Does it take you forever to finish a book? Do you forget most of what you read? Or perhaps you haven’t opened a book in years. I’ve been trying to read a book a day for over a year. And today I’m gonna teach you 12 speed reading tips, as well as how to absorb information from books more effectively, and then explain why I think everyone should read books.
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The first Tip is that you need to pre-read. Read the Title, the back the book Table of contents and then take a moment to try to predict what the book will be about. Then think of an end goal, and ask yourself what do you hope to get from this book and why are you reading it in the first place? This will prime and ready your brain to better absorb information.
The second tip is to avoid subvocalization. That means don’t talk or utter the words silently. This will slow you down as you’ll only be able read as fast as your internal voice. Now the average person reads only from 200-250 WPM, however we can think much faster than that. Also if you have trouble with this, then try biting your knuckles or lips or try chewing gum. But remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. So when you read a word like “Communication”, think of an image or meaning, without the sound or language element.
The next tip is to use a pen or a finger to guide you. This prevents visual regression, which is when your eyes move back and forth, bouncing all over the page and this wastes a lot of time. It does it so fast that your eye don’t realize you’re doing it. In addition, if you want to train your eyes to move even faster then simply move your pen or finger faster. Just keep in mind that your reading speed will always be ahead of your comprehension speed, so it’s okay if you don’t understand everything you read especially when you’re practicing these tips. With time just like exercise you’ll be able to comprehend more. Just remember to push yourself, because if you want to learn to read at 400 wpm, then consider moving your fingers at 600-800 wpm or faster. Also, since most people cannot read as fast as they think, their brains sometimes wonder elsewhere to get it’s stimulant. So if you have trouble focusing, it might be because you’re reading too slowly.
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The fourth tip is that you don’t need to read every word. In most cases you can understand the meaning of a sentence ignoring (a, an, the, of) and all the small stuff
For Ex :I am the fastestreaderin the world is the only words I need to understand this.
Also, you need to learn to cluster words. Just like we don’t consciously read every word, letter per letter because we’ve seen them countless number of times, you should do the same for groups of words like Statue of Liberty.
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The fifth tip is to use your peripheral vision. To do this, don’t focus your gaze at the first word or the last word of each line. If you do so, you’re wasting a lot of your peripherals reading just a blank margin. Instead Start from the second word and go until the second last. When you get comfortable with this, then you can even keep going and going by starting and ending closer to the centre. Ex: Once upon a time, a young boy was brainwashed by a mysterious wizard
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The next tip is to read the first and last sentence of a paragraph first, then zoom through the middle. The first sentence often tells you what it is about, and the last often summarizes it. It’s kind of like pre-reading from Tip number #1, You just need to let go of always reading things in order.
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The seventh tip is on how to prevent boredom and to remember more. To do so, simply connect what you’re reading to something you’re interested in. Also, read with your 5 senses. If you watch my video on how to memorize anything, you’ll get a better idea on how to retain information better, by using your imagination and creating strong associations. I know this is an over simplification of the brain, but you want to read using not only the language and logic part of your brain, but your creative and spatial parts as well. This can also help you avoid subvocalizing
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Next is how to be able to remember more by simply applying, sharing or teaching what you read as soon as possible. As much as I love to share knowledge, one of the reasons I make these videos is for myself. I also take every opportunity I can to annoy my friends with what I have learned from books and mentors. Yup I’m one of those people
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The ninth tip is to listen to classical music. Now I don’t know the exact science behind this, but there’s research that shows this type of music helps with reading. Now it doesn’t work for everyone, but the only way to know is by trying it yourself.
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Next is to listen to audibles. This can increases your productivity as you can do boring chores and tasks and learn at the same time. Or sometimes your eyes just hurt from too much reading. and it can be a great alternative if you have a reading disability like dyslexia
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The eleventh tip is to read summaries or Watch Book Summaries from my channel or on any others whose style you like. Now I still recommend you buy the books if you can afford it, so you can take notes on it and to support the writer.
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For the last tip, I’m gonna teach you speed skimming or smart reading. Most books only have a few golden nuggets. So I want you to become a gold miner because there’s a lot of dirt out there. Authors of non fiction know that they won’t be able to sell you a book for $20 if it was just 5-10 pages long, so they often just fill it up with a lot of repetitive fluff and stories.
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So to do this,
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First read the cover, the back, and the jacket if there’s one which can trigger your authority bias so you’ll respect the author
Then read the first chapter or intro
Then Read the Last chapter
Then go back to the table of contents and ask yourself what do you want to get out of the book and pick a chapter or two
Once you’ve chosen, read those two chapters thoroughly.
Then if you still have time, you can read the first paragraph of every chapter or just other chapters you’re still interested in.
And if you still have time after, then you can skim through the book again focusing mostly on the first 2-3 lines of each paragraph and the headlines
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