Speed Reading Myths

The term Speed Reading was created by Evelyn Wood in the 1960's to describe a method she'd discovered for reading at a greatly improved speed. But the desire to read faster has been around for as long as there has been reading. The beginning of the 20th Century found a lot of scholars and educators working to find out why we read at the speeds we do, and what could be done to help us read faster.

This desire is so fundamental, that by the end of the century there were dozens, if not hundreds of charlatans around, claiming to be able to teach you to read at speeds of 3000, 5000, even 10,000 words per minute. Many of the myths surrounding speed reading emerged at this time. Several programs were reviewed by government agencies and shut down for false claims. Does this mean that speed reading is just a scam? Are we doomed to read along at around 200 words per minute forever?

Hardly. We know more about how we read today than ever before. Scientists working for the United States Air Force were able to demonstrate an amazing capability for nearly all people to visibly capture information in an astonishingly short period of time. Studies at Johns Hopkins University were able to demonstrate the correlation between eye movement and reading speed. Readers using their RSVP methods were commonly able to read at 1200 to 1600 words per minute, with greater than 75% comprehension. Most of our Universities now have programs available to help students read faster and more effectively.

The success stories are even greater. More than two million students graduated from Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics programs, including Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter.

So let's put to bed some of the most common myths about speed reading.

Myth #1: Speed Reading is Skimming

One of the most common myths about speed reading: it is accomplished by just skimming through text, not really reading it.

Skimming is a valuable tool in reading, and it is an easily taught skill. When you read a newspaper do you read every word, or do you skim along, looking for the content that is most interesting to you, and then settle in to read the areas you find most valuable? If you are like most readers, the latter is true.

This does NOT mean that all speed reading is skimming. Speed reading teaches us to overcome reading deficiencies by using our vision more effectively. The primary method to doubling your reading speed, is developing the ability to read more than one word with a single eye fixation. This allows the speed reader to read every word, but to do it while moving their eyes through the text at a faster rate with fewer stops to take in data. Current cognitive studies show that the eye is capable of capturing up to three lines of text with a single fixation. This would provide a maximum reading speed of around 3500 words per minute.

Myth #2: Speed Reading is Skipping Words

Another rumor about speed reading is that speed readers skip unnecessary words.

What is an "unnecessary word?" How would you go about picking and choosing what to read and not to read? Do you just read the middle of each sentence?

Scanning skills, another valuable reading tool, can allow you to "scan" through material, looking for key concepts and terms, just as you might scan through a phone book. When you know exactly what you are looking for, intelligent decisions can me made which allow you to eliminate non-essential reading material from your search, and to involve your eyes and mind in a purposeful effort to pick out key words which you can then use to determine what part of the text to read more carefully.

Scanning is not speed reading, although it is taught as part of the entire SMART Reading program. In speed reading, there is no "skipping" words. It is impossible to extract the intended meaning of text by skipping words. Speed readers do not skip words. They read the same words, all the words, they just do it faster!

Myth #3: Speed Reading Lowers Comprehension

Many readers are convinced that by reading faster, they will lose comprehension. Just the opposite is true.

By reading faster, our brains are more focused on our material, and our attention is more tightly engaged. The very slowest readers have the words comprehension. Studies of "Speed Readers" reading in excess of 1000 words per minute, and only comprehending about half of what they read is a by-product of lumping skimming and reading together. There is a place for reading 1500 words per minute at 50% comprehension. Just as there is a place for reading at 750 words per minute with 85% comprehension.

The SMART Reading program combines regular comprehension testing with the reading speed tests. This is the only way to ensure that you are comprehending sufficiently to move ahead in your practice reading speed, and to accurately gauge your effective reading speed.

Good speed readers read with a comprehension level in excess of 80%. This is far better than the average readers comprehension.

Myth #4: Comprehension Requires Reading Every Letter of Every Word

Some people are taught to believe that for full comprehension we have to read every letter of every word.

In actuality, our brains associate whole words with concepts. One of the roadblocks to faster reading is the translation in our brains from the written word, to the underlying concept. We are actually very good at reading individual words at a glance. The following popular example shows just how well:

Myth #5: Slow Reading = Fun Reading

We've heard that speed reading isn't fun. Some people believe the the only way to really enjoy reading is to plod through it. These are usually people who have never even tried speed reading!

Now this is just plain silly. There is a reason that most adults read less than one book a year, and that self-proclaimed avid readers read nearly twice as fast as the average adult. When you read too slowly, it becomes more and more difficult to follow the meaning of the text. If it takes 10 hours to read the average book, it become easy to understand why nearly 90% of all books sold are never read past the second chapter.

Speed readers read as fast as they can comprehend the material. With practice the reading comes alive, creating vivid images in the readers mind. The text practically leaps off the page, creating movies in the speed reader's head. Many of the best speed readers are voracious readers, reading a book a day. Why? Because they can, and because it's FUN!

These common myths have held back many readers from making the effort to learn to read faster. Now that you understand just how wrong they are, you can take the next step required to be a rapid reader, a much faster reader, a SMART Reader.

As part of the SMART Reading program, you will learn skimming, scanning and deep reading techniques which are discussed here. At the core of the program, you will learn to read similar to the way you read today, just more efficiently, reading much faster and with greater (or equal if you're already a very good reader) comprehension.