Read Better Faster: How to Triple Your Reading Speed and Comprehension Without Speed Reading, Skimming, or Skipping

by Debbie Drum

Say goodbye to slow reading forever! What if I told you I could teach you to read an entire book in a single afternoon. Would you believe me? When we learned to read growing up, they taught us to read slowly, carefully, and methodically. And it worked! Typical reading techniques are just fine for a child, but today, those slow reading habits from the 19th century hold us back. That’s partly why so many adults today don’t read for pleasure. But reading doesn’t have to be a chore! I can teach you techniques guaranteed to make reading faster, more fun, and more fulfilling than ever before by using the best reading strategies for your specific learning type. That No complicated “speed-reading” techniques No skimming text (and missing critical information) No more relying on Cliff Notes or truncated versions of books Read Better Faster combines the best lessons from speed-reading, neuroscience, and modern technology to teach you to read faster and comprehend more than you ever believed possible. If you’ve ever quit reading something important because of boredom or frustration, this book might just change your life—and you’ll see results right from day one! If you enjoyed reading Unlimited Memory by Grandmaster Kevin Horsley, Learn Like Einstein by Peter Hollins, How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler, or Speed How to Read a Book a Day by Ryan James, then you’re sure to enjoy this book as well. This book is also for readers interested Improving memory Improving reading comprehension Reading faster Reading for pleasure

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

135 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2017

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book about increasing your reading speed was a bit disappointing, as the 'system' suggested was using your ereader's TTS (text to speech) function to read the book while following the text with your eyes! This is sad for a couple of reasons - firstly because the TTS is incredibly annoying, and using it is frustrating! But also because this system doesn't work with many of my books as the texts contain a lot of words that are not in standard English (they're fantasy, scifi etc books) so what the TTS says doesn't make any sense. And although I'm not as fast as I'd like to be, I'm fast enough that I need to run the TTS at a fast enough speed that it no longer sounds like English at all! Finally, quite a bit of my reading is done on hard copy documents and books, but the book's only suggestion for these is to buy the digital copy so it can still be read along!! As I beta-read and proofread for several authors, many of the books I read aren't available when I'm reading them, so that won't work, making this system completely useless!! There was also a lot of repetition in the book, padding it out unnecessarily. Ironic, as this would've made it faster to read!
So in summary, if you're looking for tips on how to use your ereader's inbuilt technology to help you improve your reading speed, this would be an interesting read. Otherwise, save your money and invest it in a proper speed reading course!!

[Fazila · Rating 4 out of 5]

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DISCLAIMER : Thank you, TCK publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I remember seeing this title on TCK publisher's website and thought to myself that this would be a great book to add to my TBR, as I am a voracious reader and would love to increase my reading speed without losing my comprehension. I have tried a few techniques in speed reading to see if it works for me, and some that worked better than the others. While the methods discussed are quite similar from program to program, it's always important to keep in mind that not every solution might work for us, and trying out different things to get the ultimate technique that works for us is the key.

Read Better Faster by Debbie Drum is a fairly short book that talks about becoming a faster reader by following the BuzzRead method. The ultimate goal that the reader hopes to achieve after reading the book is to increase/improve the reading speed, eliminate the sub-vocalization, strengthen your eye muscles, retain the information you read thereby increasing your comprehension and also increase your knowledge. The goals set out before the introduction of the BuzzRead method give the readers an understanding of what to expect from the book from the get-go.

Overall, I personally think this is a good method to try out if you can handle the robotic voice narrating to you. I have done this before reading the book. It works in keeping my focus on the book rather than let it wander. I also think if you are someone who uses audiobooks quite frequently, combining it with the physical book always works better in improving your reading. I have found this to be quite beneficial and this is something I can attest to from my personal experience. I believe the technique is worth a try. If you are interested in knowing more definitely check this book out. It is a small book that covers the basics and gets to the point relatively quickly when compared to other non-fiction/self-help books. I am giving the book 4 stars. Make sure to check out the book and see if it's something that will be advantageous to you.

[Almir · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://imeducatingmyself.com/read-bet...

We can figure from the title that this books can help us to improve our reading skills. And I have to say right at the beginning that this method with not work for everyone. There are multiple method that we can learn to increase our reading speed and understanding; and some of them I like, other I don’t.

This is my personal opinion, I’m not going to say bad things about this book, you can continue reading and find out more on my thoughts.

