Work Smarter with Speed Reading: A Teach Yourself Guide

by Tina Konstant

Learn to read and recall more written information in less time.

Work Smarter with Speed Reading is a practical guide to effective speed reading. It includes tools and information on a variety of reading and memory techniques, including a five-step strategy that will enable you to read any non-fiction material easily. You'll be able to start using and practicing the techniques right away as you read. The book also offers a selection of techniques so you can choose the ones that suit you best.

One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author’s many years of experience. Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. Extra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of speed reading and time-saving techniques. Teaches the basics of speed reading in less than an hour. Follows a unique five-step system to help you increase your speed effectively.

Topics include:
Introduction; The Five-Step Reading System; Speed Reeding; It's All in the Words--Developing Your Vocabulary; Concentration; Memory; A Book is a Book is a Book; Your Eyes and Effective Reading; Distractions and Solutions; Real-World Reading; Working and Studying for a Living; Useful Information and Speed Practice Test; What's Next

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Tina Konstant was born in Zimbabwe, raised in South Africa and currently lives in Scotland with her husband, a pair of beagles and an African Grey Parrot.

Her latest publications include short story collections: "So You're Dead... Now What?" (all about the afterlife), "I Didn't Do It!" (a collection about murder and mayhem) and "I Love You, But..." (short fiction about relationships we hate to love).

Tina's non-fiction focuses primarily on speed-reading and managing information overload with additional titles on copy-writing and managing change.

In addition, Tina is the host of The Waffle-Free Storytelling Podcast - a storytelling podcast without the waffle!

For more about the author and to join in the conversation drop by her author website (www.tinakonstant.com), join her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/TinaKonstant), follow her on Twitter (@tinakonstant), have a random conversation on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tina.konstant/), or a less random conversation on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinakonst...).

Reviews

[ابو علي · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب اعمل بذكاء مع القراءة السريعة

هو جميل و نافع و مهم في تكوين ثقافة القراءة ان كانت سريعة كما يستهدف الكتاب او غير سريعة ,, لأنه يساهم في اثراء الشخصية المهتمة بالثقافة بطريقة تنظيمية و يعطيها بعض الثقافة اللازمة في ارشادها لكي تقرأ بشكل صحيح ,,
هدفه هو ان يكون القارىء سريعاً في قراءته و لكن سرعة الجودة و الاستفادة و الطرق الصحيحة للقراءة و في اوقاتها المناسبة بادارة سليمة و في مواجهة المشتتات و التعلم للتركيز الواعي في وقت القراءة الذي يعبر عن ضبط الخيال عن الشرود مما يخسرها الكثير ,,

كتاب ممتاز و لكن حروفه صغيرة تتعب العين ,, ليس المهم ان تقرأه بشكل كامل دفعة واحدة و انما ضروري ان يكون متسلسلاً بحيث يخدمك في ادارة قراءته و اختيار الافضل و الانفع و كيف تواجه المتراكمات من ملفات و غيرها مما لا حاجة لك بها ,,

طرح امور كثيرة مفيدة تخدم القارىء ,,

هذه النوعية من الكتب اعتبرها مساندة لي في قرائتي و لا اتركها و انما اتعامل معها معاملة الصديق الواعي الناصح ,, و انتهيت من الكتاب لأذهب لغيره حتى لو كان متقارباً لأفكاره و طرحه لأنه يساند و يخدم و بالطبع لابد من التنفيذ و ليس فقط التعلم ,, و قد خدمني كثيراً .

أنصح بإقتناءه و اتمنى وجود طبعات اقوى و اوضح و اكبر في الخط .

أبوعلي ,, Ebn Almoallim
السبت 7/5/2016 م

[Oleksandr Golovatyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why You Should Read Books - 15 Benefits Of Reading More (promo)

"The main reason most of us read at an average rate of 150 – 300 words per minute is because that is approximately the rate at which we speak."

"For a 200-page book, studying the structure of the book or document should take between one and ten minutes, depending on the length of the book and your purpose."

"Becoming familiar with the language of a 200-page book should take about five to ten minutes.
• Scan the pages at about a page every two seconds.
• Look for words that stand out and highlight them: names ; long or technical words ; bold or italics words linked to your purpose.
• Study the language: Is it technical, non-technical, user-friendly? Are you familiar with it?
• Do you need to refer to a dictionary?
• Note the meaning of acronyms as you read."

"The TOP THREE methods for remembering what you read are:
1. Use new information. Explain it to someone, discuss it, write it, construct arguments for and against it, think about it and apply it.
2. Have a purpose. Always know why you are reading something and when you are going to use it.
3. Use the Five-Step Reading System. This system allows you to select exactly what you need to read therefore avoiding any unnecessary and distracting material that hinders concentration and recall."

