Speed ​​reading: what is it, why is it necessary and how to master this skill?

Time is one of the most important resources in the modern rhythm of life. We have often heard from someone in our circle that time is sorely lacking, and we ourselves constantly feel it. Speed ​​reading skills will help you cope much faster with a huge flow of all kinds of information and significantly save a valuable resource - time.

On the Internet there are many articles of exactly the opposite sense. Some argue that speed reading yields nothing, others provide a variety of examples of significant success. Let’s try to understand the methods, working methods and techniques of mastering precisely the useful reading skills.

Speed ​​reading is:

• the ability of a person to quickly perceive textual information with a high level of perception using special reading methods;
• a set of skills for processing and quality assimilation of information;
• a useful tool for saving personal and production time;
• effective tool for the development of intelligence and memory training.

Speed ​​reading is not an end in itself. The ability to understand the essence and meaning of the written text with fast and confident reading is important. Having mastered the technique of speed reading, you can increase the speed of perception 3-4 times. If the average speed of a standard reading of an adult is 200-250 words per minute, then with speed reading it increases to 600-700 words.

When using the speed reading technique, two basic principles apply.

• Skimming. It is a visual search for sentences in the text to identify clues to the main question or to the purpose of reading. The beginning and end of the text are read, then the first sentence of each paragraph to quickly determine if additional detailed information is needed for this issue. It is a mistake to assume that skimming is a random process, because reading efficiency needs a structure, more important is what is read, and not what is missing.
• Scanning. This is the process of finding the right information using a mind map formed from skimming. For a successful scan, it should be clear how the material is structured and what to read so that the necessary information can be found. Scanning includes the main thesis, headings, facts, important pieces of information.

There is no doubt that the modern rhythm of life is experiencing information overload. The amount of information is growing almost exponentially. How not to get lost in this rapid stream? Numerous sources of information - television, the Internet, brochures, magazines, non-fiction publications - everything is full of information about changes in various technologies, about all kinds of news, about new trends in some processes. To remain successful, one must have knowledge in competitive areas, respond promptly to changing situations, and always be “afloat”.

Of course, speed reading is not a panacea, but to a large extent helps to "keep a finger on the pulse of time." In addition, when reading speed, a person develops “bonuses” that create additional benefits in some aspects of life.

• Memory training. With speed reading, the human brain begins to work at a higher level. If classes in mastering the speed reading technique become a system, the perception and storage of information is improved, and memory is trained.
• Focusing attention. Speed ​​reading methods allow you to completely focus on reading, not to be distracted by extraneous thoughts that are far from the material being read. As a result of this, attention is fully directed to obtaining information from readable text.
• The development of logical thinking. The reading process is an exercise for the brain. Brain reading by speed reading helps to sort information more efficiently and form the right connections with fragments of knowledge previously stored in memory. With an increase in reading speed, the inductance of thinking is automatically improved.

Historically known facts from the life of world-famous personalities, albeit indirectly, but nevertheless, are an indicator that speed reading contributes to success and this is not a myth. Suffice it to say that our famous compatriots Maxim Gorky, Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Lenin, and also foreign leaders of various historical eras were able to read quickly. Napoleon Bonaparte, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Karl Marx and many other famous personalities. It follows that mastering speed reading is worthwhile.

Speed ​​reading is the only method in which mental activity is activated simultaneously in both hemispheres of the brain. The development of inductance of thinking and the speed of thought processes during speed reading will allow you to track the author’s intention and quickly catch the structure of the text.

Despite the obvious advantages of speed reading, recognized by many of those who have mastered this technique, the debate around existing techniques does not subside today.There are many opponents who believe that speed reading is not reading at all, but viewing texts. Most opponents point out one, but a very significant minus - the developed methods for speed reading do not allow us to fully understand the meaning of what was read. Critical articles often cite Woody Allen, an American writer, actor and film director, a connoisseur of literature and music: “I read War and Peace in 20 minutes. There is something about Russia. ”

Some people are able to learn high-speed reading on their own, without attending special courses and trainings. Purposefulness, faith in success, daily training according to special techniques will certainly lead to success. From the beginning of training to the acquisition of sustainable skills, some time will pass. Psychologists advise doing special exercises for 40-60 minutes every day for 21 days.

Understanding of words and meanings in their relationship, the ability to systematize verbal information, developed verbal intelligence are in close interaction with high-speed reading. For a more successful development of speed reading, it’s good to get acquainted with the basics of linguistics and stylistics, have a good imagination, to correctly think over what the author of the text has to say.

Several factors directly affect the reading speed:

• subvocalization (pronouncing text in the mind);
• regression - return to individual fragments of the text and their re-reading;
• limited field of view - the scope of the text at one stop gaze;
• degree of concentration, ability to read without distraction;
• superficial reading - the ability to quickly find keywords and abstracts in the text.

