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1991-09-16
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LESSON 1
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HOW FAST YOU ARE
Why learn to read quickly?
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Greater numbers of workers have to read every day. With the
popularity of computers, information processing is becoming the
main activity of most people. Increasing people's reading
ability increases their productivity. In fact improving reading
is the quickest way and most economical way to increase
productivity in business.
Most people think that television and computers have reduced
reading; judging from the quantity of printed matter, this is
completely wrong. There are more and more printed matter for us
to read, in fact in the past it has doubled every ten years. If
you listen to a speaker, he might speak at a rate of 9,000 words
per hour; however, an average reader can read 27,000 words per
hour. Reading fast is becoming essential to get ahead in life.
Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy would regularly go
through four newspapers in twenty minutes. This means that they
had more time to attend to other tasks.
If you go through all this course you should be able to double
your reading speed. You will find out your strengths and
weaknesses and you will start to improve your reading skills.
More importantly, it will show you how to do it.
The first step.
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The first step is to measure your present reading skills. This
will allow you to measure your progress. Since this will be done
by computer you can choose your rhythm to study. If you've
completed the ID option, you can proceed. If you haven't
completed the ID option, please do so now. The first exercise
requires you to read a text; you will be tested to find out how
well you've understood it and you will automatically be timed.
So you must read it quickly and well. We need to measure how
fast you are currently reading to compare it to later tests.
The texts to be read are from THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack
London which is 6th grade level reading.
After you've completed the first text, please do the next text.
This will allow you to adjust your reading skills to get a
better score. The results are automatically recorded in your
personal file.
PLEASE COMPLETE BOTH TESTS NOW.
LESSON 2
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READING WHOLE WORDS
The fast reader doesn't move his eyes more quickly than the
slow reader, in fact he might do it even slower. The eyes move
in the average at 1/40 of a second and then pause at a fixed
point for the same amount of time. The eye of a fast reader move
in a regular pattern from upper left to lower right in a zig-zag
pattern, using the pauses to see blocks of words. A slow reader
will look at a text in a broken pattern, often coming back to
reread part of a text. This tendency lacks the reading rhythm of
a good reader.
During the pause a slow reader will recognize 5 to 10 letters
whereas a fast reader will recognize twice as many words. A very
good reader will capture blocks of more than 100 letters during
that time.
A slow reader won't better memorize or understand a text than a
fast reader, it's the opposite. Since a good reader reads more
easily, his immediate memory of the text is much better than
that of a slow reader; a fast reader also retains ideas longer
than a slow reader.
The slow reader has the tendency to read all the text. On the
other hand, the fast reader will screen out parts of text that
doesn't interest him or that isn't necessary to understand the
general meaning of the text as a whole.
Reading letters and reading words
─────────────────────────────────
A good reader has a practised eye that recognizes a word as a
whole. A slow reader reads every letter. To prove that it much
easier to read words than letters, examine these two sentences:
Aquickreaderwillhaveasmuchdifficultyinreadingthisasaslowreader.
A quick reader will have as much difficulty in reading this as
a slow reader.
The second sentence has 14 spaces more than the first, yet it
can be read much more quickly as the first.
PLEASE COMPLETE TEST 3 NOW.
Test 3 had two parts, each with the exact number of letters.
However the letters of the first part didn't mean anything, so
they were much harder to read than those of the second part.
This shows you the importance of reading whole words.
Of course, unknown words have to be read letter by letter until
you make a mental image of the word. This will only come about
through practise. At first words like dimethylsulfoxyde have to
be read slowly, but if you are a chemist and you might be
interested in remembering its image for future use.
To better measure your aptitude to read words rather than
letters, PLEASE COMPLETE TEST 4 NOW.
These tests measure your ability at reading words. If you took
longer to read the second set of words, which are a little
longer, then you have a tendency to read letters rather than
whole words.
Exercises were prepared to help you practise certain methods of
reading. The novella DAISY MILLER by Henry James is used for
these exercises; this novella is considered to be 6th grade
reading by the Flesh Kincaid method. You can also use the novel
A STUDY IN SCARLET by Sir Conan Doyle if you're a Sherlock Holmes
fan.
YOU CAN PRACTISE THE EXERCISE -IDENTIFYING WORDS- TO IMPROVE
YOUR SKILLS.
LESSON 3
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THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF READING
Before going any further, let's find out whether you tend to
confuse words, or in technical terms if you tend to have
dyslexia. In the next test you will be shown sentences having
two similar words which you must identify. Take note of the
times you had to reread the text and take note of the times you
nearly had to reread the sentence.
These tests are meant to help you; if you tend to confuse
words, try the following test. Some students have doubled their
reading skill by solving this problem.
PLEASE COMPLETE TEST 5 NOW.
If you think that you are suffering from dyslexia, you should
consult your physician for proper medical diagnosis and
treatment.
To read well, you should have good lighting and the text should
be at least a foot away from your eyes. If you have a tendency
to squint your eyes or if you have headaches after reading, you
should consult your eye specialist to see if you need glasses.
It's normal for your eyes to get tired after a certain time. To
alleviate this, relax, shut your eyes for about five minutes and
breathe deeply. After, look far away and examine certain
details, then look at a close object; repeat a few times.
LESSON 4
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CHUNKS OF VISION
When we read, we do so by leaps and bounds; in fact we can only
distinguish words when our eyes stop moving. One important skill
to master is to move your eyes in the best way possible; you
must learn to master the movement of your eyes to each fixation
points. Let's take some examples where you have to look at the +
symbol:
man
+
You should be able to read the word man. Try again:
human
+
and again:
inhumanity
+
no inhumanity in
+
And again:
There's no inhumanity in nature.
+
If you have wide vision, you probably will see the word
"inhumanity" but you might not read the sentence. What you want
to do is to enlarge your field of vision as much as possible;
the larger the chunks you can read, the faster you will read.
Of course this depends on the font used, some characters are
very small and you'll have more characters per inch than larger
characters. So reading speed will vary according to the font
used, the word spacing, the line spacing and other similar
factors.
It's not only necessary to see more, you have to concentrate
your thinking to capture in your mind what you have seen.
Repeated concentration efforts will improve your reading.
YOU CAN DO THE EXERCISES -CHUNKS OF VISION- TO WIDEN YOUR
VISION.
COMPLETE TEST 6 NOW.
LESSON 5
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MUTTERING
Unfortunately schools still test reading skills by making
students read texts aloud. This links reading with speaking,
which is harmful to fast reading. This practise should be
stopped and reading should be tested by other means.
Certain people mutter what they read. Since doing this is four
times slower than simply reading, this habit should be stopped.
First you have to find out whether you have this habit.
Secondly, often the same persons will follow with their finger
the text they are reading. If you have been following the text
regularly with the cursor, you should stop this habit which
reduces your ability to read quickly.
Of course if you are practising to give a speech, you will want
to say the text aloud and follow it closely. In that case, you
will want to read slowly and deliberately, but this isn't our
immediate concern.
COMPLETE TEST 7 NOW.
LESSON 6
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RHYTHM
Quick readers read larger chunks in a systematic way. It isn't
sufficient just to have a large field of vision, you have to
read in a rhythmic way. If you read in a haphazard way, you'll
have to come back and reread what you've missed and you'll have
difficulty in understanding what you've just read. This behavior
is particularly important for normal reader who want to become
fast readers.
Musicians improve their skills by practising scales; readers
also can practise in a similar fashion to start at a given
point, to slide and to end at a certain position; much like
musical scales, you can practise to go faster or you can try to
read larger chunks.
THE EXERCISES - READING RHYTHM - WILL ENHANCE YOUR SPEED
LESSON 7
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SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter should tell you if you should read quickly
or whether you should read slowly. The most notorious example of
this is Lincoln's Gettysburg address:
Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg, 1863
Fourscore and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all
men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle field
of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,
as a final restingplace for those who here gave their lives that
that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not
dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It
is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last
full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under
God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.
This speech surprised everybody because it was so short. Yet
every word has a profound meaning. This text should NOT be read
quickly, every word should be savoured. Similarly the following
poems should be read slowly:
THE EAGLE by Lord Alfred Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER
by Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
THE WALK
by Thomas Hardy
You did not walk with me
Of late to the hilltop tree
By the gated way,
As in earlier days;
You were weak and lame,
So you never came,
And I went alone, and I did not mind,
Not thinking of you as left behind.
I walked up there today
Just in the former way;
Surveyed around
The familiar ground
By myself again:
What difference, then?
Only that underlying sense
Of the look of a room on returning thence.
EPIGRAM
by Alexander Pope
Sir, I admit your general rule
That every poet is a fool:
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.
In other words, it's up to you to select the subjects you are
interested in, to gauge them according to what you like and to
read text with these criteria in mind.
YOU CAN DO THE EXERCISE- SETTING YOUR PRIORITIES- TO ORGANIZE
ALL YOUR READING. (Astronomy... read fast, average, slowly, not
at all)
LESSON 8
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FILTERING AND KEY WORDS
Once you have set your priorities, you can literally scan the
text to seek key words you might be interested in. After a while
you will be able to seek out the image of words taken as a whole
picture. Words will be visualized as a whole picture much like
the faces of people and you'll recognize them instantaneously.
DO THE EXERCISES - SEEKING KEY WORDS - TO PRACTICE THIS ABILITY
LESSON 9
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ORGANIZING
The quickest way to read a text is not to read it at all. If
you read everything you see, obviously this is going to take a
lot of time. Take any weekly periodical, for example such as
Time and Newsweek, and skip all ads; obviously you have to
identify the ads to skip them, but this should take a fraction
of a second. You might be the type of person who is seduced by
ads; if this is the case, make an effort to skip all ads whether
they appeal to you.
The next step is to weed out certain subjects; for example you
might not be interested in art or economics. If you do encounter
a section concerning the subject matter that are of no concern
at all, simply skip the section. Certain technical publications
help you out with this by giving you a table of contents at the
beginning and an index at the end. If you are overburdened with
reading, use these tools to zero in strictly on the subjects you
are concerned with. A medical doctor who might only be
interested in radiology for example could eliminate all articles
on other subjects by referring to the table of contents or
index.
Libraries can also help you out on this. In certain libraries
for examples you can ask to obtain a list of all articles on a
given subject; if you are lucky, they might even find these
articles. Specialists use this approach to find out everything
there is to know about a subject. They use the services of
librarians to seek out information on specific subjects.
To practise take a current example of a newspaper and plan to
read it in 15 minutes. Think beforehand of how you'll do this
and then try it out. Note where you've been hooked where you
didn't plan. Perhaps you'll have to change your plan; for
example if you always fall for cartoons, perhaps you should
limit yourself to the one you find to be the most funny.
One you have done this exercise with a newspaper, repeat the
exercise with the periodicals you read.
This could save you a lot of time. Now you could even think
about adding to the list of newspapers, periodicals or books you
are reading.
LESSON 10
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IMPROVING YOUR MEMORY
Reading fast should be coupled with better memorization. We see
thousands of visuals messages every minute, but most are
filtered out. Short term memory lasts about twenty seconds. Long
term memory may last a lifetime. Immediate memory will only
retain sentences of 15 words or less, and only the general
meaning will be retained for longer sentences; good writing
style should limit the length of sentences to that 15 words
limit.
The three keys to memorization are:
- to be genuinely interested in the text;
- to select and structure information;
- refresh memory to keep it current.
Try to think about what you are reading; ask yourself the
questions who, what, where, when and why to stimulate your
interest in the text.
Also, make associations such as:
This makes me think of...
This is linked to...
This compares to...
This is different than...
This is caused by...
These are the consequences of...
By reformulating the text in your personal way, you can double
the contents to memorize. To do this, you have to think about
what you are reading and you have to interpret it in your
personel way.
It is also wise to take notes on what you are reading, or to
underline key passages or to highlight them with a marker.
Refreshing your memory helps keep it in a current filing area
of your mind. By attaching emotions or feelings to a text, it
makes it easier to remember it.
The best way to memorize a text is to be motivated. Of course
many texts might not interest you and a novella such as DAISY
MILLER in today's context doesn't normally sustain much
interest. Try to LIKE to read this novella. Try to imagine all
the characters, try to listen to what they are saying, try to
feel what the characters are feeling. Make the text alive.
PROGRESS REPORT
Once you have completed all the previous lessons, reevaluate
your reading skills by completing TESTS 8 AND 9. Your reading
should have quickened if you followed the course faithfully.
