I’ve been increasing my trips to library to cut down the expenses of buying so many books. I noticed on Personal MBA recommened 10 Days to Faster Reading as a solid resource. I decided this would be great as I wanted to cut down on my reading time, but still wanted to keep reading comprehension up.
As I’m working through the book, I decided to jot down some notes on what I’m reading. I’ve been going back and forth on whether to review the whole book and I decided that I’m going to review the first 3 days give my final results this week after I completed the book.
First off, this book using the race car metaphor a lot. I don’t mind it; I just wanted to give you a heads up. The pace of the book is fairly rapid, which I really enjoy and the lessons are straightforward. 
Day 1: Putting the Key in the Ignition
The first part listed the benefits of increasing your speed in reading with these techniques. Some were directly related to reading and some looked as they would improve mental muscles overall. Some of the book’s reasons to improve reading skills matched my own, namely:
- Improve your concentration: I can sometimes get distracted when reading and I would definitely like to focus more. My mind had a habit of drifting in lectures when following slides and taking notes. I still attend lectures on a weekly basis and I would love to improve my concentration.
- Understand material with greater depth and accuracy. I would love to be able to get a better sense of a topic with better reading skills.
- Retain information better: It would do no good if I couldn’t keep the information that I learn. Besides the benefits for my career, this would help me with connecting with others, as I tend to forget names and faces.
The lesson continues on how common hurdles to improving your reading ability.
The Time Trial for the Day is to gauge where you’re at currently. There’s a reading selection, a set of review questions, and an answer key. Have a stop watch ready as you go through the passage to be as accurate as possible.
Here are my results for the first day:
- Day 1 Time Trial: 1.02.3
- Information Review: 100%
- Words Per Minute: 345
I felt pretty good about the results. I discovered my WPM puts me in the ‘good reader’ category. The section goes on to introduce the concept of pacers: devices used to control the movement and pace of your eyes. The pacer examined with the lesson was a blank 3×5 index card. The index card is to help guide your eyes and keep them from re-reading, which is a huge no-no.
Marks-Beale suggests review all your reading materials to see if you should cancel any unnecessary subscriptions (more on why on the 3rd day). I long ago stopped some of my subscriptions as I couldn’t keep pace with on topic that weren’t as interesting as before.
Day 2: Rebuilding Your Speed Reading Engine
The second day’s focus is on your eyes and brains. Following the race car analogy, they are described as your engine. If youcan keep your mind and eyes from wandering, you’ll improve in your reading skills.
It gave a brief review of inefficient and efficient readers and their traits:
- Reading Speed
- Eye Movement Patterns
- Comprehension
- Vocabulary
- Back of general knowledge and experience (limited vs broad)
The lesson really focuses on eliminating some of the most common reasons why people slow down in their reading: their mind wanders, they go back to review (regress), and sub-vocalize while they read. There’s a lot of great tips on how to stop talking while you’re reading. After reviewing the material, I went ahead and did my time trial for the lesson.
Here are my results for the second day:
- Day 2 Time Trial: 1.10.8
- Information Review: 80%
- Words Per Minute: 345
My retention went down, but I’m glad my reading speed didn’t decrease. The section introduces another pacer: utilizing a left side pull. Between the index card ad the left side pull, I think I’ll focus on the latter.
The lesson offers the suggestion to set aside some time to experiment and work on with your reading in addition to your regular time.
Day 3: Revving Up Your Concentration
The third lesson is about increasing your concentration to help with retention. Since this is one of my big goals, I’m looking forward to reading this lesson. As I mention about Day 1, it was suggested that unnecessary subscription should be cancelled. You have to discover your purpose and responsibility when you’re reading your material as it will help you focus. It’s something I’ll have to work on this next week and I’ll see if it helps improve my concentration.
Out of the 10 Ways to Improve Your Concentration, I found a few tips that I could use:
- Let technology work for you. I’ve heard this before with Ferriss’ low information diet. Check emails at designated times to create some uninterrupted time for reading.
- Read at your peak time(s) of day. I never really thought about using my natural time for reading. Whenever I had an assignment in college, I used whatever time I could fit in my schedule.
Here are my results for the third day:
- Day 3 Time Trial: 1.05.2
- Information Review: 70%
- Words Per Minute: 345
I’m not happy about the decrease in retention on this excerpt. Since I’m still working on the techniques, I’m not worrying. I’m going to keep chugging at it.
The closing tips of the article explains how to highlight effectively. I believe that this is an important skill for college students. Even if you borrow the book just for this section, it’s worth it. Learn to highlight main points the right way the first time.
Overall View of the Book:
I enjoyed how to the point the book was. There are a lot of helpful tips and information that I’ll use. The book strongly encourages readers to try it all out and see what works best for them. I’m all for that method and I look forward to sharing the results on Friday.
What speed reading techniques worked for you?
Photo Credit: BinaryApe & suchitra prints
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