time a small metallic object .

Jeffrey stood behind a tree and peered between its blossoming leaves, sort
of like a peeping Tom, but more in the spirit of a curious, enamored child.
His fingers meticulously polished the metal in his pocket, now worn
smooth. His heart, completely rebellious from his attempts to calm it,
continued to thump loudly in his chest, thump loudly in his ears, thump
loudly in his thoughts .

Consider: How fluidly did you read this? Did your eyes get distracted and
wander, or did the meta-guiding help maintain a consistent flow of vision?
Which tool worked best for you?

Prepare to Use These Techniques to Double (or Triple) Your Reading

Speed

The best way to approach these strategies is exactly the same as the way you
should approach your bad reading habits: one at a time and with lots of
practice . It’s amazing how dramatically these techniques can improve your
reading speed. The more you acclimatize your eyes and mind to faster and
faster reading speeds, the more you’ll find yourself whizzing through texts
that used to take you days to get through.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to pay particular attention to #3 “Read Phrases

Instead of Words” (stopping subvocalization and reading blocks of words)
and #5 “Meta-Guiding.” These techniques in particular will be responsible
for 80% of your speed reading improvement. Go read them again if you
haven’t yet fully grasped the principles. They’re both incredibly important
and potent techniques!

You have several sample reading passages above. Don’t limit yourself to just
one technique per passage! Before moving on, go back and read each of the
passages again, trying to apply all the good habits and trying to avoid all the
bad habits.

Go for it!
Chapter 7:
Practicing Speed Reading

Most would agree that to improve in golf, swimming or dancing, you need to
practice your swing, your stroke or your moves. The same is true for reading.

While the previous chapter focused on the good reading habits you’ll need to
develop to double your reading speed, this chapter focuses on useful ways of
practicing those good reading habits.

You can definitely double your reading speed in a short amount of time. But if
you want to actually comprehend the text you’re reading and remember more
about it while also making your mind sharper, you need to do it right. I used
to think that I could never read as fast as my best friend. Throughout high
school and college I slowly pulled my way through texts as though they were
chains around my ankles. Once I learned the tricks required to double my
reading speed, I was so excited I almost expected to wake up the next
morning a faster reader. This kind of thinking actually almost made me fail. I
always tended to revert back to my bad reading habits and my slow reading
speed. Why did this happen?

It happened because I thought that simple knowledge was enough – that

simply knowing the principles of speed reading would prevent me from
returning to my old bad habits. The real truth, however, is that although these
skills can be applied very quickly (in fact, in well under an hour), it does
take time to master them. Most people are able to apply the techniques
immediately, and after a few weeks of consistent practice, will have formed
solid skills and good reading habits.

How to Practice

There are a number of ways you can exercise your speed reading muscles
and get yourself to the point of becoming a permanent speed reader. No
single method is necessarily better than another. In fact, I recommend that you
use all four of the following methods to help achieve that doubled reading
speed that will save you so much time and energy.

1: Time Yourself Reading and then Answer Comprehension Questions. In

this practical task, you’ll start by measuring your average reading speed by
reading two passages (which are of approximately equal length and can be
found in the appendix of this guide). You’ll then apply the techniques in this
guide and will re-measure your reading speed. You’ll also be required to
answer some comprehension questions – to ensure you actually understand
what you read and aren’t going through the passages too quickly.

Make sure you have a timer to hand, to measure the exact number of minutes
and seconds it takes to read the passages. The passages and questions are in
the appendix of this book.

How to Measure Your Average Reading Speed

If you know how many words are in the passage, then this simple formula
will tell you exactly how many words per minute (WPM) you’re reading:

So if you read a 500-word passage and it takes you 2 minutes and 30 seconds
(2.5 minutes) to do so, you want to divide 500 by 2.5. This gives you a WPM
of 200, which is considered average.

If you successfully apply what is taught here, you should be able to read each
passage in just one minute!

Of course, you want to make sure you’re getting the questions right, too. If
you are reading the passages quickly, but are getting less than 80% correct in
the comprehension questions, you should probably slow down.

There are two practice passages alongside comprehension questions in the

appendix of this book. Try these out for starters!
You can also find sample passages and questions in other speed reading and
educational text books, available in libraries and bookstores.

