So now that the latest scientific insights reveal how the brain works while we read and cleared up the myths and previous assumptions about speed reading, how do we read better and faster?
These insights may also provide us the factors that we can manipulate to improve our reading:
Skim the entire text by going into the table of contents. This will allow you to read some of the keywords that will give you ideas on what to anticipate from the book or document.
If the purpose of your reading is to look for some particular information, you can use the table contents to go into the heart of the book. Sometimes, a book is written in such a way that the author builds pace, slows down and adds some minor concepts to emphasize the main point. You will certainly find something as long as you know what you’re looking for.
Aside from maximizing your time by going straight into the stronger points of the book, it also helps you to build interest on the other parts. You suddenly get the whole view but it also makes you wanting to look into the other details as well.
Of course, this trick won’t do you good if you apply it to novels and other texts with a story line. When it comes to fiction and other literary works, be wary of using this trick as it will deprive you of the pleasure in reading. Most of the time, skimming only for parts here and there will make you miss the literary experience that the author intended with the plot of the story.
This trick is necessarily tied up with skimming the entire text or browsing for the titles first before reading. Knowing what information you want will make you look for the most important words and phrases that are related to this information.
To be effective at this, you need to write some of the questions that you need to answer before you read. This will help you maintain your curiosity for only the most important information and gets you right on track.
The more curious you are, the faster it is to finish because answering the list of questions is that which only matters as you read.
Preparing a list of questions before you read will maximize your time reading because it helps you to focus on the most important information that you want to extract. Writing down notes, on the other hand, will make you retain the information for the long-term.
You will comprehend much more what you are reading by paraphrasing the factual information or rewriting them in your notes. Not only that, it also allows you to embed the information deeper in your brain for easier retrieval later. Even if you don’t reread your actual notes, you can recall the information as you actually see the information in your mind’s eye because you can remember what you wrote.
In this technologically advanced society, multi-tasking with a computer and being online has become a commonplace scenario for the young people whether in school or in the workplace.
While multi-tasking may maximize your time, it may not help you with your learning and memory tasks. The mental fatigue that comes with cognitive overload will take a toll on your memory and how deep your learning is[27]. Likewise, any shallow learning that you gain from multi-tasking, if there is any, may inhibit your creativity and ability to form new concepts out of the material.
As mentioned before, reading is quite a complex skill, but speed reading with full comprehension is much further. If you really want to improve your ability in this area, learn to focus and gear your undivided attention to the text you are reading at the moment.
Much of the obstacle we face when we read is being slowed down because of an unknown or unfamiliar term, phrase or concept. Sometimes, we are even boggled down when an author makes a reference to historical idioms that we know nothing about, such as “Achilles heel”, “Waterloo”, or anything like that.
You may not believe it, but a lot of people can’t relate even when simple idioms such as these are used in another context. What’s worse is when the author makes an inscrutable sarcastic comment and you are completely lost.
Therefore, the only way to improve your reading fluency is to consume a lot of reading materials. Especially if you are a student to whom reading a text is required, reading a variety may not only widen your knowledge, it may also help you to retain a voracious interest in reading itself.
Sticking to only one type of genre, such as law books, will make you an expert in that field. But sometimes, these necessary readings cause fatigue such that the student loses interest over time. Try to insert other types of genre in between. It will be like a breath of fresh air.
William Faulkner nailed it right when he said, "Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You'll absorb it. "