10 Days to Faster Reading Read online

  Fast Tracks: Reading Between the Lines

  To help break the overlearned habits of focusing on every or almost every word on a line, you might find it helpful to practice reading between the lines. You do this by stopping not on the line of print itself, but on the white space just above each line. It is possible to read words only by looking at the top half of letters. Try to figure out what each sentence says below. The first one has the top half of the letters covered while the second one has the bottom half covered. Which one is easier to predict?

  You can practice reading between the lines anytime you read. For example, try reading between the lines with the paragraph below.

  When you read between the lines, you become aware of a new sensation of freedom from individual words as fixation points. This sensation will be uncomfortable at first but can lead to considerable increases of speed.

  Reading between the lines is a technique perfectly suited for your daily reading. You can also use it with key words, phrases, and/or key phrases.

  Indenting

  Indenting means simply stopping your eyes on the first line about half an inch inside the left margin and ending it about a half an inch before the right margin. The lines down the sides of these paragraphs show approximately where your first and last fixations should fall. As a result, you can eliminate a total of one full fixation each line.

  The first several times you try this technique, you can actually draw similar lines down the sides of the page as reminders to your eyes until you feel comfortable. If you are stopping your eyes seven or eight times a line, by cutting down just one stop per line, you can increase your reading speed by more than 10 percent. Try it!

  Turbo Comprehension: What, You Don't Understand?

  At this point in the faster reading process, you may be feeling uncertain about your comprehension. And rightfully so. Remember the window analogy from the beginning of this chapter? The brain is overwhelmed by all the information you are feeding it.

  By using these strategies on your reading in the next few days, you will find that your conscious mind begins to catch on. Reading faster then becomes a tool to help you get the comprehension you want.

  It is possible that if I had provided comprehension questions for time Trial No. 4, you could have fared better than you thought. This is because the unconscious mind knows the answers even though the conscious mind isn't aware yet. Good comprehension depends on many factors. If ten people read the same thing, you could easily get varying opinions about its meaning. This is because you read with your own filters based on your background knowledge and experiences.

  So comprehension is made up of what is really said and how you interpret what is said. Any- one who has ever been in a book club knows about the heated discussions that ensue as a result of different minds reading the same book.

  Some factors that influence good comprehension include:

  •Knowing why you are reading and what you are reading for (Day 3).

  •Connecting new information to existing knowledge (Day 5).

  •Concentrating when you read (day 3).

  •Being willing to receive more information — not preoccupied (Day 3, Day 5).

  •Knowing where the author is going before you begin (Day 5).

  •Adjusting your reading speed according to your purpose (Day 8).

  •Understanding the vocabulary (Day 9).

  •Evaluating what was really said first, then interpreting it your own way (Day 6).

  •Reading actively (Days 1-10).

  On the Road to Building Proficient Skills

  This chapter introduces many reading methods, which I call tools. However, these tools are not skills. Skills are built over time by repetitively using tools.

  A familiar analogy can be made by comparing reading to golf or tennis. Pretend you are an average golfer or tennis player. If your goal is to improve your game, you must learn the elements of better strokes and practice specific exercises to perfect the skill. Similarly in reading, you must learn the elements of efficient and effective reading and practice specific exercises to master the skill. Initially, you are acutely aware of each new movement you make. You may feel less competent than before and wonder if the new moves really work. But as you persist, the intense awareness and feelings of awkwardness recede, paving the way for increased confidence and competence.

  Another Important Word About Your Brain

  Your brain is pre-wired with the neurons needed to learn language. If you watch a child develop from infancy, you witness his or her speech development. Your brain, though innately able to learn language, is not pre-wired for reading. Reading needs to be taught. You first learn how to decode letters, then words, until the act of reading becomes automatic or procedural. Learning how to read faster is like understanding how to decode words in a more efficient way.

  Pat Wolfe, an educational consultant from Mind Matters, Inc., and a specialist in brain research, says that procedural memory is sometimes called muscle memory. She says that if you use a sequence repeatedly, eventually it becomes automatic. Eventually the sequence becomes instinctive as you become more of an expert, leaving the brain with less work to execute the procedure. If you do it enough times, you instruct the brain to begin the sequence, which in turn triggers your body's memory of the procedure. In effect, you program your brain through repetition of movement and activity. Eventually the sequence is automatic, like learning to tie your shoes, driving a stick shift car, playing the piano, or riding a bicycle. Though the faster reading skills can become automatic, your brain must still be active, conscious and mindful to trigger them. So each time you experiment with faster reading strategies, the closer you are to becoming the master of the procedure.

