A few posts back, I mentioned a site I came across a month or two ago called Spreed! Using the site helped me to read faster when I use the site itself, but reading anything else was still my normal rate of around 300 words per minute.

Based on some other things I read recently, the site works because it cuts down on the time needed for your eyes to move and focus on new words. That is, the effect is really just temporary. I decided I’d find a different way to improve.

Reading reviews of different products and books, I found a book titled “Breakthrough Rapid Reading.” I threw down about $15  to get it from Amazon. The book is a course meant to be done in about 4 – 6 weeks.

The book starts with a test to get an estimation of your reading speed. I was around 250 wpm After a few days, I’m past 400 wpm. It seems that at the moment, the book is focusing first on increasing my speed, while later chapters will have me focus on improving my comprehension.

How fast I will get after the recommended 6-week time, I do not know. But I will say I’m enjoying it so far.

I’ve heard of speed reading and things like that, but I’ve never really given it thought before. I just assumed it’d be tricks like skipping over simple words, like prepositions. But in fact, there’s more to it, as I’ve recently learned.

A few weeks ago I came across a link for Spreeder, a free site sponsored by the makers of 7 Speed Reading. Basically, you copy/paste text into a window. Then site runs some fancy javascript and jQuery scripting magic to adjust the rate at which is shows the words to you.

The premise, and what kind of opened my eyes to speed reading, is that most people, myself included, tend to read only as fast as you can say the words. That is, when you read, you often have a voice in your head. If you can silence the voice, you can read faster. So, the site will parse the text you pasted, and show you one word at a time on the screen, in rapid succession. It starts you off with 300 wpm, but you can adjust it up or down in 25 wpm intervals. Mine is set to show me two words at a time at 950 wpm.

It’s an interesting concept, and I will say that when I use Spreeder I read much faster. 7 Speed Reading claims there are many more methods, and it’s something I may invest in later this year. After I’ve received a few more paychecks.