"Distractions can prevent effective reading and accurate recall."

"VOCABULARY. Underline unfamiliar words. Look up the words at the end of the paragraph, page, section or as appropriate. This improves your comprehension and your vocabulary. The better your vocabulary, the faster your reading will be."

"The five steps in the system are as follows:
1. Prepare.
2. Preview.
3. Passive reading.
4. Active reading.
5. Selective reading."

"Depending on how much you want from the book, Steps 1 to 4 could take between 5 and 40 minutes for a book of 300 pages. The time that you spend on Step 5 will depend on how much detailed information you want from the material."

"For a 300-page book, the overview (preview) should take about 10 minutes."

"Interaction – Reading is a two-way activity. The author has a message that you could simply accept, but that would not necessarily mean you learned anything new. Interacting with the author is the best way to ensure you learn and are able to apply what you read. Be critical but open-minded about what you read."

"Solution – Many non-fiction books are written as a solution to a problem."

"Having a clear purpose is the easiest way to cut out the dross and find information you really need."

"Take a minute to prepare your mind and environment before you start to read."

"Factors contributing to speed: Clarity of purpose, Mood, Familiarity with the subject-related terminology, Difficulty of the text, Urgency and stress levels."

"Clarity of purpose – Step 1 of the five-step system is preparation. Always know why you are reading something. The clearer your purpose, the faster you will be able to read."

"Mood – If you are feeling tired, restless, impatient or irritable you are unlikely to be able to read as quickly as when you are alert, fresh, happy and relaxed."

"Familiarity with the subject-related terminology – If you are already familiar with the subject you will have a framework on which to build. You will not have to stop to think about what the words might mean and you are more likely to be able to read quite quickly."

"Difficulty of the text – Some books are difficult to read even if you are familiar with the terminology and content."

"Urgency and stress levels – Do you notice that when you absolutely have to read something immediately, you can’ t read quickly? Stress will slow you down."

"The key to speed reading is having the choice to read as fast or as slow as you wish."

"The difference between skimming and scanning is that when you scan for information you are looking for something very specific, for example a telephone number or an answer to a particular question. You generally stop once you have it. Skimming is used when you are seeking more of a general impression of what the text is about. You could skim a whole text if you wanted to, but you would probably not skim a whole telephone directory to find your number."

"When you read you convert the information embedded in groups of words into ideas, images, thoughts, feelings and actions. One purpose of reading is to get the message from the words."

"Read the first sentence of the paragraph. Skim the rest of the paragraph for key words and if necessary read the last sentence of the paragraph."

Speed Reader Extension (promo)

"Speed reading takes practice. Getting it right comes from a combination of knowing your purpose, how you’ re going to use information and having faith that you’ ll spot what you need."

"Everyone reads at different speeds. Don’ t compare your progress to anyone else."

"Speed reading is more about getting what the author is saying than remembering exactly what he or she has written word for word."

"The bigger your vocabulary, the faster you will be able to read. Unfamiliar words will slow you down because you’ ll naturally start asking yourself questions like, ‘What does it mean?’, ‘Does it change the context?’, ‘Is it important to my understanding of the text?’."

"You have three different levels of vocabulary knowledge available to you ; your spoken vocabulary (generally the most limited of the three), your written vocabulary and your recognized vocabulary (the largest of the three)."

"Most people use between 2,000 and 12,000 words in speech. Written vocabulary is bigger than spoken vocabulary because you have more time to think about what you want to say and can go over what you have written and edit your text until you are happy with it. Most people use between 2,000 and 25,000 different words in their lifetime for writing. By far the largest set of vocabulary you have at your disposal is your recognized vocabulary. This is the words you recognize within a context but do not ordinarily use."

"Your recognized vocabulary is also known as ‘passive’ vocabulary – you know the words but don’ t use them. Written and spoken vocabulary is your ‘active’ vocabulary."

"The bigger your vocabulary the more comfortable you will feel about reading fast."

"Without concentration there is no memory."

"Attention has certain definite properties:
• It is dynamic. Try focusing on one thing only and notice how long it is before your mind wanders. The aim of meditation is to enable you to focus on one element of something without losing attention. People train and practise for years to achieve this.
• Attention is undivided. If you tried to listen to more than one conversation at a time or to read a book and drive a car simultaneously you would find that fairly challenging.
• Attention follows interest. Boredom will extinguish attention in a moment. Always keep in mind ‘What is in it for me?’
• Attention is maintained by a series of discoveries. Be aware of what is new about what you are learning. How often do you get that ‘Aha!’ feeling?"

