Speed Reading is a learned skill that can help improve yourself immensely.  With improved reading speed comes more enjoyment as information is only a short read away. Imagine reading a whole book in just a few hours.  What a journey you will have if it’s a great novel.  You may even enjoy it more than going to the movies. Keeping up on all the latest technology coming onto the market or the latest financial data on the stock markets.  The applications for greater reading speeds are immense.

So you have to ask yourself is why are we all slow readers now ?

Well the answer is the way in which we have been traditionally been taught in schools, especially as a young infant.  We were all taught to read by saying the sounds and putting the sounds together to form the words.  Later on we were encouraged to vocalise the words on the page and read them out loud. When we got older into adulthood we still say the words we read but we do this internally. This is called sub-vocalisation. And it is this sub-vocalisation that really slows us down in the reading process.

The brain is capable of processing millions of bits of information every second, and the eyes can capture an amazing amount of information in a fraction of a second. If you do not believe me, try this.  Open a closed door, look in and close it immediately. The remember to yourself what you saw behind the door.  Or look at a painting very briefly.  What did you notice ?

The act of having to “Speak” the words and move the eyes backwards and forwards line by line over the text of a book, hampers the speed at which the words are read and comprehended by the reader.  Speed reading allows the brain to focus on getting the information from the book and not worrying about having to read every word of it.