10 Days to Faster Reading
A guide to boosting your reading speed and understanding more in less time.
Summary of 7 Key Points
Key Points
- Understanding Reading and Its Importance
- Breaking Bad Reading Habits
- Pre-Reading Strategies
- Techniques for Speed Reading
- Improving Comprehension
- Eliminating Subvocalization
- Practicing and Applying Speed Reading Techniques
key point 1 of 7
Understanding Reading and Its Importance
Reading, in essence, is a process of decoding symbols or written languages for the purpose of deriving meaning, constructing meaning, or communicating ideas. It’s an intellectual exercise that improves the brain’s cognitive functions, and it’s a basic tool in the living arts, a necessary ability for effective functioning in most—if not all—areas of life. Reading serves as the foundation for most forms of education and is crucial in gaining knowledge and understanding on a wide range of topics. It is through reading that we can acquire new information, broaden our understanding of the world, and improve our thinking ability and creativity. ..Read&Listen More
key point 2 of 7
Breaking Bad Reading Habits
In the book, it is emphasized that our bad reading habits can significantly hamper our reading speed and comprehension. One of the most common bad reading habits is ‘subvocalization’. This is when we silently pronounce each word in our head as we read, which slows down our reading speed. Instead of recognizing words by their shape and context, we get into the habit of pronouncing them internally, which is time-consuming and unnecessary. The solution proposed is to consciously try to reduce subvocalization, allowing our eyes and minds to scan over the words instead of dwelling on each one…Read&Listen More
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Pre-Reading Strategies
In ’10 Days to Faster Reading’, the pre-reading strategies are presented as a crucial step to enhance reading speed as well as comprehension. They are designed to give readers a clear roadmap and an overarching perspective before delving into the material. These strategies involve previewing, identifying the purpose of reading, and setting the reading pace. The author believes that pre-reading can help readers to manage their reading assignments more effectively and improve their grasp of the material…Read&Listen More
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Techniques for Speed Reading
In ’10 Days to Faster Reading’, the author outlines a variety of strategies to help improve reading speed, one of which is the Hand Pacer Technique. This technique involves using your hand or a pointer, like a pen or pencil, to guide your eyes while you read. This is based on the principle that our eyes naturally follow movement. By moving your hand or pointer at a steady pace across a page, your eyes are encouraged to move more quickly and efficiently through the text. Over time and with practice, this can help increase your reading speed significantly…Read&Listen More
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Improving Comprehension
Improving comprehension, as discussed in the book, is not just about reading words faster, but about understanding those words more effectively and retaining the information that is being read. This involves several strategies that can be practiced and improved over time. One of the primary strategies is previewing, which involves quickly scanning the text to get a general idea of its structure and the main ideas it contains. This allows the reader to approach the text with a sense of what to expect, making it easier to comprehend the details when they are encountered in the actual reading…Read&Listen More
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Eliminating Subvocalization
Eliminating subvocalization, or the tendency to ‘say’ words in one’s head while reading, is one aspect emphasized in the text. This habit, while may seem harmless, can dramatically slow down reading speed. For a majority of readers, subvocalization is a learned habit from the early years of education when reading was initially taught as a verbal activity. This habit, however, translates into an unnecessary step in the reading process that slows down the reader significantly as they are essentially reading at the speed at which they can talk, which is much slower than the speed at which they can think or comprehend…Read&Listen More
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Practicing and Applying Speed Reading Techniques
To practice and apply speed reading techniques, you must first understand the fundamental concept: reading is not a linear process. It involves making jumps and leaps through the text, not reading word by word. This approach requires a change in mindset from typical reading habits. It’s a method that utilizes your peripheral vision to take in more words at once, thereby increasing your reading speed…Read&Listen More