Personal Computer World 1995 June/pcw-0695.iso/share/datasaur/lamb/lessprt.txt

Text File | 1994-03-18 | 10.9 KB | 210 lines

HOW TO USE YOUR EYES

At school you will have learnt to recognise letters and words. Education tends to stop
at that point - a shame as you can substantially improve your reading speed and
reduce wear and tear on your eyes by trying the following methods:

. Read an A4 line with only two or three eye movements.  You'll find that you can
retain what you read.
. Use your peripheral vision to spot punctuation. In a well- punctuated document, you
will be able to read a sentence in one fell swoop.
. When reading a column, read the whole line without moving your eyes.  Try not to
let your eyes wander back along a line - it's rarely necessary.

With 'A Stray Lamb', no more than two eye movements per line should be
necessary.  If you want to write something that needs to be read quickly use lines
about 5 inches long. This allows each line to be read with  two eye movements. This
is the  quickest method as it allows the reader's eyes to work down the page in a
criss-cross fashion, which is more 'natural' than reading  down a column.

You can make your work even faster to read by adding an extra space between
words which end towards  the middle of the page. This makes it easier for the reader
to  assimilate what he is reading as he does not need to make the  break in the line
himself.


 READING ALOUD

 Schools teach us to 'read aloud'. Later we learn to mouth the words without
speaking them. Later still, we make the sounds in our minds. This is called
sub-vocalisation. It slows you down  and is rarely necessary.  Try reading without the
sounds - it will speed up your reading quite dramatically.


CHOOSE YOUR READING STYLE

 When you have to read a long document, you should choose the way in which you
are going to read it. Do this by flipping through a  few pages. Consider the following:

1 Is it relevant?  You do not need to read everything that you receive. Filter it. If it is
of no use to you, do not read it. That will save you more time than any other
technique!

 2 How will you use what you read?  If you only need a smattering of information,
skimming might do. Just look for headings and critical words.  If you need to quote or
paraphrase then you will need to read slowly and carefully. Speak out difficult words
in your mind or with your voice. You don't want to mispronounce a word when you're
making a presentation.

If you need a good understanding of what you are reading, you should:

1 Read with minimal eye movement.
2 Read either sentences or blocks of text. Avoid reading word by word.
3 Do not speak the words in your mind.

If you need only a moderate understanding then add this technique to the above:

 Read only the key words - ignore filler words like 'the' and link words like  'and'.


HOW TO REMEMBER & FORGET

 Each of us develops our own techniques for remembering things. This is something
that schools rarely teach at all - though they do test the results! Here are some
ideas:

1 Remember to forget everything you don't strictly need to remember. That'll cut
your workload.
2 Pause regularly - perhaps after each paragraph and think about what you've read.
This allows your mind to incorporate what you've just read into your 'structure of
knowledge'. You will then be able to recall it later. Isolated facts are usually forgotten
whilst  linked facts become knowledge.
 4 If what you are reading is 'alien' to you, you may find it useful to build a skeleton.
For instance, when looking at history for the first time, learn a few key dates. This will
give you perspective and act as a skeleton on which you can hang all the other
information you gather. Asking the author of a document to summarise it to you
verbally is a good way of building your 'skeleton'.
5 If you find you are  struggling with reading  material at work, it may be that you
need to improve your ability to cope with  'difficult' words and sentence constructs. A
painless way  of achieving this is to read a paper like 'The Guardian' or 'The
Independent'. Or, if you prefer, pick up some  Dickens.
6 Take notes as you are reading. Notes can be descriptive, iconic or use key words
& phrases. Experiment with different types of notes. Try to draw links between
associated ideas.
7 Test yourself. This will embarrass nobody and will increase your self-confidence.
Testing can be done by skimming a document after you've read it and searching for
key words. When you find one, try to remember everything associated with that
word. This is easy  with 'The Stray Lamb' and other electronic books as you can use
their 'search' facilities.
8 If you use some information rarely, you'll need a 'crib'. This should consist of a
neat, logicalised version of your notes filed under a title that allows it to be rapidly
retrieved.  Consider using software to do this.


A SHORT HISTORY OF READING

The history of reading and its instruction dates from the time of the Phoenicians,
more than  3,000 years ago.   The Phoenicians were great  traders, and it was from
their trading contacts with the Greeks that writing spread into Southern Europe.  The
Greeks drew up an  alphabet that covered all of  the sounds in their language. They
taught their students to read from this alphabet; It is basically this method that most
young children use today.  The Romans adapted the Greek alphabet and gave each
of the letters a name. Usually the name relates to the sound, but not always.
Christian missionaries devised the first English alphabet, drawn in the main from the
Roman one. Letters such as U, V, W and Y were added later.