I pretty much said it all already. This method, in my personal opinion is only good when the natural voice is possible to use in book when reading it. That robot voice I don’t like, and it’s getting on my nerves.

I did find it helpful to resolve my sub-vocalization issue, which I wasn’t even realized that it’s an issue from the start.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, of course. In the end it helped me to resolve one problem and improve my reading skills, that can be applied to you or anyone else. This could be helpful for those who are just starting and have a hard time to devote them self to read. I know that I’ve had same issue when I first started earlier this year. Everything comes with practice, and things improve them self after while if you constantly working on improvement.

This books it’s not long, you can read it within one day, and it’s not expensive also.

[Charles Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re like most people, you were taught to read every word in a sentence or paragraph. While this might be useful when reading instructions, for most other written material, it makes reading a chore. Buck up, though, because Debbie Drum’s Read Better Faster will help you learn techniques to boost your reading speed, and your retention of what you read as well.

This insightful little book takes you step by step through methods for learning a new way to take in the written word. You’re likely to find that as you read it, your reading speed is increasing—provided you take her advice.

A must-have book for anyone who is required to read a lot, and a really nice literary acquisition for anyone who loves to read.

I received a free copy of this book. I give it four stars.

[Lynelle Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received the book from the author for an honest review.

This is a self help book that introduce Text To Speech to the reader and how it can improve your reading. It is a step by step book that gives you all the settings for different devices making it easier to find. I can see that this manner of reading can benefit many readers but personally I like to read a book even if it takes me longer to get through it.

Thanks for the opportunity to read the book.

[Remy G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This self-help guide to improving one’s reading skills opens with a foreword by the author, who is happy to share her reading technique, which she believes will help one read both disinteresting books and engaging works faster. She discusses the “traditional” method of reading, and her own method, termed BuzzRead, which is best used with electronic books. She named her method as such due to her full first name, Deborah, meaning bee in Hebrew, and notes that it necessitates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic skills. The benefits of her BuzzRead system include being able to read more books, eliminating sub-vocalization (speaking each word in one’s head while reading), strengthening eye muscles, retaining and comprehending more, becoming smarter and more knowledgeable, and enjoying reading more.

In the first chapter, Drum admits that before the development of her technique, she was a sluggish reader, and mentions that sub-vocalization hinders reading speed. She notes that the SATs require reading long passages and answering tricky questions, and that while she struggled with reading in college, she nonetheless maintained a 3.5 GPA, with this reviewer noting that he has had reading problems in grade school that continued into college, as an autistic adult, but still did decently in his studies. She indicates that she had an easier time listening to information in college than reading it, but still missed out, and that there is a need to explore the different ways people learn.

Drum says that slow reading is not a fault within oneself, and that one can divide learning styles as auditory, visual, and kinesthetic; individuals, furthermore, need to match their style with whatever audience they have in their professions. Auditory learners obtain new knowledge from listening, tend to read works out loud and discuss information with others, and use terms relating to hearing when indicating how they came by new data. Visual learners are divided into the linguistic, who obtain knowledge from reading and writing, and spatial, who learn from graphs and charts, and use terms relating to sight when mentioning how they came across new things. Finally, kinesthetic leaners get knowledge from touch and movement, and need either move or do in order to retain info, or be tactile and learn with their hands, using touch words and reading with fingers pointing at words.

Drum goes on to discuss why some people read slowly, indicating that wealthy and successful individuals tend to have developed good reading habits. Some can often fall asleep while reading a book or watching a movie if they’re not engaged, with the author noting that those struggling with reading need to start out with books about topics they enjoy. One can read if comfortable with an author’s word choices, and slow reading can cause anxiety. Not being taught early on how to read properly can lead to problems later on in life, and the writer mentions that children best learn new languages when they’re young. Poor readers tend to practice regressive reading, having to go back and reread certain passages should they zone out while reading.

Drum mentions other speed reading techniques, which involve things such as “chunking” and minimizing sub-vocalization, which don’t necessarily mean the ability to read fast. She further cites problems with audiobooks, such as their costs, not always being available, and being disengaging. Remembering and retaining information, she indicates, is part of the reading process, with humans remembering by making mental pictures and associates, each person having their own unique remembrance formulae, and that the loci method pairs what one must remember with familiar locations. She goes on for a few chapters on how to set up a reading device for accompanying speech while reading, and mentions how to convert PDFs to an iRead or Kindle document.

