On Your Marks, Get Set, Read…
The page-a-second course for those who need to read at speed.
By John Crace
Tuesday May 27, 2003
The Guardian
Let’s assume that you’re going to bother to get to the end of this article. How long will it take? If you’re an average reader, plodding along at about 220 words per minute, you’ll still be with me in three minutes. If you’re Vanda North, you’ll be through in 30 seconds and have taken in as much.
She is one of this country’s leading speed-reading trainers, and one of her students, Anne Jones, has been the world champion speed-reader for the past four years with a staggering 1,800 words per minute and a comprehension rate of more than 75%. “The basic equipment for reading -the eye and the brain – is like a Ferrari,” she says, “but the way we are taught to read is like driving it in first gear with the handbrake on and sand in the petrol tank. For instance, we are taught to read carefully and slowly, to look up words we don’t understand and not to put our finger on the page. All these things are the opposite of how the brain and the eye naturally operate.”
Anything can be read quickly.
Taught properly – and it can take only half a day – the average person can manage 1,000 words per minute effortlessly, she says. Furthermore, North maintains that the course works equally well for dyslexics.
Anything can be read quickly. North says: “You may be happy to take in just one word a minute when reading a poem for pleasure, but for other things you may want to go a lot faster.”
“…more often than not, the only thing that stops people reading faster is the incorrect belief that the brain is not taking things in…”
For the 2,500 pages of euro debate that members of the cabinet were expected to read over a recent weekend, North would recommend the power browse, where you initially race through the document at one page per second. “Anything interesting will leap out at you, so at some level you must be taking it in,” she points out. “More often than not, the only thing that stops people reading faster is the incorrect belief that the brain is not taking things in.”
Reading quickly does not equate to reading inaccurately, as there are useful techniques, such as always going through material twice quickly rather than once slowly, and taking in phrases rather than words. But reading quickly is pointless if you don’t remember anything, which is why most speed reading courses are linked to mind mapping and memory recall.
“The first stage is to do a structured overview to establish grappling hooks for the brain,” says Clive Lewis, a speed reading teacher for Illumine Training. “You then make a series of mind maps – a pattern on the page involving as many pictures and as few words as possible to highlight the association between ideas. You can then prioritise your time, though it’s best to work in 45-minute spells with a 10-15 minute break in between. You then need to review the essentials after an hour, a day, a week and so on, to make sure you retain it.”
Most speed reading courses are done in the workplace. And given the amount of bumf they generate, it is no surprise that government departments are avid consumers.
So how long should the poor cabinet loves have spent on their euro doccy? “About six hours to be thorough,” says north. And if they just wanted to feed back to Tony what he wanted to hear? “About two,” she smiles. “There again, they probably got someone else to do the reading for them.” Which, come to think of it, is the quickest way of all.
Tags: Memory recall, Memory techniques, Power browse, Speed Reading, Time management