  Start Your Engines: The Two Finger Pull

  The Two Finger Pull is a pacer that uses the index fingers of both hands. They help focus your eyes primarily on the line you are reading as well as keep your place reading down the lines. Choose a page in a magazine, newspaper, or this book for this exercise. Make sure it is on a flat surface, not balanced upright in your hands. Place the index finger of your left hand at the beginning of the line and the index finger of your right hand at the end of the same line. Your fingers are now framing the line of text. There should be nothing else in your hands. As you read, quickly move your eyes from the left finger to the right and back again, slowly but continually moving your fingers down the left and right side of the column. You can use key words, phrases, or key phrases to help you go faster. As you get more accustomed to the method, try moving your index fingers a little faster.

  Gauge Your Attitude

  Let's take an attitude check. Mentally fill in the blank of the following statement:

  I am a(n) ____________ reader.

  Is your reading attitude changing?

  Pit Stop: Tip of the Day

  When starting to use the faster reading methods presented in this chapter, I suggest you experiment only on reading material that is familiar. Remember initially you are going for speed, so you want to make comprehension as easy as possible. In the first few days of learning how to drive a stick shift car, would you like to drive in San Francisco or Boston? Or would you rather drive on the flat, no-traffic, straight plains of the Midwest where there are no great driving challenges and no surprises? In a short time, though, you would be able to navigate the steep San Francisco hills or the famous traffic circles in Boston. Just get used to the mechanics of the car first.

  In Day 5, you will learn ways to obtain background knowledge from nonfiction material before reading it. It will also be a priceless tool for weeding through your read later stack.

  Day 5: Reading the Road Map

  Have you ever taken a car trip without directions? Imagine setting out to go somewhere you have never been without having the slightest idea of how to get there. How might you feel? Perhaps frustrated because you don't know where you are going, or not confident that you will actually reach your destination, or confused about w
hich way to go. Not a fun trip!

  Do these questions reflect how you sometimes feel after you start reading?

  Unfortunately this scenario is very close to what unskilled readers do when they read. They approach their reading like a car trip without directions. They find something to read that they know nothing about, jump right in at the first word, and continue reading until the end. They become frustrated because they feel obligated to read the entire thing. Remember, your elementary school teacher left you with the impression that you had to read it all, or else. These readers feel uncertain that they are really understanding what they are supposed to or confused because the reading isn't what they had expected. It is no wonder that many people do not enjoy reading.

  One sure way to avoid going into any reading situation completely blind is to first tap into your background knowledge. Remember, your background knowledge consists of the unique things you have personally learned and experienced. Each piece of your background knowledge can be considered a clue to a reading's meaning.

  Clue In Your Brain

  Race car drivers prefer tracks they have raced before and dislike new ones. This is consistent with human nature — because we like things we are familiar with, or have clues about. We feel more challenged by the unfamiliar when we are clueless. If drivers are unfamiliar with the track layout such as the sharpness of its curves or where the pit lane is located, they cannot mentally prepare nor focus their minds by visualizing how the race may proceed.

  Similarly, reading unfamiliar material makes comprehension and focus a challenge. You might feel like you are in the middle of a thick forest without any idea how to get out. Gaining familiarity with the unfamiliar is achieved by looking for clues, any piece of information that will give you a reassuring feeling that you are in the right place. Clues guide you in making decisions and interpretations from what you read. The more clues you have before you start reading, the faster you can read with good comprehension.

  So you may be wondering how you get background knowledge on a track you have never seen before? Or how do you know if you have any to begin with? The best way is to get a roadmap.

  Getting the Map Before You Begin

  Savvy drivers know that road maps show you the world. A road map tells you where you are, where you have been, and where you are going. It tells you about your surroundings and, sometimes more importantly, what's not around you, like a gas station or rest stop.

  Securing a road map before any car trip assures a pleasant journey. A pleasant journey could mean feeling comfortable about where you are going, confident you will make it there in a timely fashion, and positive you are on the right road. Some people like having a map to plot the quickest way from point A to B. Others use a map to plan a leisurely trip by looking for all the scenic country roads. For any reason, knowing before you begin what you want out of the trip and where the journey can take you is extremely efficient.

  When taking a "reading trip" the way to locate the road map is to use a strategy called previewing. Pre-viewing is a conscious, specific technique of looking over a piece of reading material before actually reading it . It is a deliberate skimming process that provides you with the writer's outline so you know the direction of the reading before you begin. As a result you can:

  Decide whether the reading is worth your time.

  Establish a more specific purpose and responsibility.

  Gain valuable background knowledge that helps you read more efficiently and effectively.