The hornbook, a paddle-shaped  piece wood was used in the 15th century to teach
people to read. It had the alphabet, some syllables and the Lord's Prayer.  The
arrival of Caxton's printing press in the 15th century widened the spread of literacy
and its importance. By making the written word cheaper, it enabled its use to convey
news, education and  entertainment to the middle class.

Literacy rates are often used as a guide to the development of nations. Europe,
during the Dark Ages  had perhaps 1 or 2% literate, and that was thanks mainly to
the Catholic church.   What constitutes being literate is a matter of debate. Today, I
would  say, it means being able to read and write about contemporary events. In the
past a person would have been considered literate if he could have read the Lord's
Prayer. This means that the following literacy rate  should be taken with a pinch of
salt.

 In the 18th Century the literacy rate rose to 40%. Credit for some of this rise should
go to the Dames Schools and Common Day Schools.  These were cheap, fee paying
schools led by people who were usually unfit for manual work. In addition to these, a
number of  charity schools were founded to educate the poor as Christians -  usually
by making them learn the catechism by heart.

To learn to read requires time. Making children work long hours in factories, on farms
and in workhouses naturally makes  clodhoppers of them. Many philanthropists
worked to  alleviate their lot and some employers set up schools to educate their
employees' children. This was, of course, more a question of self-interest than of
kindness.

The Factories Act, 1844 set a  minimum working age of 8 in factories and
workshops. In 1874 this was raised to 10 and then to  12 in the 1918 Fisher Act.  By
1850, as education spread wider over the population and children spent longer at
school, about 50% were literate.   Standardisation in school provision helps to
ensure that minimum standards can be met; the 1870 Education Act provided our
first attempt. This was improved by the  Conservatives in 1902 when they put
education under Local Government  control.

Mundella's Education Act, 1880  made education compulsory in  Britain for all
children aged 5 to 10. By 1930 more than 90% of Britons were literate.   The Butler
Act, 1944, transformed British education. It meant compulsory, full-time schooling for
all children from 5 through to 15. It has ensured that all children, of all classes
receive a basic education. 98% of us are now  literate.

It is too early to say whether the  1988 Education Act with its establishment of a
National Curriculum will aid or hinder education in this country. The same can be
said about the moves to take schools out of Local  Government control. The abysmal
handling of the National Curriculum by the Government has hardly helped its cause.

It is probable that the 1990's will see more people illiterate in Britain, given the
growth of urban  poverty, the decline of the nuclear family and the expansion of
visual  media.

One measure of reading ability is provided by the notional  'reading age' - that is the
type of material that a person of a given  age can comprehend. A reading age  of 15
is considered to be the norm for a well-educated person. If you can comfortably cope
with a  newspaper like 'The Guardian', you have reached this exalted height.
Newspapers such as 'The Mail'  have a reading age of 12 whilst simpler ones like
'The Sun' sit at 10. This does not imply that 'The Sun' is badly written -  it is
deliberately written with simple words and sentence constructions.

When reading other people's work, especially documents written by technicians,
concentrate on  the content and not the style.  Enjoy your reading, and help your
colleagues enjoy your writing.


HOW FAST IS FAST?

how fast you can read will depend on these factors:

1 How difficult the material is that you're reading.
2 How familiar you are with the subject matter.
3 How interested you are.
4 How tired you are - the morning is usually better for reading long documents than
the afternoon.
5 How much you need to retain.
6 What percentage of written words you sound in your mind.

When reading 'A Stray Lamb', aim for 800 words per minute. Use the 'key' to turn on
the  wordometer.  You should score better than 80% in the retention tests.


AFTER LAMB

There is not a lot you need to remember from your Speed Reading course. Here are
a few tips - please pick those that you like and practise them at work:

1 Don't read bumph.
2 Minimise your eye movements, typically to two per line.
3 Read in a criss-cross fashion.
4 Pause regularly to absorb.
5 Test yourself frequently.
6 Take notes.
7 Don't try to remember what you don't need to.
8 Before reading a long document, pick the appropriate style:
    - Skim, quick or thorough.
9 Avoid sub-vocalisation.
10 If you're bored with what you're reading, try reading it faster.

I hope that you enjoyed your Speed Reading course. If you are interested you might
like to try speed reading other electronic books from Datasaurus, or you could
choose a tutor-led course. The flip side to this course is Modern Business Writing -so
that others can read your work easily.

Bibliography:
 'Read Better, Read Faster' by Manya and Eric De Leeuw, published by Penguin.

Have a nice day!
David Warner. Datasaurus Ltd.