Many websites also provide sample passages for you to practice with. A
good passage repository can be found on the Interlink Language Centers
website: http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/READ.HTM . This website
contains both sample passages and speed reading exercises. Another great
resource is Cengage Learning, which will time your reading speed while you
read a passage, and will then ask you a number of comprehension questions.
Visit
http://college.cengage.com/collegesurvival/watkins/learning_companion/1e/
students/timed_reading.html .

2: Try Reflective Journaling. This is a much less formulaic way of

recording your progress. Instead of keeping track of numbers, times, and
scores, you can simply express your impressions by writing about them in a
journal. As you work on individual skills, write down what you’re thinking
about your actions. For example, if you sense that one of the major habits that
slows you down is that you have erratic eye movement, record this
observation in your journal. Or if you are consciously trying to apply one of
the good habits, write down how much progress you feel you’ve made, how
much this has helped you, and how difficult or easy this seems to be for you.

Journaling may seem a little juvenile, but it is a proven method that

contributes to all kinds of improvement. The reason it works so well is
because when you write something down, you become much more aware of it
in future situations. So, if you are recording your thoughts on your speed
reading progress, you are actually drawing to your attention ways you can
continue to improve. The next time you sit down to read, your mind will
automatically be thinking about how to maximize your reading speed. The
more you write, the more exciting news you’ll have to record in the future!

3: Document your Speed and Set Your Goals. This is really a combination
of #1 and #2. People are much more likely to succeed if they write down
their goals and actively chart how much progress they are making toward
achieving these goals.
After determining your current average WPM (see tip #1, above), double it
and set that doubled speed as your goal. So, if you’re reading at about 220
words per minute, set your goal at 440 words per minute. With each exercise
you do that reveals your speed, compare it to where you started and where
you want to end up. By setting a goal and consistently documenting your
progress, you will see what your efforts bring and you’ll continue to have the
motivation to keep improving.

4: Use Computer Software . There is a wide range of computer programs

available which specialize in helping you double your reading speed.
Computer programs have a few advantages over conventional reading. First,
such programs will automatically calculate your WPM. Second, you can set
these programs to actually display words at a designated pace (so you could
set the pace as faster than your current WPM – to practice reading faster).
Third, these programs can give you texts in a variety of formats. For
example, you can ask that you be given only one line at a time, which will
stop you from regressing. The text can be presented in other ways too, to
ensure that you read accurately and at challenging paces. Finally, like speed
reading books, these programs come with sets of questions for each passage,
to calculate your comprehension accuracy.

Computer software can take a lot of the work out of calculating your speed
and tracking your progress. The downside, of course, is that you’re reading
off a screen. If you intend to do a lot of reading off screens, then this is okay.
If you intend on reading from books, then you’ll notice some differences in
the way your eyes respond to that format. The difference, however, is only
slight. Practice is still practice.

Search online for “speed reading software” to find contenders worthy of your
attention.

5: Practice with Text You’ve Already Read . When you start out speed
reading, you might want to start with books or articles you’ve already read: it
will be easier to apply the techniques outlined in this guide and will give you
confidence in your speed reading abilities. You can then proceed to texts
you’re less familiar with (although it’s not advisable to start speed reading
through completely new and unfamiliar topics – see Chapter 8).
Chapter 8:
When You Should & Shouldn’t Speed Read

When individuals finally master the martial arts, earning black belts and
achieving impressive skills, they are given the command: “Use what you’ve
learned only when the need arises.”

The same is true of speed reading. If you use your abilities unnecessarily,
then you haven’t quite mastered their true art. There are times when they are
needed and times when they are not. And you need to know the difference.

Now that you’ve taken the time to explore the secrets of speed reading, there
is one very important lesson you need to understand:

Speed reading is not a skill you need to use every time you read.

You don’t have to wait for a dire situation, as a martial artist might, but you
need to be aware of when speed reading will actually be helpful to you and
when it could be detrimental.

The real trick to understanding how to use speed reading is to recognize that
every reader has different reading rates , not just one reading rate .
Typically, excellent speed readers adjust their speed depending on the type
of text and the portion of that text they are focusing on.

