how to speed read

How and Why You Should Learn Speed Reading

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Ryan Whiteside | CATEGORIES: career, reading, time management

Do you wish you could get more reading done everyday? Of course you do!

Whether it’s reading more novels or keeping up with industry blogs, just imagine what it would be like if you could read 2, 3, or even 4 times faster than you do now.

The reality is you can do it… and it’s much easier than you think!

My name is Ryan Whiteside and I’m a personal development junkie. I’ve read (literally) hundreds of personal development books over the past five years. One of those books that I gained incredible value from was called Breakthrough Rapid Reading by Peter Kump.

Before that book I had never taken the subject of speed reading seriously. Like most people I was a bit skeptical it was even possible to learn speed reading, and if it was I thought it would be too difficult for me to learn.

As it turns out, speed reading was much easier than I expected. In only a matter of a few hours of practice with the drills in the book, I went from reading 180 WPM (slightly below average) to 450 WPM (top 1% fastest in the world). I couldn’t believe it!

I’ve been a slow reader my entire life, but now all of a sudden I was able to read over twice as fast as I did previously. A book that would normally take me 20 hours to read would now take me less than 10. I could now read 4-5 books a month instead of just 1-2.

In addition, what I found was that my comprehension was remaining exactly the same and even improving a little bit! Many people report that when you speed read, you maintain focus easier which helps with comprehension. I was certainly no exception to this.

The reality is, you can achieve the same kind of results that I did. Speed reading is a skill and like any skill, it just takes practice. The more you practice, the better the results you can expect.

How You Can Speed Read

After reading Peter’s book, I picked up every other speed reading book and training course I could get my hands on. I was addicted and wanted to know every trick there was so I could take my reading level further.

What I found was calculating my WPM in the books I was reading became very tedious. And the various software I used just didn’t cut it.

That’s why I decided to take everything I learned about speed reading and build an iPad/iPhone app called RapidReading.  I’d highly encourage you to check it out if you want to learn speed reading. There are three drills, each taking less than 10 minutes to complete. With continued practice, you can join me in the top 1%.

If you don’t have an iPhone/iPad, try picking up a copy of Kump’s book. It teaches you the science behind speed reading, as well as several drills you can do. It’s not as fast or easy having to calculate your WPM manually, but it gets the job done.

If you haven’t learned speed reading before, it’s my hope that this post is the encouragement you need to give it a shot. I consider it one of the greatest skills I’ve ever learned how to do.

Post in the comments any thoughts or questions you have about speed reading or the RapidReading app. I’d love to discuss! :-)

Ryan Whiteside is the developer of RapidReading available in the iTunes store. You can learn more about speed reading at his website, RapidReadingApp.com .

  • Sabine Freienstein

    Thank you so much for this post. Exactly what I needed after I decided this weekend I have to become a faster reader. :)
    Will definitely try your app. Looks good so far.

    • Ryan Whiteside

      Your welcome! Let me know how it goes!

    • Wmathers

      Fair. Are you going to do a Blackberry version? Or am I living in the past?

  • http://www.acalltoaction.net/ Trevor Wilson

    I’m a bit skeptical how much comprehension actually takes place when speed reading. At least in the long term. Granted, I’ve never tried learning it so I can’t speak to the matter with any authority.

    But even if I caught and absorbed every word I read, I just don’t think I’d enjoy reading as much as when I take my time. As with all the best things in life, when you rush you lose out on the pleasure.

    Cheers!

    • Ryan Whiteside

      Hey Trevor,
      I’m more than happy to address your two concerns…

      First, in regards to comprehension. There are ways to test this. Mainly, by reading a passage you write down how many things you can recall. As I was learning to speed read, I found out that my comprehension remained roughly the same, even improved in some cases. The reason I think for this is the faster pace increased my focus. When I read “normal” I can sometimes get sidetracked or thoughts turn elsewhere, but when I use speed reading techniques it allows me to maintain higher awareness in what I’m reading.

      As for concerns about not enjoy reading as much, I can only recommend to try it for yourself. I enjoy reading MORE now that I can speed read. Many times I’ll get bored with a book if I’ve spent a month reading it, but if it only takes 2 weeks at most to finish a book I rarely get bored.

      There’s also an important point that answers both of your issues above. With speed reading, it’s not like you have to read as fast as you can at all times. It’s more like driving a car, sometimes you go slow and sometimes you rev things up. This is especially true with non-fiction material. When you come across a good passage, you can take your time and really absorb it. And with not-so-good passages you use skimming and speed reading to get through them more efficiently.

      Hope this helps!

  • Dave Turbit

    As a long time PickTheBrain reader, I found it ironic when I saw this post come up. I was one of the first to download Ryan’s RapidReading app. Like Sabine, I’d been wanting to be a faster reader for quite some time.

    After using it for a month now, all I can say is this really works! I’m reading almost 500 WPM now! I’ve made it through some gigantic PD books I’ve always been wanting to read “some day” like Napoleon Hill’s Law of Success. I’m so thankful I learned this skill that I can use for a lifetime.

    • Ryan Whiteside

      Thanks, Dave! Glad to hear you’re having success with it. Law of Success is a great book, although I think I prefer the “cliff notes” version, Thank and Grow Rich.

  • Samdnews

    I like your post on speed reading. One small note: you wrote “everyday” at the end of your first sentence. In this context, it should be two words, every day. Everyday means common place, like everyday problems or everyday people. Every day as two words means daily.

    • Noodle24

      Thanks, yes you are correct. Missed that typooo.

  • http://www.facebook.com/boris.spiegl Boris Spiegl

    Thank you. I will give your app a shot definitely. I’ve been playing around with quick-reader so far, though am curious: What are your thoughts on the best desktop application in this context?
    Thanks

    • Ryan Whiteside

      The best desktop speed reading trainer? There really aren’t any. If you don’t have an iPhone/iPad your best bet is to pick up the book I recommend. 