  Pre-viewing can be applied to any nonfiction reading, including but not limited to newspaper and magazine articles, chapters in instruction manuals and textbooks, reference guides, newsletters, e-zines, and more. This pre-viewing process cannot be applied to fiction, since fiction has a different inherent structure.

  While pre-viewing's primary purpose is to provide you with background knowledge about material you have not seen before, the process also serves as:

  A replacement for reading everything in detail.

  An introduction to any reading.

  A review process that reduces rereading.

  For whichever reason you use it, pre-viewing is a powerful and extremely efficient reading tool.

  Pre-viewing dispels the commonly held notion that the only way to read is to start from the beginning and read to the end. Many people believe that just because something was written and printed that they have to read every word.

  When you began reading this chapter, did you just start reading all the words from the beginning? Or did you look at anything, like skimming through the subheads, before jumping in?

  Reading directly from beginning to end is not always the most effective or efficient way to read any material. Instead, before you read, quickly look for important clues that help you build background knowledge and establish your reading roadmap.

  Do you remember in high school or college when your instructors required you to create an outline before you started writing a rough draft of an essay or paper? Those who graduated into nonfiction writing or editing careers still follow this sage advice. As a result, there is an outline inherent in all nonfiction reading material.

  Outlines provide the structure and organization of written ideas. Usually they summarize the main points and can be easily located in heads and subheads.

  Take a look at the following reading road map legends, in symbol form, and the corresponding reading clue location.

  Keep in mind that not all nonfiction has all these clues but most do. Apply only those that correspond to your reading material. Below is an abbreviated version of "The History of Reading" from Day 4 with added subheads to give you an idea how the symbols apply to reading. After you review the passage, review the explanation for each symbol and think about how you activate your background knowledge when you look for this information.

  # The History of Speed Reading

  > 1. People have been concerned with systematically increasing reading speeds since 1925.

  This is when the very first formal Speed Reading course was conducted at Syracuse University in the United States. But at many times in writing history, literate people have considered how to speed up the process. For example, in the mid-1600s, a man named Antonio di Marco Magliabechi was reportedly able to read and comprehend and memorize entire volumes at a rapid rate. But while 1925 appears to be the first formal presentation of a Speed Reading course, much research in the area was being conducted before that date.

  § A. Foundations of Speed Reading

  T 1. It was a French ophthalmologist, Emile Javal, who unknowingly laid the foundations of Speed Reading with his eye-movement experiments in 1878._ _ _

  T 2. His discovery was foundational because it demonstrated that our field of focus (number of characters that the eyes can recognize per glance) is wider than previously imagined._ _ _

  T 3. Coupled with the increased interest and desire to improve reading speeds was the mass public education of the late 19th and early 20th centuries._ _ _

  T 4. Legibility, for conventional print, denotes how physical characteristics of written text affect factors such as visual fatigue, reading speed, and comprehension._ _ _

  T 5. Further advancements in Speed reading were made by an unlikely group, the United States Air Force._ _ _

  § B. The Advent of the Tachiscope

  T 1. The psychologists and educational specialists working on the visual acuity question devised what was later to become the icon of early Speed Reading courses, the tachiscope._ _ _

  T 2. The results had obvious implications for reading, and thus began the research into the area of reading improvement, using the tachiscope._ _ _

  T 3. This training demonstrated clearly that, with some work, reading speeds could be increased._ _ _

  T 4. The reading courses that followed used the tachistoscope to increase reading speeds, and discovered that readers were able to increase their speeds from 200 to 400 words per minute using the machine._ _ _

  T 5. Followi
ng the tachistoscope discoveries, Harvard University Business School produced the first film-aided course, designed to widen the reader's field of focus in order to increase reading speed._ _ _

  § C. Reading Researcher Evelyn Wood

  T 1. It was not until the late 1950s that a portable, reliable, and "handy" device would be discovered as a tool to promote reading speed increases._ _ _

  T 2. Her revolutionary discovery came about somewhat by accident._ _ _

  T 3. Not only did Mrs. Wood use her hand-pacing method, but she combined it with all of the other knowledge she had discovered from her research about reading and learning, and she introduced a revolutionary new method of learning, called Reading Dynamics, in 1958._ _ _

  T 4. It made its debut in "Speech 21" at the University of Utah._ _ _

  T 5. Mrs. Wood introduced Reading Dynamics to the public in 1959, having piloted the program at the University of Utah for a year._ _ _

  < II. In viewing the various trends of the history of speed reading, it stands out quite clearly that one method used consistently throughout is the training of the eyes to move more effectively.

  Whether it is a tachistoscope, a film-aided approach, or the hand as a natural pacer, this element remains today to help increase a reader's speed.

  # Title: A nonfiction title gives you a good idea of what the reading will be about. For example: