Principles and techniques of fast reading

Reading speed up to 600 characters per minute is considered very slow, from 900 characters per minute - slow, from 1500 characters per minute - normal, from 3000 characters per minute - fast. It is possible to read at "panoramic" speeds of 10 000 or more characters per minute.

These figures are very, very conditional. For reading, for example, an acemyhomework review an average person needs two minutes. Texts are very different in their informative and readability. You should read textbooks slowly, and quick reading is good for repeating what you have learned, even if the first slow reading seemed complicated.

The advantages of fast thinking are obvious. But these advantages when reading are negated if a person cannot read quickly. In addition, if attention is spent on reading, it slows down the speed of thought.

You can learn to read quickly by doing special exercises, some of which attract unnecessary attention, but you can learn by simply changing your way of reading. The second approach is more natural and more beautiful.

The principles of fast reading

Read slowly

There's no rush. The speed of reading should not exceed the speed of understanding. Reading at a speed exceeding the speed of understanding is a waste of time and strengthening in bad habits. To learn to read quickly, you must learn to read slowly. Unfortunately, quick-reading courses often forget about this and, conversely, set up hurry. Those who try to move faster than their speed, hurry - block the development of abilities and reduce their natural speed. Anyone who moves at his own speed - in development progresses very slowly. He who moves a little slower than his speed - develops his abilities, and his natural speed increases.

This applies not only to reading but also to any activity. It is likely that those who have been able to read fast and naturally since childhood has been able to read for themselves without rushing.

There is no such tension of consciousness that would make quick reading possible, so do not strive for it and do not look for such tension. What will not be easy - will not work at all. Your task is to mobilize the resources of the "unconscious", which, in fact, provides successful work. So the person who has unreasonable demands on his soul cannot work well.

Creative work is blocked by such an evil presence very strongly, primitive work suffers less. Do not "stand over the soul" of your "unconscious" - you must learn to trust him and give him as much time as necessary.

Read without regression.

Those who have not learned to read effectively, as a rule, read chaotically - his gaze repeatedly returns to the already read. Hurry makes returns more frequent. Such jumps, called regressions, reduce not only the speed of reading but also attention - why be careful when you can go back and reread? Jumping from one place to another, for example, from the beginning of the text to the end and back, also affects the quality of reading. The first condition for fast reading - is the refusal of unnecessary returns to read, the development of the habit of reading only forward. This approach is applicable not only to fast reading but also to any work. In general, all those principles that work in fast reading work in other areas of life.

Read without speaking.

The habit of understanding only what has been said limits the speed of reading, because it is possible to read several times faster than to speak. Usually reading is accompanied by unconscious articulation, but you can learn to read in silence. The following exercises, for example, are used for this purpose.

The traditional exercise is knock-rhythm

To suppress articulation while reading, you can use a knock-rhythm exercise - a combination of reading and tapping not the easiest but not the most difficult rhythm. It is not possible to combine reading with tapping at first. Then it is possible to read without understanding and memorization. Then it is possible to read with understanding, but without memorization. And finally - to read, to understand, to memorize.

Reading with music

You can read with music to eliminate internal speaking. It is only important to listen to the music. The combination of reading with singing or playing a musical instrument is stronger. Tapping the rhythm, accompanying the music, and perhaps singing, is more fun. These exercises are more natural and enjoyable - the person practicing them does not attract too much attention to themselves, but they are as effective as knocking rhythm. You can also type to music or your own tune, or combine reading with listening to news. Absolute articulation suppression is not necessary - it is important to learn to understand the printed word, directly, using a visual analyzer, without translating what you see into spoken.

Use peripheral vision

Reading each letter slows down reading and does not help to understand. Anyone who sees several letters at once, the whole word, is in a more advantageous position. Some may see not only short lines but also long lines, catch whole paragraphs or even a page with one look. If a person sees the whole line, his eyes no longer zigzag, and he does not have to waste time going back to the beginning of the next line. He can read very quickly with the vertical movement of his eyes.

With the help of exercises to expand (more precisely, to clarify) vision in about a month you can activate those abilities that were available, but remained unclaimed. So, physical exercises quickly return tone to the muscles that are out of work. Actual development occurs from month to month, from year to year - do not count on the rapid result. But clarification of vision is worth the effort, it gives an advantage not only when reading. It means, neither much nor little, a clear mind and good health.

Traditional exercises

Green dot and Shulte tables

By the method of O. Andreev's way of vision, enhancement is a combination of two exercises - reading Shulte's numerical tables and looking at the page with a green dot in the center. Shultet's tables are read by the peripheral vision, while the view remains fixed in the center of the table. The exercise can be performed to music. Contemplation of the page with the green dot is offered to spend three months before going to bed, a few minutes each day. Fixing the look at the green dot, try to see the whole page. It is seen at first is not clear, but then, suddenly, at some point, there is a clarification of gaze. Such moments of clarity indicate a widening of vision.

Reading with contemplation.

You can also view pages without green dots. While reading a simple text slowly, stop for a while to contemplate. The view does not need to be fixed rigidly, but no matter where the page is directed, you should try to see it as a whole. Then you can continue the slow reading again to take a break to contemplate the page.

In front of the screen.

Both in movies and on TV you can see the whole screen, using peripheral vision, not following an interesting object by eye movement, but following only attention.

Cat's eye

Offered, walking in the park or in another beautiful place where there are no cars, look only forward and see everything around. If you do not want to embarrass passers-by with a "hypnotic" look, wear dark glasses.

Reading glasses with the glasses closed

A person with normal vision can read using far-sighted glasses (approximately plus one and a half dioptres). With myopia, glasses are not necessary, and with far-sightedness you can choose dioptre and a half glasses stronger than those that compensate for far-sightedness. In this case the eyes do not strain to focus on the page. If you put a strip of dark cloth on one glass, then when reading with one eye the eye will be completely relaxed, because there will be no tension associated with the convergence (convergence) of the eyes. After reading for a while with one eye, you can move the strip to read with the other. You can read this way as much as you want, absolutely without fatigue. Such reading is usually not contraindicated and those who can not read much because of problems with the eyes. Of course, the page has to be well lit. In this reading, the eyes are guided by the picture, and the peripheral vision is mobilized, because you can not count on the volume.

Running a minor

Those who read fast, unrelated places of the text, nothing substantial, nothing communicating, pass faster, those who can not read quickly, in these places slow down, trying to comprehend what is missing meaning. On low content does not need to be fixed. It is necessary to see banal and repeatedly said, as that on which it is not necessary to spend attention. It is not always necessary to remember the name of the author, publisher, date, title of the article. The one who sets the task to memorize all this and at the same time read daily on several articles, he sets the task commensurate with the study of a foreign language without repeating, with the first time, between cases.

Remember only really important. Sometimes it is necessary to memorize the name of the author (if the author is interested in something), the date of publication (if it matters), and so on - but not always, and inconsequential literature can not be read at all.

Note the main thing ("integral algorithm").

On the information, you need to slow down as if to mark it with pauses, speed reduction. It helps to memorize and comprehend, but the speed of reading does not decrease much. The pause does not have to belong. The main thing in the text is that everyone decides for himself. The editor, for example, always sees how well written the text and how clearly expressed the thought. Psychoanalyst sees the game of "unconscious", leading its own line. The politician sees everything that characterizes his opponent, demonstrates his weak points. Screenwriter - opportunities for writing a script.

However, when reading any text, it is always offered to see:

•     main idea - main thesis - dominance.
•     construct arguments to support the core idea
•     something that could come in handy in life.
•     new, original
•     disputed groundless
•     hidden agenda