Speed Reading Made Easy: With Exclusive Phrase-Formatted Practice Exercises

Readlax: Brain Games for Speed Reading (promo)

Best notes:

"True reading is receiving the thoughts of the writer."

"Since reading is understanding thoughts, you have to focus your attention on those thoughts."

"And thoughts are usually expressed in more than a single word. That’s what phrase-reading is: reading whole phrases, aiming your attention at those word groups which contain at least a complete idea on their own."

"The average adult reads 200 wpm "

"1% of adults can read 400 wpm"

"1 in 1,000 adults can read 600 wpm"

"The reason they were able to comprehend so quickly is because they were reading the entire phrase as one entity. They were, in essence, seeing past the individual words to the ideas of the whole phrase."

"This is phrase-reading, and it is the key to faster reading."

"Stay focused by continuing to imagine the phrases. Think of phrases as just bigger, more meaningful words–one idea, one thought."

"Prod yourself to read faster, but never lose track of why you’re reading, which is the clear comprehension of ideas."

"Most importantly, be patient with and appreciative of your progress by remembering that you’re changing a most powerful and complex skill."

"I used to be frustrated and embarrassed by my slow reading and poor comprehension. But after discovering phrase-reading, it suddenly felt like whole ideas could just float off the page into my mind."

"With phrase-reading, you should be able to learn to read 600 wpm."

"When you first learned to read, you learned to read “words.” Word-by-word reading is like looking at text through a tiny keyhole, whereas phrase-reading opens that reading door wide open."

"But you can read multiple words at a time… if you chunk the words into truly meaningful phrases. That’s what the exercises in this book will help you do, by displaying the text in phrases. These aren’t just arbitrary 3-word or 4-word chunks. These are real phrases, representing meaningful ideas."

"This is not just a faster way to read, but a smarter way, because meaningful phrases are also easier and faster to understand. The result is not just “speed reading,” but “speed comprehension.”"

"poor readers perceived one word—or perhaps only a part of a word—at a time, excellent readers seemed to take in entire groups of words with each eye fixation."

"One thing all reading improvement courses agree on is that to read faster, you are going to need to read more than one word at a time. This has been the foundation of all speed reading training. But in order to truly read fast, and not just skim, the word-groups must be something you can instantly make sense of."

"each phrase is still something you can imagine as an individual idea on its own."

"This is idea-chunking. To read text, you already chunk letters into words, but you can also chunk words together into larger, more complex ideas. For example, I know what the four words: “the,” “big,” “black,” and “dog” mean, but chunking them together as “the big black dog” forms a larger idea which is more meaningful, easier to imagine, and faster to understand than thinking"

"it easier to move from phrase-to-phrase instead of word-to-word."

"you are reading the actual ideas instead of just the words."

"Whole sentences are often too complex to be understood all at once, and single words are generally too vague to be very meaningful on their own. A thought-unit contains enough information to form a complete idea, but is still short enough to be understood at a glance."

"How Is It Possible to Read Multiple Words at The Same Time? It’s simple… and we already do it all the time. First of all, thinking of each word is no more necessary than thinking of each letter. In fact, thinking of individual words is almost as distracting as thinking of each letter would be."

"The key to focusing on whole phrases is to visualize and conceptualize what you read. Visualizing will switch your concentration from words to ideas."

"As you glance at the phrases, concentrate on forming a quick mental image. It’s surprising how effectively this will focus your mind on the larger ideas."

"faster readers actually do have good comprehension."

"If you didn’t comprehend the text, you didn’t read it."

"Speed is the result of practicing and improving skills. Speed may be an indicator of effective reading, but it’s the result—not the cause."

"The best speed is the speed which allows you to understand the fastest."

"The Phrase-Reading Mindset: 1) Reading IS Comprehension. 2) Comprehension Comes First. 3) You Read with Your Brain—not your eyes. 4) You CAN Read Multiple Words at Once."

"Reading faster only happens when you understand what the writer is telling you faster."

"Visualize short phrases, and see ideas instead of words."

"Verbalizing is when you speak the sounds of the words, either aloud or internally, and regression is when you repeatedly go back and reread the previous few words."

"Instead of trying to stop bad habits, it’s better to work on replacing them, because it’s always difficult to concentrate on not doing something. But visualize, imagine, and concentrate on the ideas you are reading, and your bad habits will wander off on their own for lack of attention."

"Be consistent. Consistent practice convinces your brain that you’re serious about changing its habits."

"while concentrating on what you are reading, stay aware of how you are reading. Continue to read whole phrases and to visualize."

1) Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science, 2020 (Louisa C. Moats)
2) Working Memory and Language (Susan E. Gathercole, Alan Baddeley)