When It’s Great to Speed Read

You’ll have many opportunities to apply the speed reading skills you’ve
learned so far. Here are some examples of situations where it would be
beneficial to speed read:

1: When You’re Reading for Pleasure. When you’re reading for fun, you’re
reading by your own rules. Hopefully, you’ve selected a text that is enjoyable
to read. There’s no reason to trudge through an exciting book if you don’t
have to. So go ahead and bump up your speed! If you’re reading for fun,
there’s no need to read every word . As described in Chapter 6, try reading in
phrases: you’ll enjoy the book just as much, and you’ll reach the last page
much more quickly!

2: When You Don’t Need to Have a Perfect Understanding of the Whole

Text. Some texts demand perfect attention to every word. But many others
don’t. Assess your reasons and goals before you begin to read. If you think
you can go through a text and don’t have to be responsible for every detail,
then read through it at your new and improved reading speed. (However,
remember that as you get faster, your comprehension will increase , which
means that you might still have a thorough understanding of the text by the end
of your reading exercise!)

3: When You’re Reading Something that is Easy. If the topic or reading

level is rather simple for you, then there’s no reason not to read it as quickly
as you can. You won’t be distracted by difficult words or complex sentence
structures.

4: When You’re Reading Familiar Text. Our minds are better equipped to
absorb information that is familiar to us. For example, shark experts won’t
find it particularly challenging to read about sharks, whereas non-shark
experts will probably need to spend more time reading and understanding the
information. It’s up to you to judge whether the information is familiar enough
to allow for speed reading.

When it ISN’T Great to Speed Read

Speed reading will often greatly increase your comprehension and

enjoyment, but it’s important to know of the situations where speed reading
can actually hurt your comprehension and enjoyment – leaving you frustrated
and actually increasing the amount of time you’ll need to spend reading. Here
are some examples of situations where it might not be beneficial to speed
read:
1: When You’re Studying First-Time Material. If you’re trying to study
material the first time round – especially for a class or test – you might want
to really focus on each detail. Studying is a learning process that requires that
you take it slow, write down notes as you go, and go backwards when you
want to tie different ideas together. You may wish to speed read in future, but
you should probably take the first-time read a little slower.

2: When You’re Reading Unfamiliar Text. The less familiar a topic is to

you, the less likely you are to understand it if you read quickly. You can read
fast when the ideas already match what your brain knows, but if the topic is
not an area you’re familiar with, slow down so that your mind gets used to
the information.

3: When the Reading Level of the Content is High. Authors employ many
different writing techniques to complicate their text. And when the text is
difficult, you can easily misunderstand if you go too fast. The three primary
reasons texts get difficult are because of the level of vocabulary, the
complexity of the sentence structure and the depth of ideas. These big
warning signs are telling you to “slow down”! Of course, “difficult” and
“complicated” text is largely subjective, so it’ll be up to you to judge
whether you think you ought to slow down when reading it.
Chapter 9:
Conclusion

Congratulations on reaching the end of this brief guide to speed reading!

We’ve come a long way in a short space of time:

• We looked at what reading really is, and how it works

• We tackled the misconceptions and benefits of speed reading
• We uncovered the bad reading habits you may not even have realized
you had
• We discovered the most powerful speed reading techniques available –
including learning how to stop subvocalization, how to read in phrases,
and the secrets of meta-guiding
• We discussed when it’s appropriate to speed read – and when it isn’t

This book has given you the most powerful techniques for doubling – even
tripling – your reading speed, all in under an hour.

But here’s the key: you NEED to practice. To install this powerful skill as a
permanent habit in your life, you need to keep at it for the next couple of
weeks. Proactively work to improving your reading speed with every
appropriate text you read. Try reading this entire book again with your new-
found skills and see how you get on.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals from across the globe have put the
exact techniques you’ve uncovered inside this book to practice, with
outstanding results. You’re next.

So get to it, enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Appendix:
Practice Passages

You need to practice in order to really double your reading speed. The more
you practice, the better you’ll get! You’ll have seen practice passages
throughout this guide; below are two more passages with specific extra
purposes:

• Passage A is intended as a Diagnostic Passage, which means that you’ll

use it to roughly figure out your average reading speed.
• Passage B is also intended as a Diagnostic Passage, but it should be
used once you’ve read this entire guide and applied some of its
techniques to other texts you’ve read.

The advantages of using these practice passages are twofold: first, you will
know exactly what your WPM reading rate is for both passages; and second,
you’ll know how much of the passage you actually understood through the
comprehension questions. Follow the instructions before and after each
passage to make sure you’re getting the most out of the exercises!
Practice Passage A

Instructions: Read the following short story at the fastest but most
comfortable rate that you can. Also, read with a stopwatch in your hand
and time yourself so that you will be able to calculate how many words per
minute you are reading.