"Take breaks whenever you feel your concentration wandering."

"Follow the breathing and relaxing exercises."

"Know your goal and purpose and stay focused on it – especially if you start to lose concentration."

"Be firm with people who demand your attention unnecessarily."

"Develop a routine that includes rest and recovery in your reading and working."

"Enjoy what you do – reward yourself often and generously."

"Consciously decide to focus on the reading you need to do. Make it a priority."

"Good concentration is the first step to a good memory."

"Memory is not a stand-alone system. It relies on perception, attention and reasoning."

"Memory is not a system that is based on isolated facts. Everything you remember is interconnected to other pieces of information in your memory."

"Memory retrieval relies greatly on association. The more organized your memory is, the easier it will be to recall information."

"New information is not stored separately from old information. Old knowledge helps make sense of new information and vice versa, which is one reason why it is easier to read material you know something about."

"Memory is not only designed to store information ; it is designed for use."

"Your memory can be trained. It has been said that there are no good or bad memories, just trained or untrained. With very few exceptions, and barring organic damage, everyone is born with a memory that can be developed."

"The more you use your memory, the stronger it will become."

"SHORT-TERM MEMORY. This part of the memory system holds information for only a few seconds. If you did not have this facility, every piece of information you gained by sight, hearing, smell, touch or taste would be remembered and accessible. This would make gathering new information very difficult because of interference. If you want to remember what is in your short-term memory you have to pay attention to it and take action so that you remember it for a longer period of time."

"INTERMEDIATE MEMORY. This information is retained for a matter of hours."

"LONG-TERM MEMORY. This is the aim for most reading. Your short-term memory will retain information long enough for you to make sense of what you are reading, intermediate memory will retain information long enough for you to make sense of the chapter, but your long-term memory will help you remember and make sense of the whole book and use the information when you need it. Long-term memory requires revision and application."

"Long-term memory works with short-term and intermediate memory. As you read you are relying on ‘old’ knowledge stored in your long-term memory to enable you to make links and associations with new information. All three systems are totally interlinked and gaps or weaknesses in any one of them will prevent the whole system from working effectively."

"Make notes as you read or after each section. These should include your own thoughts, ideas and cross-references. The more you include your own ideas, the stronger your long-term memory will be."

"Memory is not a stand-alone system. It doesn’ t mean because you memorize something that you understand it."

"The more you understand something the easier it will be to remember it."

"Memories are linked by association. Make connections between new information and what you already know."

"Use what you learn."

"Train your memory. Don’ t use a bad memory as an excuse not to remember people, conversations, numbers or what you read."

"Pay attention! If you don’t hear or see or absorb the information in the first place you’ ll have no chance of recalling it when you need it."

"Books are not sacred. Write in them (unless they’ re not yours or priceless antique). Normal books are to be interacted with. Underline, circle, highlight, scribbled in them"

"Use your imagination while you read."

"Reinforce what you read by reading a number of books on the same subject."

"The good thing about reading for research is that your purpose is normally very clearly defined and you are looking for something quite specific."

"The more you read, the faster you will become. Speed reading skills will give you the choice to read as slowly or as quickly as you like."

"One of the purposes of reading critically is to evaluate the text. The aim is to evaluate the whole text or argument, finding out the author’ s intention and judging at the end whether they were successful. Here are a few guidelines for critical reading:
- Read with an open mind.
- Know your own opinion before you begin so that you are not unduly swayed by the author’ s argument.
- Don’ t jump to conclusions.
- Keep asking questions."

"When it comes to non-fiction (work-related) reading be selective. Knowing where to find information is often better than having it all stored in your head."

"Your most important reading tools are your eyes."

"The main reason why most people have an average reading rate of 150 – 250 words per minute is that this is approximately the rate at which people speak."

"When we are taught to read we learn to recognize one letter or sound at a time ; then, when we have mastered that, we progress to recognizing one word at a time. The next step is being able to read out loud so that our teacher can see that we have learned to recognize the words accurately. Then we are left to read to ourselves. That is how the inner reading voice becomes a habit. Instead of reading out loud we read silently. So when we talk about reading with our ears instead of our eyes, that is exactly what happens. You learn that you have to hear the words to understand what you are reading rather than understand them by seeing them. When you read to yourself, you read in your head at the same rate as when you read out loud. At the beginning, reading to yourself is quite slow because you are still learning to recognize the words. As you read more and go further into the education system your reading rate increases because your vocabulary increases. But your reading strategy does not change."

"Learning to speed read involves learning to use one of the largest and most important sections of your brain, your visual system, more effectively."

"Reading is the slowest visual exercise we do."

"Visual memory and auditory memory are located in different parts of the brain. When you read slowly, giving yourself time to see every word and read with your ears, you are accessing the auditory, front-left portion of your brain. This is the least effective part for storing medium- or long-term memory."

"The aim of speed reading is to learn how to read more than one word at a time."

"Fixation time – Your eyes need a certain amount of time to be able to absorb information."

"Your peripheral vision gives you the ability to see an enormous amount in a single visual"

"Regression refers to the habit of going back to previous words or paragraphs to make sure you have understood them or remembered them accurately."

"The aim is to increase our visual span so that we can read more than one word at a time and increase our reading rate"

"Palming is an excellent eye-relaxing exercise. Rub your hands together until they are warm, then close your eyes and cover them with your hands so that no light gets in. Do not press against your eyeballs: that could damage them. Cover your eyes like this for 10 – 15 minutes."

"While you are reading (especially from a PC monitor) be aware of your eyes and blink often. If it helps, put a sign above your PC reminding yourself to blink."

"Change your focus. Stand where you have a long-distance view. Hold your thumb about 15 cm from your eyes. First focus on your thumb and then change your focus to look at the furthest point from you. Do this slowly and gently. If you have been looking at a PC or reading for a long time, your eyes will be tired and changing your focus too quickly could give you a headache. Relax and take your time."

"To ensure peak concentration, take breaks often – approximately 5 minutes every 30 minutes if you are reading only. If you are reading a number of different texts and taking notes you could stretch your reading time to between 45 minutes and 1 hour before you take a 5- or 10-minute break."

"Break your reading into 30-minute chunks."

"Spend 5 minutes every few weeks doing a short speed reading test."

"Never stop learning. There will always be something new."

"Integrate your new knowledge – Use your skills during the day. Practise speed reading every time you read something: your mail, letters, newspapers, books,"

"Keep your purpose clear – If you do not have a purpose you will quickly lose interest. Keep in mind why you are learning how to read fast. What else do you want to do with the extra time you have? What will speed reading do for you?"

"Learn something new every day – No matter how small it is, add something new to your knowledge. Keep a notebook with you to record your daily mini-lesson. You will be surprised how fast your general knowledge grows."

Readlax: #1 Speed Reading App. (promo)

"Learn a new word every day – The better your vocabulary is, the faster you will be able to read."

"Beaver, Diana, Lazy Learning, Element, 1994"

"Berg and Conyers, Speed Reading the Easy Way, Barron’ s, 1998"

"Berg, Howard S., Super Reading Secrets, Warner Books, 1992"

"Buzan, Tony, The Speed Reading Book, BBC, 1997"

"Cutler, Wade E., Triple Your Reading Speed, Macmillan, 1993"

"Coman and Heavers, What You Need to Know About Reading Comprehension and Speed, Skimming and Scanning, Reading for Pleasure, National Textbook Company, 1995, 1998"

"Dudley, Geoffrey A., Rapid Reading, Thorsons, 1997"

"King, Graham, The Secrets of Speed Reading, Mandarin, 1994"

"Leo Angart (Presented by), Vision: The Minds Eye, NLP Asia Ltd"

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first "read" book of the new year just happens to be on a speed reading book. Ha!

On a serious note, this was actually a great guide to examining techniques and tricks to improve upon reading speed. I found the techniques that the author expands upon and suggests within this guide actually work very well. I read at a speed of about 513 WPM apparently...which is supposed to be good, but I think I actually read faster than that depending on how interested I'm into a topic. This book didn't really take me much time at all to go through, as much of it was good review and expansion through material I knew regarding the five-step reading system (Prepare, Preview, Passive Reading, Active Reading, Selective Reading), expanding vocabulary, improving concentration, etc. But some of the material I didn't know were natural techniques to reduce eye strain, mindfulness techniques to maintain focus against distractions, and some tips on real world reading (i.e. reading for work) that I could use.

I'm likely to come back to this guide again at some point. It was very well organized and plotted out.

[Zahrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب رائع جداً !
كنت أبحث عن كتاب توني بوزان عن القراءة السريعة ولم أجده، لكني وجدت هذا الكتاب فاقتنيته لحاجتي في تعلم هذه المهارة.. وكلي خوف ألا يكون ذا فائدة، لكنه كان عكس ذلك واستفدت الكثير والتمست ذلك في دراستي وقراءة كتاب آخر إلى جانب هذا الكتاب..
أحد أهداف الكتاب هو تمرينك على القراءة بالنظر، اي الفهم بمجرد النظر إلى الكلمات والتخلص من القراءة السمعية
(أي سماعك لصوتك الداخلي أثناء القراءة، وهي قراءة بطيئة جداً)
تنصحك المؤلفة أيضاً بالتفاعل مع الكتاب، وذلك بالتدوين وكتابة الملاحظات وأفكارك وكأنك تحادث المؤلف..
هذه الطريقة أفادتني جداً فبدأت أكتب كل ما يفيدني او يطرأ على ذهني أثناء القراءة..
الحمد لله أن أرشدني لهذا الكتاب فقد تمكنت ولأول مرة من الانتهاء من كتابين في شهر واحد.. ولا أعتقد أنني كنت لأفعل ذلك لو لم أقرأ هذا الكتاب :)
أنصح بهذا الكتاب فهو ليس مضيعة للوقت أبداً :) *thumbs up*


*إضافة شخصية:
الحقيقة أني لم أكمل قراءته تماماً فقد تركت جزئية النص التدريبي إذ يجب أن أخصص له وقتاً..
ولعلي أتبع ما تعلمت من هذا الكتاب فأنا الآن أكثر وعياً بما يجب أن أقرأ ومتى عليّ أن أفعل ذلك ^_^

[Asmaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

من أفضل الكتب في مجال التنمية الذاتية ورغم انه كتاب للقراءة السريعة الا انه مثل كتب التعليمات يحتاج وقت كبير لقراءته والتمعن في كل جزء كذلك بعد قراءته تحتاج لبرنامج 21 يوم للتمرن على القراءة السريعة لكي تكون عادة.

[Hayadkh]

تصميمه الخارجي جميييل وملون وكذا
عكس شكله من الداخل !! *خُدعت فيه خخ*
بصراحة قريت اول ٩صفحات وما قدرت اكمل
حسيته مفيد، بس خطة صغير جداً وكله رمادي وأسود وأبيض!
مُتعب جداً للعينين + كنت أحاول أطبق اللي فيه مباشرة، لكن طباعته ما تهيئ :"/
ربما لأني مبتدئة بالقراءة

[Dave Wallace]

Good review. Could have read a summarized version....or just read it faster!

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book feels like a review of everything I have learned on the topic so far. This includes work by Jim Kwik and Bates Method of eye exercises. (This serves as a reminder I have a long-open browser tab for Kennebeck, O.D. info about the harm of spectacles.)

[Zoe Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good stuff within, but a large amount of padding that was briefly skimmed. Some was completely omitted. I would have liked more actual speed reading techniques/exercises and less advice about how to organise myself.

[Kadir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't think it helps much.

[Osmae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful strategies. Well organized. I still don't understand how it is possible to read more than one line of text at a time, but I'll keep trying.

[Gilbert Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this book before. It is a great topic to understand and this book had an interesting take on the time investment portion. It has guidelines for a 21 day program that may be interesting for instructing a group. I will keep the many suggestions that it has for faster reading in my mind.

[Zoffix Znet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving it stars because it did "instantly" increase my reading speed from 258wpm to 450wpm.

How? The pacer technique: run a pen over each line fast enough so that you can't subvocalize what you read. As soon as you learn to read with your eyes and not your ears, your reading speed will rocket.

The rest of the book is filler, which was good to practice speedreading on. It felt like a college student telling you how to live your life: "your body is 90% water! Drink more! Sleep more!" The parts that gave job advice were comical.

Anyway, the pacer technique isn't the main thing of the book. It goes into the 5 Step Process where you basically go through the text in an effort to eliminate as many parts as possible before you read it "for real". Maybe you'll like that.

[Ghada Barghash · Rating 5 out of 5]

أفضل كتاب لتعليم القراءة معلوماته دسمة ونافعة ومنظم

[Saleh moh · Rating 3 out of 5]

جيد هذا الكتاب، يعطي خطوات بسيطة لقراءة الكتاب من شأنها توفير الوقت والجهد.

[Bandory.sa]

تعلمت منه الكثير ممتع على العلم انه الكتاب رقم 3 الذي قراءته في نفس المجال.



انصح بإقتنائة

[Michal Szarka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few really good tips. One need to practise and they may work.

[Daniel]

Anything to get my reading speed up. More books, please.

[Mohammed Al-amoudi · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب جيد يحوي مضمون جيد ولكن لا يكفي لإتمام أفكار شاملة عن القراءة السريعة٠