You can get around these obstacles only with the use of special skills, honed by impressive practice. Such skills are acquired through systematic training using special techniques using the developed exercises. Here are some working tips for mastering speed reading.

• Suppression of articulation (speech function). Allows you to get rid of subvocalization (mental pronunciation of the text). This natural process slows down reading significantly. Rhythmic tapping on the table, a quiet countdown, speaking tongue twisters, reading simple verses, singing melodies without words distract well from subvocalization. It will not work to carry out any of this and at the same time to speak the text in the mind, the habit will disappear.
• Reading with a pointer. Helps to get rid of regression reading. A pencil, a wand or just a finger can become a pointer - anyone feels comfortable. The gaze should continuously slide along the line, not breaking away from the movement of the pointer, so as not to return to the read text again.
• The green dot method. Trains the perception of information in the field of peripheral vision. On the page with the text in the center, you need to draw a green dot and look at it carefully for 10 minutes. After two weeks of such exercises, you can begin to examine the text up, down and to the side of the point, covering your eyes with as much area as possible. Words just need to be seen without reading.
• Reading diagonally. Develops the ability to see key phrases in the text and filter out irrelevant information. You need to glance diagonally from top to bottom, while not returning to what you read and not turning your eyes around. At first, it will be possible to cover a few words, but time will pass, and constant training will significantly increase perception. A well-trained person is enough to look at the page with the text to understand the essence of the written.
• Reading inverted text. First, the paragraph is read on the page turned upside down, then the book returns to its normal position and the paragraph is read again.This is a workout to increase reading speed.
• Tick-to-tack method. Significantly increases read speed. The sight captures the beginning and end of lines, and not all the words in them, this is enough to understand the meaning of what is read.
• Gibberish training. Reading from right to left (gibberish reading) develops concentration. You need to start training with expressions that are read without a difference, from left to right, and vice versa (palindromes). Examples: “The cat is forty days old”, “The boar pressed the eggplant”, etc. (in our time, such texts are easy to find), then train on ordinary texts.

Time for classes must be thought out in advance. Location should be convenient. It is useless to train in places where you can not concentrate. Having familiarized yourself with the basic principles, you can start learning courses or try to learn to read quickly on your own. There are developments of foreign and domestic authors on the development of speed reading, textbooks and videos, special courses and trainings.

Successful people at all times have been and remain an object of admiration, and often envy. Most parents would like to see their children succeed in the future, and many do not just want to, but do their best to develop a child. Teaching a child to read quickly with an understanding of the text and the correct intonation is not in the last place.

At what age should children start reading fast learning? There are no definite recommendations on this issue. Some experts believe that you can begin to teach a child to read quickly already from 5-7 years. At this age, the brain is able to memorize material as quickly as possible, but provided that the child is already able to read well in whole words, and not in syllables. Other authors of the methods advise starting training at the age of 7-10, at which time the children confidently read the words and clearly understand what is written.

But most experts are inclined to believe that The optimal age for starting reading speed reading is from 10 to 12 years. At this age, the child has a sufficiently developed memory, he understands the information well, remembers with the speed of the delivered speech, is able to clearly retell the text.

An important and indispensable condition is the voluntary desire of the child himself to study. You can’t force a child to do exercises, nothing good will come of it. The training methodology should be selected in accordance with age.

The skill of speed reading is necessary in various professions related to the daily need to read and memorize large amounts of textual information. Speed ​​reading will certainly come in handy for lawyers, educators, reviewers, editors, translators - everyone whose field of activity is related to texts. It is difficult to overestimate the benefits of quick reading for students - in the learning process they have to read and process a lot of textual information in order to prepare for the session and write term papers and dissertations. In school programs, the volume of information also increases every year.

It would be naive to count on immediate results and despair if, during verification, they were far from expected. But if you take into account some points before starting training, you can significantly speed up this process.

• Reading without preparation is a serious mistake. First you have to wonder - why read the material? Questions are markers by which the most important information is extracted from the text.Reading is meaningless without questions; the text is simply “absorbed”.
• First you need to learn how to read at a familiar speed, understand and memorize information from the first reading, read without distractions, and only then begin to master speed reading.
• It is impossible to allow thoughts of "I will not succeed." The opinion that in order to master speed reading you must be super talented is a mistake. No one will argue that the mental abilities of people are very different, but everyone can learn speed reading with a great desire. Absolutely everyone has a memory, you just need to “wake it up”, develop and train it so that there is no trace left from fear of voluminous texts.
• Do not skip from method to method, you need to choose what is stated in an accessible language that is understandable to you in order to master the technique once and for all, and in the future only improve the initial skills with constant practice.

Having mastered the technique of speed reading, most use it when reading non-fiction, business or educational literature.