With so much information out there to read these days, we all need to be able to increase our reading speed.
But just being able to read faster is not good enough as we could miss out on some of the vital information we are looking for in the first place.
So we need to improve our reading by focusing on several reading skills so that we are learning to read faster and read better.
To help do this we need to understand the way in which read in the first place.
1. The Concept of Eye Movement.
Everyone reads – but, with most people it is a haphazard process. You learned to read in the first grade and you read more and more as you grew older. But did you ever stop to think that in all probability no one ever taught you how to read? I mean that no one explained the mechanics or physiology of reading and told you how to make these natural processes work for you to develop speed and quicker comprehension.
For example, when you pick up a letter, a newspaper, a magazine or a book your eyes seem to move smoothly over the lines of type from left to right. But the truth is, they move in a series of jerks. Your eyes stop – “fixate,” the experts call it – and register a word or two. Then they jerk to the right and repeat the process until you have read the entire line. You read only during the stops or fixations.
2. The Concept of the Eye-Mind Relationship.
We read with the eyes, of course. But the eyes are only a camera which photographs images for the mind to translate into ideas. It is the mind which preserves what you read – not the eyes. But since the mind can receive its images only through the eyes, the eyes must be trained to record these word images swiftly and surely.
3. The Concept of Reading Purpose.
From now on you will approach everything you read with a purpose. You will undertake many kinds of reading for many purposes. Both comprehension and retention are sharpened when your purpose is fixed in advance. You will not waste time in letting your eyes wander vaguely down the page. You will put system and efficiency into your reading.
This kind of selectivity is as much one of the skills of Speed Reading as increasing speed. Remember, you don’t have to read every word on every piece of paper that comes across your desk. The efficient way is to make a quick estimate of its nature and its value to you. Then decide if and how you will read it. This can save many minutes out of your working day.
You apply this same evaluation to everything you read, whether it is for information only, for entertainment or for the sheer pleasure of self-enrichment through a finely written novel or a biography. You establish in advance the purpose for which you are reading.
People who have not yet learned the total conception of Speed Reading often ask two questions: “If I learn to read rapidly, won’t I miss a great deal – particularly the beauty of imaginative writing?” And, “Won’t I overlook important points if I go through articles so fast?”
Experience shows that the rapid reader remembers far more – not less – of what he reads, because he has learned to be an efficient reader. Understanding is increased because he knows why he reads and because he concentrates. As to missing beauty, Speed Reading calls for changes of speed with different kinds of reading material. The trained reader slows down when he wants to savor the beauty of poetry, of drama, of fine passages in a biography or novel. He paces himself to what he is reading.
So now you have the three basic concepts of Speed Reading:
1. A thorough grasp of the eye-movement mechanics which will govern many of the techniques in faster reading.
2. An understanding of the eye-mind relationship which conditions the comprehension and retention of what you read.
3. An awareness of your reading purpose before you begin to read. This causes you to read different kinds of material at different speeds and reduces the over-all time you spend on reading.
Remember these concepts and you will see just how the skills of Speed Reading grow out of them.