Drum notes that her technique is chiefly designed for electronic books, but can be used on physical books if digital versions are available. She acknowledges pitfalls in her BuzzRead method such as the potential failure of the technology if a reader doesn’t retain information, although she has solutions such as bookmarking and highlighting in e-books, not to mention taking notes while reading (which this reviewer does regularly to write more detailed reviews), and teaching what is learned to others. She further suggests techniques for tracking reading progress if reading multiple books, and that readers should alternate between fiction and nonfiction. Moreover, she notes one’s mind can wander while reading, and that working the eye muscles with her technique can not only enhance reading, but also writing and speaking.

In the end, this is a brief but helpful guide to enhance one’s reading ability primarily through the use of speech accompaniment when reading digital books, with this reviewer convinced to go back through books he had once read before but perhaps didn’t enjoy fully, and will very likely utilize the BuzzRead technique in addition to the notes he regularly takes when engaging in digital literature. Although this reviewer as an autistic adult believes that he will most likely benefit from the BuzzRead technique, he thinks that even neurotypicals (non-autistics) would probably find good in Drum’s method as well, and ultimately highly recommends her guide to anyone seeking to become better readers, perhaps heighten their intelligence, as well.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice method!

I will recommend this book to anyone out there wanting to improve the reading skills, I will pass this technique over my kids, that’s a fact!

Thank you!

[Kenny Parnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a tutorial really. Some practical thoughts on getting through material faster.

[Donadee's Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Better Faster - Written by Debbie Drum
How to Read Faster and Remember More

When we were taught how to read growing up, we were taught to read slowly and focus on every single word. These poor reading habits hold us back, and it’s why so many people don’t enjoy reading. You see, your brain is a lot like Goldilocks. When you read too slow, your mind wanders, you get distracted, and reading feels like a chore. When you try to read too fast, you can't comprehend what you're reading. The key is to read at the right speed using the best reading strategies for your learning type.

I found this book to be quite interesting. I have read numerous books on speed reading and this is the first that used this approach. I went through all the steps and felt that although I am a speed reader with excellent comprehension this method did help me add to my speed. I think that we as individuals must find the method that is right for each of us. By reading several books on the different methods we can take what works for us and apply it to our reading. In my opinion this is a good book for those that are interested in starting out learning how to speed read. I received this book from the author for an honest review with no other compensation.

[Tom Rowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Breakdown of this book:
75% - A pep talk on how much this technique will help you.
20% - Screen shots and specific instructions for reading devices.
5% - The actual speed reading technique.

I must say, this finally revealed secret to reading faster was not what I expected before I started reading the book. And it took several chapters of pep talk before I got to the "secret." (The secret is to read along with your phone or kindle app's text to voice feature. I must say, I did not know that you could change the speed on that.) There are a couple of other techniques mentioned, but they were clearly not the focus.

This book was worth the reading for the one trick, but I wish I knew the trick before and I would have finished the book sooner, but then I wouldn't have gotten anything out of it. Ha ha.

It's not a long read, it took me a little over an hour, and I read it while donating blood.

Anyway, you know the secret. If you want the reasoning behind it, a few more tips, and a spirited pep talk, I would recommend.

[Roni Laukkarinen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me less than an hour to read this 126 pages long (or should I say short?) book, so I guess I didn't really need this book. There are couple of problems in Read Better Faster. First of all, it presumes too much. Not everyone use only Apple and Amazon products. I don't use them at all. The tutorial for Android sucks big time, as TalkBack is almost impossible to use on Android 9.0 for this purpose.

I'm not quite sure about BuzzRead method. It feels strange. I don't get the gains Debbie is talking about. I find it odd and stupid. It's for people who are too lazy to read themselves. I don't think about subvocalizing or vocalizing at all while reading.

Every single argument against audiobooks in this book are ridiculous. You don't listen to audiobooks while paying groceries. You focus. This book is more like "How to read... I mean listen books if you have ADD".

Interesting, naiively written Kindle ad. Glad it was short.

[K. Counihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best Overall Set of Tools

I have been using this type of system to read for a year or more now. I am sight impaired and the kindle girl set up a kindle fire and it reads all books that say text to speech.
I have been able to read and comprehend for
2017 so far 94 books through 9 months. What is priceless for me in this book are the resources she has found. I have spent a lot of time looking for a PC text to speech for windows 10.
The Amazon and Windows 10 codes are incompatible thus far. I'm going try the work a rounds in this book. Thank for writing this book. I hope readers who know sight impaired
people could set this system up for them.