  • Diego Sosa

    you should also offer your app to android users

    • Ryan Whiteside

      I’m thinking of doing an Android version. Building apps for that platform though is slightly more difficult due to all of the screen sizes you have to take into consideration.

      • Diego Sosa

        Definitely! and there are so many different types of phones that use android that makes it more difficult. It would still be good to do it because they have such a wide customer base worldwide that you wouldn’t really want to miss.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001444540429 Daniel Pickford

    Awesome article Ryan.
    I started a journey into speed reading in 2009, and it took me quite a bit of time to employ this skill regularly, but now I use it all the time and it doubles and even triples how much material I can read and learn. A very worthwhile skill, but don’t give up if you don’t get it within the first few days or weeks of trying. It took me a bit of time too.
    Here’s another awesome article by Tim Ferriss that REALLY helped me with learning and using this skill…. Thanks Tim, and thanks Ryan.

    http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/07/30/speed-reading-and-accelerated-learning/

    • Ryan Whiteside

      Thanks, Daniel. I agree, with any worthwhile skill it’s different at first and your mind seems to give off some resistance. But if you stick with it, it pays off in the long run.

      That’s why I made sure that each drill only takes 10 minutes to complete. If you can get in the habit of just 10 minutes a day doing one drill, you’ll see results sooner than you think!

      I’ve also learned a lot in regards to speed reading through Tim Ferriss. Drill #3 incorporates some of the suggestions from his article.

  • Ficuscarica

    Thank you so much for information…:)

  • User

    This app keeps crashing for me. 

    • Ryan Whiteside

      Somehow my reply to you was never posted. I’ll just say, as an app junkie even the best apps will crash. I can’t tell you how many times Apple’s App Store app has crashed on me! With that said, use the feedback button from within the app and explain what you’re doing when it crashes and I’ll do my best to troubleshoot the problem.

  • Derp

    Is this an advertisement or an article?

  • Guest

    Hello,

    I downloaded the app and I truly think it lacks a guide about how and how often to use the drills in an effective way. Read all the texts first with drill one and later repeat the reading with drill 2 and drill 3? Alternate drills? How long should we practice per day? I would appreciate more info about those aspects.

    Thanks.

    • Ryan Whiteside

      This is fare criticism. I’ve been meaning to add this to the site and the app. Here’s what I recommend…

      1) Use drill #1 exclusively until you reach 350 WPM consistently.
      2) Use drill #2 exclusively until you reach 500 WPM consistently.
      3) Use drill #3 exclusively until you reach 650 WPM consistently.

      As far as how much to practice, obviously, it’s a skill so the more you practice the faster and better the results you should expect to get. I would do my best though to do at least one drill everyday. Each drill only takes 10 minutes so that should be do-able. 

      Hope that helps!

      • Guest

        Thanks!

  • Sabar1987

    Hello, I am able to speed read, but how can I apply that to technical reading? Generally, I am able to read fairly quickly, but would you have any tips or tricks for, let’s say,reading and learning medical information?

    • Ryan Whiteside

      Speed reading is exceptionally ideal with technical information. Of course, you aren’t going to be able to read at the same speeds as you would an easy reading book, benefits are still there.

      What you can do when you double your reading rate is that instead of reading slowly once, you can speed read and have time to re-read the material twice. By doing this, I believe you’ll have far better comprehension of the material and receive better grades.

  • Jacob Foster

    If you compare Acceleread (also in the iTunes store) to RapidReading, you will see that the former has many more – and better – reviews. I highly recommend Acceleread over RapidReading – sorry Ryan. It’s boosted my WPM from 250 to 440 in the last week or so. 

    • Ryan Whiteside

      I found Acceleread after development of my app. To be honest, Acceleread is OK but the drills don’t teach you speed reading in the most efficient manner. With all the time you spent using Acceleread to get to 440 WPM, I’m willing to bet you could be reading far faster if you would have used RapidReading. Acceleread has fancier graphics graphics, but I designed RapidReading to be simple and effective.

      • Jacob Foster

        I purchased a copy the one dollar/not full version of your app. I will see how it works. Looking forward to getting results! Thanks for taking the time to reply!

  • Dave

    Reasonable price, but I’m concerned that you sell a “full” upgrade for quite a bit more.  Is the app not a full product by itself?

    • Ryan Whiteside

      You get drill #1 with the intiial purchase, which will get you to reading 400+ WPM alone. If you decide you like the app and want to accelerate your reading further, drill’s #2 and #3 are $4.99. 6 bucks to learn a skill that will save you thousands of hours in your lifetime of reading seems like pretty good value to me. :-)

  • Caitlin J G Klein

    does it help your speed reading on a computer though? I’ve found that most speed reading programs only use written stuff that you can follow along with your finger

    • Ryan Whiteside

      You do use your finger, but that doesn’t mean you can’t speed read from the computer.

      What I do is use Evernote Web Clipper for Google Chrome. Then, if I come across an article I want to read, two clicks and it gets sent to my iPad. From there, I can easily use my finger to speed through the article.

      Also with my iPad, from Safari if you find a good article, push the “Reader” button which opens the article up in a nice, clean reading format that’s also optimal for speed reading with your finger.

      Finally, I use Netvibes as my RSS reader of choice. I keep up with all my favorite blogs here from one spot, and do all of that reading too from my iPad. I read these articles through Safari so again, I could just push the “Reader” button.

      It was a small adjustment doing all of my blog reading from my computer to my iPad, but now that it’s habit I’ve very efficient at keeping up with industry news.

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