speed reading > articles

Purpose of reading

When you are really in a purpose and need to read an entire book before a meeting that's in, say, an hour, You'll hit the table of contents first, then breeze through as fast as possible, mostly just scanning. You do this in the hopes that You'll catch the important information or key words and be able to recall them when needed, with a little help. It works better than not reading the book.

You can take a month to read the same. For faster reading where you have to learn most of what's going on, you tend to read a paragraph or group of sentences, and process them as a whole. You don't think about the meaning of every sentence or phrase, you think about the meaning of every larger point. Depending on the situation or purpose, you can process a couple hundred pages in an hour or two.

On the purpose of speed reading is the actual reading time is significant compared to the time needed to understand the reading. Either the author is babbling unnecessarily, or reading something useless, reading for pleasure, but then that time is enjoyable, hence not wasted.

Speed reading tips

• Look for titles, headings, and subheadings.
• Pick out topic sentences.
• Utilize graphs, charts, and diagrams.
• Take notes while or just after you read (see the section on mapping in chapter one to organize these ideas).
• Look up words whose meanings are important to your understanding of the material, but whose meaning you cannot discern from the context.

Tips: Give Speed Reading a go!

Speed reading techniques

• Active reading with pen
• There is little relationship between rate and comprehension
• Vocalization
• Reducing skipping back
• Speed reading (flash mode)