[Hester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow

Debbie's writing is easy to follow and a pleasure to read.
Two things, however.
I read the book on my Kindle Paperwhite.
At the end of the chapters there are recaps. Or so I assume. I couldn't read them, as the lettering was too small. Even blowing up the font had no effect on the recaps.
And because I read the bulk of my books on the Paperwhite this specific technique isn't suitable for me.
However, I am I intrigued enough to want to try it out and I will set it up for my Android phone.

[Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

Save your time

This was basically 132 pages of "practice reading" and use the text-to-speech function (and how to do so across all the different devices). Skim and utilitize evernote and google docs to take notes for better retention. That's the "secret"y It read like something out of a blog for middle schoolers. Perhaps also suited for an older generation unfamiliar with technology. The best thing I got out of this book was that if the author can make a living out of writing and if she can, anybody can. Skimmed this one after chapter 6 because it was just repetition.

[Khaledur Rahman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and effective method for speed reading and eventually learning. Thank you Debbie.

Very effective and new method.
I learned some techniques and like every thing about this book. I've finished reading this book in one sitting. For some reason the material captivated me all the way. Like the author, I need to read a lot of thick books; those books are for my certifications and also gain various knowledge.
Thank you Dear Debbie for showing me and opening new, overlooked, and unknown methods to improve myself.

[Rob Clifton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected value

I was surprised at how much I gained from this short book, which can be read in one sitting. I expected to learn how to read faster, and her method is not the same old fluff. However, I picked up many more useful tips on maximizing my e-reader by utilizing some of the functions I had never tried. I also appreciated all of the resources she covered in the last few chapters of the book.

[Jerilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative.

This book is packed with good tips, then, for a split second I thought I was reading this book and all kept was, was an ad. I was wrong. It offers a program but also explained how to use devices better, tips and tricks. Then more speed reading helpful hints. Great reminders for those who already read fast or tips for a person just wanting to read better faster! Worth reading! Thank you Debbie Drum!

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to reading comprehension!

I was initially hesitant to use the method explained in this book, but I was amazed at how effectively I completed the book using that method. My comprehension has significantly improved, and I have become more motivated to achieve the reading goals I had previously set aside due to a lack of free time.

I highly recommend this book to individuals seeking to enhance their professional skills or advance their careers.

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice idea

This subject doesn't need a full length book, ironic given the subject matter this book is really padded out. It's also aimed at those with Apple devices, fire tablets and Windows pcs are the poor relations that are told to "Google it" . Certainly worth a read though and I thank the author for the idea.

[Michael R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Improvement right away!

Practical and completely effective method I was able to implement immediately (I even used the method to finish reading this book in just a short sitting.).

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great content

I found myself using the methods she was telling me about right away. She does have homework if you want to get better. Practice, practice, practice will increase your speed.

[Jamie Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and straightforward read

First speed reading book I’ve read that combines technology in learning how to read faster and retain information better. Cuts rights to the chase....

[Vėjas Galvoje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nieko stebuklingo, visa knyga galėtų sutilpti į kelis sakinius, nu bet kiek norėjo tiek prirašė...
Einu išbandysiu metodą ir labai tikiuosi progreso po tam tikro treniruočiu periodo.
Jei kam bus įdomu, galite klausti, bet ne anksciau kaip po kelių mėnesių...

[Romain Puech · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5
Most if the book is just self explanatory or low level. The core idea can be summed up in a sentence: while reading a book, use the text to speech feature of your device at the same time and increase its speed.

[Mark Bowser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome technique!

If you want to read faster and comprehend what you read, I encourage this book. Very powerful!

MarkBowser
Author of "Sales Success" with Zig Ziglar

[Lee Husemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book about increasing your reading speed mostly geared towards electronic equipment. There were other tips and helpful information to increase your reading speed.

[Diane Tidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Concept

Having just finished this book, I haven't yet put it to the test. I did learn a couple new things that made it worth the time.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. Nothing I didn't know already.

[Lisa Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging

The material made for easy reading and offered very good suggestions for those person who may lack confidence and/or technique.

[Steve Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good material

This is a good basic book on improving reading speed and compression. It is useful for ebooks, but not for print books.