Software to help you increase your reading speed

[Muse]

Years ago (many!) I took the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course, paid for it, and it was marketed as something I could take again free in the future. It was presented in a classroom setting. Don't know if they are still around. I think it helped initially, but I didn't stay with the techniques.

I bought my second Kindle on Thranksgiving morning, a Kindle Paperwhite, second edition. I love it! My initial impression, taking a moment to compare, is that it's easier to read than printed books and newspapers.

Well, I have a ton of actual hardbound and paperback books I have yet to read, or want to reread in some cases. I also have some Kindle books. I read a newspaper 6 days a week, also get the New York Times Blog on my Kindle. However, my reading speed is pretty much average, IOW it sucks!

I got the idea last night to look up techniques to suppress the limiting effect of subvocalization, and came up with a lot of hits online. I just started checking out that stuff. Looking up reading speed tests, the sites often are peddling their own for-money software. I do see some free stuff.

I'm hoping I can solicit here some knowledgeable responses concerning techniques to increase my reading speed, possibly including recommendations for software that will help, free or otherwise.

 

[corkyg]

Your Kindle can be a good tool. This explains:
http://comfortpit.com/how-to-read-faster-on-the-amazon-kindle/

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Years ago (many!) I took the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course, paid for it, and it was marketed as something I could take again free in the future. It was presented in a classroom setting. Don't know if they are still around. I think it helped initially, but I didn't stay with the techniques.

I bought my second Kindle on Thranksgiving morning, a Kindle Paperwhite, second edition. I love it! My initial impression, taking a moment to compare, is that it's easier to read than printed books and newspapers.

Well, I have a ton of actual hardbound and paperback books I have yet to read, or want to reread in some cases. I also have some Kindle books. I read a newspaper 6 days a week, also get the New York Times Blog on my Kindle. However, my reading speed is pretty much average, IOW it sucks!

I got the idea last night to look up techniques to suppress the limiting effect of subvocalization, and came up with a lot of hits online. I just started checking out that stuff. Looking up reading speed tests, the sites often are peddling their own for-money software. I do see some free stuff.

I'm hoping I can solicit here some knowledgeable responses concerning techniques to increase my reading speed, possibly including recommendations for software that will help, free or otherwise.

As you say, the techniques are straight forward but, you have to practice. My normal read speed is about 800 words per minute. Being out of practice as I've not needed to go through many textbooks/references lately, my speed reading is about 1200 wpm. It also varies by the subject. If I'm uninterested in the material, my reading speed is higher than when I'm interested. Also, technical information reduces me to look at sentences at a time rather than paragraphs.

 

[Muse]

As you say, the techniques are straight forward but, you have to practice. My normal read speed is about 800 words per minute. Being out of practice as I've not needed to go through many textbooks/references lately, my speed reading is about 1200 wpm. It also varies by the subject. If I'm uninterested in the material, my reading speed is higher than when I'm interested. Also, technical information reduces me to look at sentences at a time rather than paragraphs.

That's really impressive. Have you always been a really fast reader or did you develop that ability?

 

[Muse]

Your Kindle can be a good tool. This explains:
http://comfortpit.com/how-to-read-faster-on-the-amazon-kindle/

Thanks! This looks really good. My new Kindle Paperwhite is set at the default text size, etc., I will reset it to the recommended settings in the article.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

That's really impressive. Have you always been a really fast reader or did you develop that ability?

I was always pretty fast but, I worked at it because my brother was a fast reader and we frequently read books at the same time. We also learned to read upside down.

 

[Muse]

I was always pretty fast but, I worked at it because my brother was a fast reader and we frequently read books at the same time. We also learned to read upside down.

My brother was actually the one to teach me to read. He was almost 6 years older than me. At that point in time I new kid on the block and not assimilated into the elementary school system (after another move I eventually started to feel more comfortable in the schools). He showed me how the letters corresponded to sounds, thus mimicking speech. I don't know if that's how they teach it, but that accounts for my sub-vocalization habit.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

My brother was actually the one to teach me to read. He was almost 6 years older than me. At that point in time I new kid on the block and not assimilated into the elementary school system. He showed me how the letters corresponded to sounds, thus mimicking speech. I don't know if that's how they teach it, but that accounts for my sub-vocalization habit.

You're talking about phonics which is how I learned to read as well. Sub vocalizing is just a bad habit like looking at the keys while typing (A bad habit I've never been able to break). I think if you work at raising your speed, the sub vocalizing problem will go away because you won't be able to keep up. Of course, my bad habit with the keyboard has limited me to 40 words a minute forever.

 

[Muse]

I look at the keyboard when I type on the top row (i.e. numbers and symbols) and some of the other relatively little used keys, but even the top row I've developed some ability to hit without looking... I type my email address so often. I'm sure with some practice I could get over that too. I took two typing courses in junior high school in the 8th grade, and learned "touch typing" then, so I can do it without looking. I'm sure you could do it now if you do the right things. Maybe you can take a course. 40 WPM isn't too bad, but you will enjoy typing more if you can learn touch typing. I got up to around 40 WPM in 8th grade, but it was with the old fashioned manual typewriters, they didn't have electric typewriters than much less computer keyboards! If they'd had those then I would probably have gotten well over 50 WPM then and there. Right now, I'm into the upper 50's, likely, maybe over 60 WPM. That's not blazing, but pretty decent.

You can practice on stuff that doesn't matter, just open a blank text file or Word (which will show you most of your errors), and type away.

One of the things they had us do in 8th grade was type certain common words over and over without looking at the keys. Then they won't intimidate you. The the the the the the the... stuff like that. Can can can can can!

I remember one other thing they accentuated, which was to try to type at an even pace, not in fits and starts. The more even you are the less apt you are to make errors. Another thing to be aware of is that in touch typing you develop the sense of when you've made an error, you just know that you either just made an error or you almost did. Then you look and see if you did. Typing from your mind onto a computer screen you see your errors immediately. There are situations when you have to be looking at something else while typing, not at your keyboard, not at the computer. It's then that the sense of when you've made an error, or might have made an error, becomes valuable. Of course, with a computer you have spell checks and underlined words suggesting probable errors, and that helps too.

 

[Muse]

Magnus: Another precept in "touch typing," probably the most basic, is to start with and always return to the basic position, as described below.

Rest your palms on the palm rest with thumbs hovering over the space bar (I always use my right thumb to actually hit the spacebar) and your fingers like this:

Position your fingers on either side of the G & H keys so that you can see those keys
Right index resting on the J key
Right middle resting on the next key (K key)
Right ring resting on the next key (L key)
Right little resting on the next key (colon/semi-colon)

Left index resting on the F key
Left middle resting on the next key (D key)
Left ring resting on the next key (S key)
Left little resting on the next key (A key)

You automatically know how to get those 8 characters without looking, your fingers are on top of them to start with. You don't have to look at all the keys, the thing is to see the G H between your index fingers. All the characters you use most often are right next to one of those 8 keys, just a slight reach and you learn what they are really easily. A good typist will know the further ones, but I usually look for the number keys, even the Enter and Backspace, I only need them once in a while. The Shift is a commonly used key that I get with my left pinky, I don't have to look for it, it's right under and slightly left of the A key.

Your keyboard probably has little nubs on top of the F and J keys, they might help you in having confidence that your index fingers are on top of the proper keys. Occasionally I'm in the wrong position when typing a sentence and it comes out goofy, like this (I'll retype a few words from the previous sentence): Iccasuiakkt U;n ub te wribg, ... It happens rarely! Oh, I also know where the ! key is, I use it a lot!