Posts Tagged ‘speed reading’

Learning Speed Reading

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

What have you been reading lately? In a gathering, you can soon tell who the broad-spectrum readers are, since frequent readers are often quick thinkers and good public speakers too. They quickly win the adulation, respect, and fellowship of others. After all, reading expands the mind and many people think of it as one of the most satisfying pleasures known to mankind, being a combination, as it is, of mental agility and physical relaxation well above the level offered by television or the cinema.

Reading is mostly a mental activity, as you read with your mind and use your imagination to depict the setting of the action thriller you are reading. You use your mind to imagine the pain that the main characters in the story are experiencing as the plot unfolds; or you contemplate the various arguments and ideas theorized by the author of that self-help book you are holding.

Being able to read effectively helps you to develop a wide vocabulary through reading different styles of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not know exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a general idea of what the sentence means.

Reading makes you more alert and more curious about new words. Some readers develop ‘the dictionary habit’, which means that every time they come across a new word, they try to figure out what it possibly means in the context. If they are stumped, they refer to a dictionary.

Similarly, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing the reader to a variety of subjects. He/she learns to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other kinds of education, he/she is learning by actually doing and while he/she is reading he/she is automatically learning about the subject matter of the book too - a free by-product!

Basically, reading teaches you to have an active and open mind. Only grasping the writers point of view is not really good enough, you have to have a reply to what you have read. Be an active, not a passive, reader. Try to develop the habit of drawing your own conclusions, the habit of active thinking, of agreeing or disagreeing with the writer. Always keep your mind open; understand and consider the ideas that you have read. A practical part of active reading is the development of one’s own opinions.

Now let me mention the concept called speed reading. All of the above applies between three and ten times over, because speed readers can read that much faster than the average reader! Consider that! - Being able to read, comprehend and remember all those books and articles. You would surely become well-read in your subject much more rapidly than others. Just imagine how that could help you at work, in school or in university …

Now, let me tell you the four primary rules for better reading and better comprehension:

1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember the saying that practice makes perfect. 2) Develop the habit of reading for main ideas, ie look for the subject and predicate - the main ideas 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Think of what you are reading. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try purposely to read faster. Give yourself a time limit for a specific text that you are reading.

Reading is a wonderfully stimulating mental activity. It expands your reality and capability. You have so much to gain in discovering the joys of reading. So, go ahead and take down a book right now.

Are you interested in speed reading for yourself or a loved one? If so, please visit our web site called Speed Reading.

categories: speed reading,reading,books,articles,hobbies,career,entertainment,education,school,college,self help,self improvement,homeschooling,other

Speed Reading - Where Do You Start?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Nobody actually knows when speed reading was first used, but it may well have been a long while ago. For centuries, reading was the privilege of a small group of the most well-educated individuals in the world, the overwhelming preponderance of whom were monks and priests. This small, select group of men guarded their privilege and were loathe to teach the general public to read. Furthermore, all through those centuries there were relatively few books to read compared with nowadays. Books were also very dear as they all had to be copied out by hand. Perhaps the only fact that has not changed is that the Bible was the most common book in existence and even now the Bible is the most popular book.

The world is fast devolving into a place where individuals are slowly but surely turning their backs on books and becoming fixed in front of monitors or television screens. In such a world, parents should not fail to notice the importance of developing a passion for reading in themselves and their children. Reading is a habit that should be established when the child is relatively young, so what can you do to foster this habit?

Well, there are several strategies you can employ, although one of the best to lead by example. Read with your child every day, even if its only for 10-15 minutes. Allow your child to see you reading. By this I mean, don’t only read in bed before you go to sleep, but instead of watching television from time to time and read your children a bed-time story. Encourage them to read too. You could also:

Register your child for reading lessons, if you honestly don’t have much time or your child is a little slow at reading. There are many well-structured after school reading classes that aspire to make books more appealing to children. They help children with pronunciation, idioms and phrases. These lessons can be pleasurable with animated characters and pictures, especially for young children,. They frequently use Illustrated books, nursery rhymes, comical songs and short stories to enliven the imagination of younger children.

You will have to learn how to arouse your child’s interest. If your child has a favorite character, pick a series of books that include this character. Endeavor to encourage your children to read proper books not comics. The style in comics frequently leaves a great deal to be desired with its sloppy English and street slang. As an alternative, go for series of books like Harry Potter or Tarzan.

You should build yourself a library of your own books. This may sound a little impressive, but after all, a library is only a collection of books. Begin with a good-looking bookshelf that you can easily add to. A skill like reading cannot be learned in only one place, so you cannot afford to leave all the difficult work to the day-school or even the after school curricula. You have to collect books that you think your child will like too. Use the Internet as a resource for learning about the modern reading games that will attract little children to the excellent and ancient art of reading,

When you child is engrossed in reading for its own sake, you might buff up on speed reading. Speed reading is best suited for educational learning and background reading. It’s immensely suited to cramming or studying for examinations. It is perfect for school and university. However, the first task, before you can think about speed reading, is to get your child reading in the first place.

Are you interested in speed reading for yourself or a loved one? If so, please pop along to our web site focusing on Speed Reading.

categories: speed reading,reading,books,articles,hobbies,career,entertainment,education,school,college,self help,self improvement,homeschooling,other

Speed Reading

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

What have you been reading lately? At a meeting, you can soon see who the frequent readers are, since wide readers are often quick thinkers and good public speakers too. They quickly win the adulation, respect, and fellowship of others. After all, reading expands the mind and many people think of it as one of the most satisfying pleasures known to mankind, being a combination, as it is, of mental agility and physical relaxation well above the level offered by television or the cinema.

The act of reading is primarily a mental activity. After all, you read with your mind and use your imagination to paint the setting of the detective thriller you are reading. You use your mind to imagine the pleasure that the main characters are experiencing as the story unfolds; or you bring into play the different arguments and ideas brought up by the author of that self-help book you are holding.

Reading effectively helps you to develop (an extensive|a wide by reading various types of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not understand exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a good idea of what the sentence is trying to say.

The act of reading makes you more alert and more curious about hitherto unknown words. Some readers even develop ‘the dictionary habit’, which means that every time they come across a new word, they try to work out what it possibly means by the context. If they are stumped, they refer to a dictionary.

Similarly, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing the reader to different subjects. He/she learns to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other kinds of education, he/she is learning by actually doing and while he/she is reading he/she is automatically learning about the subject matter of the book too - a free by-product!

Reading teaches you to have an active and open mind. Merely grasping the writers idea is not really good enough, you must have a reply to what you read. Be an active, not a passive, reader. Try to develop the habit of drawing your own conclusions, the habit of active thinking, of agreeing or disagreeing with the author. Always keep your mind open; understand and consider the ideas that you read. A practical part of active reading is the development of one’s own conclusions.

Now let me introduce you to the concept of speed reading. All of the above applies three, four, eight, nine, even ten times over, because speed readers can read that much faster than the average reader! Consider that … being able to read, comprehend and remember all those books. You would certainly become well-read in your subject far more quickly than others. Just think how that could help you at work or in school or college …

Let me share four primary rules for effective reading and better comprehension:

1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember the saying that practice makes perfect. 2) Develop the habit of reading for main ideas. Look for the subject and predicate. Do not waste time on details or little words. 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Think of what you are reading. Do not let your attention wander somewhere else. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try purposely to read faster. Give yourself a time limit on a specific piece that you are reading.

Reading is a wonderfully stimulating mental activity. It expands your understanding and capability. You really have so much to gain by learning the joy of reading. So, go ahead and get down a book right today.

About the Author: