Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour

by Kam Knight

This has become the go to book for students , teachers , educators , professionals , and home-school parents & children to quickly improve their reading speed.

It present simple tips to not only accelerate your reading, but also understanding and memory.

Unlike other books that only teach how to skim & scan, this taps into your brain and eyes' amazing ability to naturally read more words in a shorter time.

Please

** Please take the low star reviews here with a grain of salt as they DO NOT reflect the actual content. Contrary to some comments, the book offers a mix of new and time-tested techniques, supported by research, and with detailed instructions and explanations. **

In truth, this isn't your average speed reading book.

With a few simple shifts, you can double to triple your reading speed in minutes. No Skimming , No Scanning , but reading Every Word with higher speed.

You’ll Learn Best of all, the tips are simple and easy, requiring only a few shifts in habits.

How will the ability to learn more skills , ace more exams , and be more informed , while having more time for the things you love enhance your life?

Don't procrastinate any longer, kick start faster reading today.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Productivity, Personal Development, Education, Reference, How To

130 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2018

Reviews

[Oleksandr Golovatyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

7 Best Speed Reading Books (promo)

Best notes from the book:

"The eyes do not operate alone but work in conjunction with the brain. In fact, the eyes are directly connected to the brain, which leads many to suggest that the eyes are an extension of the brain rather than distinct, separate organs. Scientists estimate that as much as 65 percent of the brain is used to process visual information."

"reading and comprehension go hand-in-hand, so in addition to improving reading speed, you will learn to improve comprehension. After all, the purpose of reading faster is to learn more information. What good is reading quickly if we can’t make sense of and retain that information? Improving speed without improving comprehension is not speed reading. The aim is to help you read faster and with greater comprehension."

"Habits are routines or behaviors that are repeated so often and for so long that they become automatic—and then permanent."

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why—Mark Twain."

"Purpose improves mental function, increases concentration, and actually repairs the DNA."

"Purpose is incredibly valuable to reading as well. When a goal or purpose is applied to a reading assignment, suddenly the mind stops wandering, and instead, becomes focused on the material at hand."

"Anytime you pick up something to read, state the purpose or intention for reading it. The clearer the purpose, the easier it will be for the mind to interpret the information—and the faster you can sift through it."

"Two universal questions include: What can I get out of this material or How will this reading impact me?"

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions—Albert Einstein"

"preview material before reading it. That means scrolling through the text, scanning the table of contents, major headings, any words in bold or italics, visual aids, and any information that seems important."

"Preview is one of the most important steps readers can take to improve reading speed and comprehension."

"mind is continually making predictions about the future."

"Skilled readers almost never read a text cold. Instead, they examine it first with preview."

"Articles and Reports. Read the first and last paragraphs, examine words in bold or italics, read any quoted texts, and glance at any illustrations."

"read samples of the text. If there is a preface, begin sampling the reading there. Read also the full introduction and conclusion. Finally, skim through the book and take note of items in bold, italics, quotes, and any diagrams or tables. While skimming, read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter."

"The goal of preview is to sample the material, not get caught up in details."

"3 to 5 minutes for lengthier ones, such as books and manuals."

"By skipping preview, the mind is likely to make inaccurate predictions, making it difficult to understand the material."

"speed reading isn’t about how fast one moves through text but how fast the facts and ideas can be comprehended."

"Finally, preview can help determine if the text will meet the goal or purpose you established"

"Condition your brain and habits to understand that it's not okay to proceed without preview. Let them know not to push you into reading without previewing it first."

"Space reading directs you to avoid looking at the words you are reading, but rather at the spaces in between the words. That's right—at the spaces between words!"

"Think before you speak. Read before you think–Fran Lebowitz"

"Subvocalization is the act of pronouncing every word that is read. When subvocalizing, you either say words out loud, hear them spoken in your mind, or move your lips to their pronunciation. Any one of these acts is subvocalizing. Subvocalization greatly reduces the speed at which you read by adding an unnecessary step, or steps, to your reading."

"problem is that speech is a relatively slow activity. Our mind can’t say a word as fast as it can see it. This makes it impossible to read faster than we talk. By vocalizing words, out loud or in our head, we force the mind to read slower than its potential. Essentially, the mind is forced to perform two tasks at once."

"Subvocalization is a behavior that starts when we first learn to read, because we are taught to read phonetically. We read out loud to connect the right sound to the right word. This is necessary for the brain to learn the words and develop associations with those words."

"Once we become fluent, we stop reading out loud but continue the phonetic process."

"The obvious way to reduce fixation is to pick up more words each time the eye stops. You learned to do this in the last section through space reading, chunking, and limiting subvocalization. These techniques were designed for this exact purpose."

"regression is the act of reading the same text multiple times. Regression is common among readers; the average reader regularly revisits passages he or she has already read."

"Most importantly, regression breaks flow, and speed reading is all about flow. It’s about syncing the pace of the eyes to the rhythm of the mind."

"The most common reason for regression is that our eyes fixate on the wrong spot. As we read, we may lose our place on the page, or we may land our eyes on a spot much further along than we intended. As a result, we must go back and find the right spot."

"Strategic vision is the ability to look ahead and peripheral vision is the ability to look around, and both are important–Carly Fiorina"

"Speed reading, as we’ve discussed, is about picking up more words in a single glance or fixation. In order to effectively develop this ability, it’s critical to expand visual range."

"Visual range is the ability to see objects beyond your direct line of focus."

"By expanding your visual range, you can see both what’s in front of you and on both sides without the eyes moving. This increases the capacity to capture more words in a single glance."

"The goal of the table is to focus attention on the text in the center square while using peripheral vision to identify as many numbers and letters as possible in the outer squares. It is one of the best ways to open visual awareness."

"Employing the Shultz table is a great way to train and expand peripheral vision. Practice using the tables until you can comfortably see the outer numbers with your peripheral."

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events–Eleanor Roosevelt"

"Paragraphs are the fundamental units of all writing because they are the building blocks, much like bricks to a house, which hold together a piece of writing."

"Topic sentences are what keeps the conversation going from one paragraph to the next."

"not knowing the definition of a word dramatically slows reading. Our eyes fixate on unfamiliar words longer, and there is a greater impulse to regress."

"A strong vocabulary is essential to increasing reading speed."

"Studies show that people with a strong vocabulary not only understand more but read faster."

"Reading is an active, imaginative act—Khaled Hosseini"

"Keep in mind the goal is to visualize and read at the same time."

Readlax: Brain Training. 6+ brain games for memory and reading speed training. (promo)

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. Never knew a lot about Speed Reading, but now that I have read this I see how this can be done on some books. Author talks of Space Reading and Chunk Reading as methods to improve speed. I am a chunk read guy! Very interesting and I have used it on some books and it works to a degree. I have a hard time on Kindle phone app, but much easier on actual Kindle device. Font size and line spacing are also important. After author goes over this they give out tips on reading techniques, comprehension and interesting chapter on reading regression and eye fixation. Short book, easy to read, and I hope to be able to use it on certain books I am reading.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny how I got this for free through BookSirens, cause I already read about 700-1000 words per minute. So I read this book in 40 minutes, which includes doing several of the exercises and subvocalizing quite a bit! I'm not interested in reading faster, but since this was such a short book, and I obviously get a lot of questions and comments about my reading speed, so thought I'd check it out.

There are a bunch of good tips and techniques in this. Some I already do but wasn't aware of, some I tried out and found helped, and some I just felt weren't interesting at all.
It also of course gives tips and exercises for comprehension, cause as it says; what's the point of reading if you don't remember it? There's even some exercises for your eye health at the end.

So I'd say this is pretty good, check it out if you want to increase your reading speed. I'll recommend it to those who comment on my reading speed in the future!

[Selena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free e-copy of Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 hour by Kam Knight.

An interesting read filled with tips and exercises to help build memory skills. I am already a very fast reader but was interested in any building skills that can help push me more. I did enjoy the exercises in the book.

[*Tau* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you want to learn speed reading?
Then - speaking from personal experience - this book is the perfect introduction!

Did you know that …

… everyone can learn speed reading?

Some people assume that speed reading is hard to master and thus not within their reach.
With just a few interesting examples Kam Knight shows us that our eyes and mind process information at a high level on a daily basis and thus already have the ability to read fast.
Becoming aware of this, helped me to gain confidence in the many tips given throughout the book.
And it's true when he states that:

… speed reading is about making slight shifts in your reading habits?

The key to speed reading is adopting new habits that speed you up, while reducing habits that slow you down.

There's only one catch: old habits can be hard to break.
Even when a behavior isn’t working and a better way exists, habits will make it difficult to apply.
That's why this book contains practice drills, which involve repeating a routine over and over again, until the body develops a rhythm and habit for it.

Learning new habits is much easier.
Some of the discussed strategies are applicable without much effort and their effect is immediately noticeable.

… people falsely assume that slower reading means better comprehension?

That may be true in some cases, but in most cases, the factors causing slower reading also cause lower comprehension.
As a child we learned to read word by word.
But by making simple shifts in the way you look at words – such as looking at spaces, chunking and reducing the habit of subvocalization - you can speed up your rate significantly. And even when you're reading faster than is comfortable, you can still grasp the meaning. To see this for yourself, you can take a look at my blog article.

… we forget up to 80 percent of what we hear, see, or learn within a few hours of hearing, seeing, or learning it?

This applies to reading as well.
Kam Knight gives several interestings tips to avoid this phenomenon.

In fact, he gives lots of advice about several topics.
This book contains 5 sections (pre-reading, speed reading techniques, enhancing the techniques, improving comprehension and additional tips) and every section contains 3 chapters that delve deeper into specific subjects.
The presentation is very to-the-point which is why this book is pretty concise in comparison to similar books. But that's also the reason why it resonates with me: no superfluous blablabla, only interesting and hands-on information.

… you can enhance your current reading speed within minutes of reading some of the chapters?

This proved to be true in my case. And apparently lots of other reviewers had the same experience.

At a certain point Kam Knight says: "With commitment, there is no doubt that you will develop the ability to read a 200+ page book in one hour!"
The key words in this phrase are "with commitment".
Some people expect to be able to read at an incredible speed just by reading this book. As mentioned earlier, you'll have to break old habits and this takes time and perseverance. So don't expect to immediately read a 200+ page book in one hour.

But if you're prepared to practice a lot, I'm convinced that there's plenty of room for continuous improvement.
And what nicer way to do so than reading lots of books of your 'to be read'-list?
At least, that's my plan for the coming winter months 😉


*Thanks to NetGalley, Kam Knight and MindLily.com for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[The Conch · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many 'speed reading' type of books and everyone has few advice like scan the book before reading, avoid sub-vocalization, read in chunk, skim etc. This has also said the same topic, however, it provides 6 exercises which are really beneficial. By practicing through 'Shultz table' one can improve peripheral vision. Plenty of this is available in Google.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of practical, easy to follow skills that build as the book progresses. I loved reading about the skills of reading spaces and chunking words together. Personally, expanding my periferal vision needs so much more work to further develop the skill of reading a whole line of text in a glance.

Along with teaching skills on how to read quickly, Knight also provides instructions on how to develop comprehension skills. What is the point of reading at the speed of light if you don't retain the information?

I really enjoyed this book. I read fairly fast, but not fast enough to read a 200 page book in an hour. I'm not at that level yet, but after reading this book, I know how to work toward that goal. I will likely revisit this book, hopefully work through it much faster and use it as a guide and reminder as I increase my speed reading skills throughout the year.

[Beige Alert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always been curious about what methods people use to "speed read" and this popped up for under a buck and I'm a sucker for cheap books!

There were only three strategies that I would consider to be about "speed reading" based on my initial assumptions of what it is. Those are: Space Reading (focusing on spaces between worlds), chunk reading (focusing on groups instead of single words), and employing peripheral vision to take in wider word groups and spend less time moving from word to word.

The rest of the book was very remedial, but perhaps useful to others. For me the book falls into the "it was ok" category. I could have read articles or watched YouTube videos with less filler, but I didn't mind.

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speed Reading is a practical and helpful guide for those of us who fall into reading slumps, want help with our concentration, or also for people who just want to improve their reading speed in general. You’ll learn to master techniques that will help you learn information quickly and with more ease.
Kam Knight teaches us the importance of eye health (yes I need to wear my glasses more 🙄), tips for memorising - like using highlights - (which many of us already do), and the reasons why our reading speed can drop. We want to ensure we are always retaining information of non-fiction books, and following and remembering the plot of fiction books etc. Otherwise what is the point of reading in the first place?

Reading has always been my superpower, I’ve always been a naturally quick reader. In childhood, I was always the one waiting for my peers at school to catch up with the latest Harry Potter or Series of Unfortunate Events novels, for example. The hobby was always there through the years, but I’ve actively been trying over the past 5 years especially, to get myself to be the avid reader I always was when I was younger again.

Read on the Headway app, which condenses non-fiction books by their key-points to maximise quicker and more helpful learning. ✨🧠🖤

[Aizat Affendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that shares some practical guides on how to read faster. It helps that the book is short too and has practice drills sections, where one can revisit should they want to hone in on specific techniques in the future (which I have done and foresee doing a lot of times after this).

Don't expect immediate results though, these things take time for one to master..a point which the author highlighted a few times in the book. I have applied the recommended techniques and whilst the chunking method didn't really work for me, the space reading one did.

Initially thought the peripheral vision technique wouldn't be a practical one for me since I had missed out a lot of the text when I did the practice drills, but I somehow managed to make out the texts on number of pages in my last two reads just by running my eyes through the an imaginary vertical line at the centre of the page, without feeling the need to reread the pages after.

Not quite there yet, but here's to hoping that I will be able to read 200 pages in an hour soon!

[Cidney Ko · Rating 4 out of 5]

lol I speed read a speed reading book. It had some good tips! Gonna try them out with my endless textbooks 🙃

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may be the most practical book I have read on increasing reading speed. Rather than nearly impossible exercises, Knight concentrates on slight changes, shifts in habits that speed up reading and ones that slow you down. He says what is important is not how fast you make it through the text but how fast facts and ideas are understood.

Knight writes about setting a clear purpose for your reading, identifying what you hope to gain from reading the material. He suggests previewing the material to give your mind a framework for the reading process. He gives practical instruction for chunking, using peripheral vision, reducing sub-vocalization, and much, much more.

The one suggestion that struck me was adjusting the reading speed for the type of book. I have been practicing that especially as I tend to read fiction and nonfiction in the same way. I am making good progress.

I recommend this small book to readers who would like some practical ideas for increasing reading speed and absorbing what is read.

I received an egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

[Lisa Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a quick reader. I read an awful lot of books per year yet my TBR pile never seems to go down (and my NetGalley percentage never seems to go up). I saw the title of this book and how it could teach me to read a 200 page book in one hour and my curiosity was heightened.

Some of the techniques that are taught in this book are really impressive and when you try them out you see that Kam Knight, the author, is on to something. For me, I found reading between the spaces to be the best technique and I am going to practise that one much more.

Speed Reading is definitely worth reading and giving a go. I plan to and hopefully my TBR pile will decrease.

Speed Reading – Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour by Kam Knight is available now.

[Tanvi Tawde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the simple techniques covered in the book to read faster in a concise manner. Previewing, space reading, chunking, identifying the topic sentence, recall and review, improving the peripheral vision, visualisation, eye excercises, improving the vocabulary, doing away with regression, sub vocalization, day dreaming and fixation are the ones mainly listed.

[noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhh - read this because I wanted to become a speed reader, but discovered I much rather dive deeply into a book and savour it, rather than make it a chore.

I still use the examples in it for work/uni readings. This book is just not well executed.

[Bartłomiej Falkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

If it weren't for this 'clickbait-ish' title... it would be a literally perfect tutorial about speed reading.

This is a short but konwledge-dense book. Author doesn't try to charm and convince us that fast reading is easy. No magical shortcuts or quick mindset shifts. The only successful way is to practice, practice and practice. We are weaponed with few techniques and methods (not too many though) and left alone on the battlefield.

Although I'm not an expert in the area, I've already known most of the techniques provided by Kam Knight. Still, it was a really pleasent read. He was very practical and result-oriented. We have even received a couple of nice techniques for eyes stretching in the last chapter!

In the end, surprisingly pragmatic content wrapped in a spectacularly marketing title!

[sincerely.leoni࿚ˋ°•*⁀➷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

At some point, it felt like a chore. I definetly picked up some useful methods, but I catch myself in sometimes falling back into my old reading habits.

[Angelika Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned I commit almost every single grave mistake while reading, except maybe for reading out-loud (i do subvocalize (articulate the words) in my mind, though 😭😭😭) and visualization, that was spoken about in this book. All of those mistakes are especially hard habits of mine, so that means the two speed reading techniques presented in here are really difficult for me to learn. But I can see the methods (science, actually) behind them working, or rather, being very logical and possible, not to mention very attractive.
Unfortunely, it is a book you are supposed to work with for however long it takes you, which in mine case probably means months at the very least, so I decided to take the learning of speed reading to be one of my New Year 2022's resolutions.
The book covers a variety of things I wouldn't have thought of before in the span of a 100 pages, from bearking old habits, establishing new ones, using new techniques, to even suggesting a few eye care methods.
I can't really realistically rate it without seeing the results, so for now I leave it at four.

[Charles Chapman · Rating 2 out of 5]

these thoughts are not my own; I have written this review in collaboration with an AI

Kam Knight's book, Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour, was a book that I felt was almost like a scam. But don't worry, it wasn't. There was some useful information about increasing reading speed, and the book was easy to read, but most of the material talked about can be found on the internet and in videos. There were a few techniques regarding eye movement that were particularly useful, and it was very cheap - only $0.99. Some of the techniques include:

1. Scanning: Quickly scan the text and look for keywords.
2. Skimming: Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
3. Chunking: Break up the text into chunks and read them separately.

The most effective of these techniques was chunking; it allows you to read the text in smaller, more manageable pieces. This makes it easier to keep track of the information and to understand the text more quickly. But overall, I give it two stars, and I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Henry Downs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Useless drivel. Having (unfortunately) spent money on this, the book seems to have the earmark qualities of an e-book written purely to profit by gaming Amazon's ranking system (this is a method espoused by many passive income "guru" figures on YouTube). It is full of non-advice (tantamount to "try reading faster" or "read it ahead of time - you'll read it faster the second you read it, when you already know what you're reading"), non-sequitur pop-psychology, and meandering prose that feels like it was written to drive up the word count. Did not finish. Will not finish.

[Catherine Craig (Angelic Light) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book about Speed Reading very useful, as it is full of really interesting tips and techniques which can help us to train ourselves to read faster and have better memory and comprehension of what we are reading. The author says that if we practice these techniques then we can easily read a 200 page book in 1 hour. I am not at that stage, but I have been able to read faster since reading the book. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent Explanation w/ Drills

Ironically, I sped-read this book.

It’s well-organized and explained. The most helpful technique is something I do already, but now I know why (but it’s COPY WRITE PROTECTED, so I can’t tell you). Several of the techniques I can’t do because of an eye limitation, but it may help others.

Bottom line: For under $3, it’s worth a read if you’re curious.

[Luis Galvez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very practical, straight to the point book! Although the promise of reading 200+ page book in an hour is very ambitious, it will only become true if you practice and dedicate time to do the excercises proposed by the author.

The material is well organized and written, with detailed excercises explained for you to practice and improve your reading.

[Edson Rebello · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just wanted to point out the obvious................
Very clickbaity title

The practice drills were very brainless, it was just basically reread the chapter, but faster.

Valuable insights but there are probably better speed reading books out there.

[Todor · Rating 1 out of 5]

That meeting could have been an email. That was the feeling I had while reading the book. An article on the topic is better spent time instead of a full book or at least that one.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this book but that’s not because Kam didn’t do a thorough job of teaching me how to speed read. The book is laid out well and very well written. Basically, he teaches two techniques that can be used for speed reading, of which the reader needs to choose and practice one, but around that he has lots of great suggestions about how to prepare for reading, how to break habits that slow reading speed, and probably the most helpful bit for me: how to remember more of what you read. (That last bit is basically narration, for those of you that know Charlotte Mason.) I highly recommend this book if you are like me and have too many books you want to read and too little time because you’re such a slow reader.

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really helpful book with achievable strategies and doable techniques to not only improve your speed, but also doing this without hampering your comprehension.

(Read via Blinkist)

[Sara Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely learned some things that helped me learn to read faster!

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this for 1 euro on the sale rack of a València book store. I’m going to be insufferable..

[Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually a really helpful book. I read a lot and, in my opinion, quickly. Ive researched speed reading before and this book expands on those topics and introduces new ones along with practice drills to help improve speed and comprehension. Definitely recommend