This passage is meant to measure your average reading speed, but it will
only be realistic if you read at a rate where you were able to understand the
story – so make sure you do understand it. There are questions at the end, to
make sure you’ve understood the information you’ve just read.
Start your stopwatch now!

Phillip and Derek

The sparkling waters of the Togamar River flowed beautifully as the fresh
summer sun shone down. The reeds on the river bank swayed gently in the
wind and seemed to hum merrily to themselves as they enjoyed the cool
waters and the cool breeze. The thick grass and weeds beside the river
bank gently lolled their heads back and forth to the tune of the wind. The
sound of the water began as a soft trickle where the river was shallow, but
steadied into a strong roar as the water rushed past rocks, around bends,
and into deeper, thicker streams. Hidden birds chirped in high branches
beyond the tall grass, and frogs croaked incessantly. There was the steady
sound of someone or something thrashing in the forest, approaching the
river bank .

Suddenly, a tall, skinny boy appeared through the edge of the forest and
made his way gallantly through the thick grass, clearing a path. Two other
boys appeared behind him, carefully following his footsteps and trekking
through the grass. All three boys had freckles, and they squinted in the
sunlight as they emerged from the shade of the trees. Behind these three
followed another very small boy who slowly and carefully forged his own
way through the grass to the bank. He had a look of hesitance in his eyes,
as though he questioned his every step, and he fearfully continued to
follow those in front of him. Behind him, though, closely followed a fifth
and last boy, this one taller and thicker than all the rest .

“Phillip, where we goin’?” the fifth boy asked of Phillip, who was in front
of him .

“For God sakes, Derek, I tol’ you we’re goin’ to the river,” Phillip called
back over his shoulder, still carefully eyeing the three boys in front of him.
“Les’ go.”

Finally, all five boys stood shoulder to shoulder beside one another on the
sandy, reed-covered banks of the river. “Well,” said Tom, who was the first
tall boy to lead the others to the bank, “this is the spot I tol’ you about.”

The other boys looked around at the shimmering water that quickly rushed
past their feet. Phillip looked down and estimated that the water must have
been at least 15 feet deep. He gazed over to the other side of the river,
about 50 feet across, and noticed that from his side to the other side lay a
long, dead, sturdy tree trunk. He forced a grin on his face as the three
sneering boys to his left looked at him .

“I bet yer scairt, aren’t ya,” the tall boy sniveled at Phillip .

Derek rubbed his hands together and said into Phillip’s ear, “Phillip, what
are they talkin’ about, Phillip? What’s that boy saying?”

“Not now, Derek,” Phillip said out of the side of his mouth. Then sternly,
he said to the tall boy, “I ain’t scairt.”

“Yeah, c’mon!” the other two small boys screamed. “C’mon Phillip, we did
it. Now you’ve gotta!”

Young Phillip shrugged his shoulders and looked at Derek, who likewise
shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Phillip. Suddenly, an idea
struck Phillip, and he held his head up a little higher. Phillip walked
slowly toward the end of the tree trunk that stood on his side of the bank.
Slowly, step by step, he trudged through the sandy, reed-covered bank to
reach the fallen tree. The young boys jeered him on, hooting and hollering
boy-like phrases, compelling Phillip to walk across – he knew he had no
choice. Derek stood confused behind the boys, his eyebrows furrowed into
funny looking, crooked arches .

Suddenly, Phillip turned around and calmly said to the boys, “Watch this.”
But instead of beginning to walk across the tree trunk, he turned to Derek
and shouted, “Derek, jump in, Derek! Jump in the water! Jump in! Go for
it! In the river, Derek!”

Derek hardly knew what to do, and definitely didn’t know what to think; so
he quickly followed Phillip’s instructions, walked right up to the edge of
the river, and jumped in. Then Phillip realized his mistake, for he suddenly
remembered that Derek couldn’t swim well and would likely drown. The
jeering smile on his face turned to fear, and then turned to panic as he saw
his friend being swept down the river, head and arms flopping in the water
.

