Knowledge is power

Are your day job and family responsibilities getting in your way of reading a book from start to end? Do you have a book report due in a few days and your World of Warcraft adventures and Digg have consumed all your time? Then you must read Kim Roach’s guide for improving your reading speed as published at ZenHabits.net. The guide is not only about how to read something at a faster speed but also about how to comprehend more of what you read.

The holy grail of speed reading and comprehension lies in the way the brain understands complex patterns when looking at them as whole instead as individual points.

Speed reading actually began as part of military training to identify enemy war planes. Pilots used a pacing tool called a tachistoscope that flashed images before their eyes at increasing speeds…But what was interesting about this method of military training is that it began to unveil the idea that the brain could process more things visually than was previously thought. Even with hundreds of images, the brain was able to identify them and then make decisions based on messages in the right side of the brain.

In order to improve your speed reading skills, Kim suggests that you train yourself to avoid subvocalizing, i.e., the method of reading the words to ourselves in our heads. She also suggests that you avoid distractions and interruptions while reading multiple words at a time and never going back to read the same text twice. Finally, Kim suggests that you learn the art of thinking visually.

Read the complete article Overclock Your Reading Speed.

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