“What have I done! I wish this didn’t happen,” Phillip groaned to himself.
He bolted from his place on the tree trunk and dove in after Derek. The
three dumbfounded boys on the shore hardly knew what had just occurred,
and their laughter likewise turned into panic when they figured out Derek’s
danger. Tom dove in too, and the two smaller boys stood on the shore .

Eventually, their teamwork brought Derek back safely to the river bank’s
edge, and Derek thanked Phillip repeatedly for rescuing him, clean
forgetting that it was Phillip who told him to jump in in the first place .

Stop your stopwatch!

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Instructions: Answer all of these questions as best as you can. Once you
answer a question, do not go back to it . Also, do not return to the text to
find an answer . We want to see how many questions you can get right by
simply remembering what you’ve read. Once you’re done, check the answer
key at the end to see how many you got right!

1. Throughout the short story, what is your main impression of Phillip?

a) He is intimidated and feels peer pressure from the other boys.
b) He is brave and the leader of the group.
c) He wants Derek to be safe and accepted by others.
d) He really wants to go fishing and be left alone.

2. What are the boys trying to get Phillip to do?

a) Push Derek into the river.
b) Jump into the river.
c) Walk over the river on a tree trunk.
d) Make Derek walk over the river on a tree trunk.

3. What is one characteristic about Derek that we can observe?

a) He follows Phillip around, asking questions.
b) He likes soft animals.
c) He is dangerous to others around him.
d) He is afraid of water.

4. What is Derek’s relationship to Phillip like?

a) Derek is dependent on Phillip’s leadership.
b) Derek can’t stand being around Phillip.
c) Derek does not trust Phillip.
d) Derek treats Phillip like a pet.

5. How do the other boys try to force Phillip to cross the river?
a) They offer him a bribe if he makes it across.
b) They threaten that they’ll hurt Derek if he doesn’t try.
c) They make fun of him, calling him scared.
d) They grab him and try to push him across.

6. What does Phillip do to avoid having to walk across the river?

 a) He runs away.
b) He tells Derek to jump into the river instead.
c) He flat out refuses.
d) He yells back at the boys.

7. Why was it a mistake for Phillip to tell Derek to jump into the river?
a) Derek is afraid of water.
b) This only made the boys continue to taunt Phillip.
c) Derek got all of the credit and glory for it.
d) Derek couldn’t swim well and would probably drown.

8. What is ironic about Derek getting pulled out of the river?

a) He didn’t need help being pulled out.
b) He wanted to stay in the river.
c) He thanked Phillip for saving him.
d) He didn’t realize he was in danger.

___________________________________________

This passage has 829 words.

You read this passage in ___________ MINUTES and ____________

SECONDS.

This would be a total of __________ SECONDS.

To calculate your speed, follow these mathematical steps:

859 / (seconds) = _______ WPM

___________________________________________

Check your answers with the key at the end of this book.

Out of 8 questions, you got _________ correct.

( Your number correct / 8) * 100 = ________% correct.
Practice Passage B

Instructions: Read the following short story at the fastest but most
comfortable rate that you can. Also, read with a stopwatch in your hand
and time yourself so that you will be able to calculate how many words per
minute you are reading.

This passage is meant to measure your new reading rate after having
practiced reading at twice your average speed . You want to read at the
maximum rate that will still allow you to understand the passage. Answer the
questions that follow once you’ve completed the reading.

Start your stopwatch now!

Street Luge: Fun, Fast, and Dangerous

Going really fast is easy. Any top street luge racer can hit sixty miles per
hour or more. The tricky part is slowing down. If you do it well, you can
smile and race again. If not, that cracking sound you hear will be your
bones!

Street luge racing is becoming more and more popular in the United
States. It’s a great test of speed and skill. But it’s also very dangerous. The
idea is to race down a hill while lying on a skateboard. The skateboard is
extra long, but it has no padding. And believe it or not, it has no brakes .

To race, street lugers lie down on the skateboards. They lie on their backs
with their feet in front. That puts them just a few inches off the road. They
steer by leaning to the left or the right. They have to know exactly how to
position their bodies when heading into a curve. Turning too much or too
little will send a skateboard flying off course. It’s no wonder street lugers
are sometimes called pilots!

Street luge racing is not done on a special track. Instead, racers use
regular streets. Although they wait until these streets have been closed to
traffic, many hazards remain. Sidewalks, street signs, and telephone poles
all pose threats to the racers. And that’s not all. Some race courses have
ninety-degree turns in the middle. Any racer who fails to make the turn is
bound to crash into something hard .

Stopping without brakes can be a real challenge. Racers must use their
feet as brakes. They drag them hard on the asphalt. Often they dig in with
such force that they leave skid marks. They send smoke and the smell of
burning rubber into the air .

Racers need some kind of protection for their bodies. They wear helmets,
elbow pads, and leather clothing. Still, sooner or later, anyone who races
will get hurt. Bob Pereyra is a top street luger. He broke both ankles in one
crash. In another accident, he broke three ribs. And in a bad practice run
in 1995, he fractured his heel in three places. Roger Hickey is also a top
racer. Over his career, he has broken more than fifty bones. He says he has
also left enough skin on the road “to make a mannequin.”

If the pros get this banged up, what happens to rookies? Darren Lott,
author of Street Luge Survival Guide , writes about one young daredevil
named Zac Bernstein. At the age of twenty-one, Zac knew no fear. He took
to street luge quickly. He wanted to go faster and faster on every run. On
one steep hill, he took a turn a bit wide. He went bouncing into a field and
hit a storm drain. He smashed right into the concrete wall on the far side
of the drain .

Without his helmet, Zac would have died. Even with it, he broke lots of
bones and slit open his throat. Zac spent weeks in the hospital recovering.
But just one month after the accident, he was back racing again. He had
pins in his hip and leg and walked with a cane. But he was not ready to
give up the sport he loved .

Street luge has been around for years. No one person “invented” it.
Instead, the sport caught on in several places more or less at the same
time. Darren Lott writes, “In the 1970s, we were constantly running into
little groups that thought they were the only ones in the world doing it.”
That has changed. Today street luge is getting lots of attention. It has even
shown up on TV sports shows. Still, as long as there are people like Zac
Bernstein around, street luge will remain a truly extreme sport .

Stop your stopwatch!

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Instructions: Answer all of these questions as best as you can. Once you
answer a question, do not go back to it . Also, do not return to the text to
find an answer . We want to see how many questions you can get right by
simply remembering what you’ve read. Once you’re done, check the answer
key at the end to see how many you got right!

1. What does street luging involve?

a) Racing downhill while lying on a skateboard.
b) Holding on to a car while on a skateboard.
c) Racing on ice-covered hills.
d) Racing downhill with two other team members in a special luge car.

2. What speed can luge racers hit?

a) Sixty miles per hour or more.
b) Between 40 and 50 miles per hour.
c) Ten to 20 miles per hour.
d) About 100 miles per hour.

3. How do street luge racers steer their boards?

a) By using a remote steering control.
b) By dragging a foot on one side at a time.
c) With computer-enhanced equipment.
d) By shifting their bodies.

4. What does preparation for street luge races include?

a) Removing all street signs that can be moved.
b) Closing the street to normal traffic.
 c) Installing rubber bumpers along curbs.
d) Wetting the pavement.

5. What is true of all luge racers – even pros like Roger Hickey?
a) They replace their brakes after every race.
b) They avoid racecourses with ninety-degree turns.
c) They refuse to race without a padded board.
d) They face the possibility of breaking many bones.

6. What is one proof of street luge’s popularity?

a) TV sports shows have begun to cover street luge events.
b) Street luge has been around for years.
c) Those who participate love the sport.
d) There is a lot of money in the sport.

7. How do lugers stop?

a) They use a sophisticated system of brakes.
b) They throw themselves in the grass.
c) They drag their feet on the asphalt.
d) They hit a cushioned wall.

8. Which of these statement is true about the pros in this extreme sport?
a) They are rarely injured.
b) They usually don’t need pads.
c) They frequently sustain minor injuries.
d) They suffer many broken bones.

___________________________________________

This passage has 633 words.

You read this passage in ___________ MINUTES and ____________

SECONDS.
This would be a total of __________ SECONDS.

To calculate your speed, follow these mathematical steps:

633 / (seconds) = _______ WPM

___________________________________________

Check your answers with the key at the end of this book.

Out of 8 questions, you got _________ correct.

( Your number correct / 8) * 100 = ________% correct.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS ANSWER KEY

Passage 1
1. A
2. C
3. A
4. A
5. C
6. B
7. D
8. C

Passage 2
1. A
2. A
3. D
4. B
5. D
6. A
7. C
8. D