Archive

Posts Tagged ‘speed reading’

Learning Speed Reading

July 6th, 2011

What have you been reading lately? In a gathering, you can tell who the broad-spectrum readers are. Wide readers often think and speak well. They win the admiration, respect, and good opinion of others. After all, reading expands the mind. In fact, many people consider it one of the most satisfying pleasures of mankind, combining, as it does, mental agility and physical relaxation way above the scale of television.

Reading is primarily a mental activity, as you read with your mind and use your imagination to paint the setting of the detective thriller you are reading. You use your mind to imagine the pain that the main characters in the story are experiencing as the plot unfolds; or you contemplate the various arguments and ideas introduced by the author in that self-help book you are studying.

Reading effectively helps you to develop an extensive range of vocabulary by reading different kinds of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not understand exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a good idea of what the sentence is trying to say.

The act of reading makes you more aware and more curious about new words. Some readers even like to employ 'the dictionary habit', which means that whenever they find a new word, they attempt to work out what it means from the context. If they cannot do this, they refer to a dictionary.

Similarly, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing the reader to different subjects. He/she learns to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other forms of education, he/she is learning by actually doing and while he/she is reading he/she is automatically learning about the subject matter of the book too - a free by-product!

Reading trains you to have an active and open mind. Merely understanding the writers idea is not enough, you have to make a positive response to what you read. Be an active, not a passive, reader. Develop the habit of drawing your own conclusions, the habit of active thinking, of agreeing or disagreeing with the author. Always keep your mind open; understand and weigh the ideas that you read. A practical part of active reading is the drawing of conclusions.

Now let me introduce you to the idea of speed reading. All of the above applies three, four, eight, nine, even ten times over, because speed readers can read that much faster than the average reader! Imagine that ... being able to read, comprehend and remember all those books. You would certainly become well-read in your subject far more quickly than others. Just think how that could help you at work or in school or college ...

Now, let me tell you the four primary rules for better reading and better comprehension:

1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember that practice makes perfect. 2) Learn the habit of reading the main ideas, ie look for the subject and predicate - the principal ideas 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try to read faster. Give yourself a time limit for the specific article that you are reading.

Reading is a wonderfully stimulating mental activity. It expands your understanding and capability. You have so much to gain by discovering the joy of reading. So, go on and take down a book right this minute.

Are you interested in speed reading for yourself or a loved one? If so, please pop along to our website focusing on Speed Reading.

Speed Reading - The Early Stages

November 6th, 2009

No one really knows when speed reading was first used, but it might have been a long while in the past. For hundreds of years, reading was the privilege of a minority of the most highly-educated people in the world, the overwhelming majority of whom were monks and priests. This small, select group of men protected their privilege and were loathe to coach the general populace to read. Furthermore, during those hundreds of years there were relatively few books to read compared with today. Books were also very costly as they all had to be copied out by hand. Possibly the only fact that has not altered is that the Bible was the most common book in existence and even now the Bible is the most prevalent book.

The world is quickly becoming a place where individuals are slowly but surely giving up on books and becoming fixed in front of monitors or television screens. In such a world, parents must not ignore the importance of developing a zeal for reading in themselves and their children. Reading is a habit that should be established when the child is fairly young, so what can you do to engender this habit?

Well, there are a number of strategies you can employ, although one of the best to lead by example. Read with your child every day, even if its only for 10-15 minutes. Permit your child to see you reading. By this I mean, don't only read in bed before you go to sleep, but in place of watching television from time to time and read your children a bed-time story. Encourage them to read too. You could also:

Enroll your child for reading classes, if you really don't have any time or your child is a little slow at reading. There are many well-structured after school reading classes that endeavor to make books more appealing to children. They help children with enunciation, idioms and metaphors. These lessons can be pleasurable with animated characters and pictures, especially for young children,. They often use picture books, rhymes, comical songs and short stories to fire up the imagination of younger children.

You will have to find out how to kindle your child's interest. If your child has a favorite character, pick a series of books that include this character. Attempt to encourage your children to read real books not comics. The language in comics frequently leaves a great deal to be desired with its slapdash English and street slang. As an alternative, go for series of books like Harry Potter or Tarzan.

You should build yourself a library of your own books. This may sound a little impressive, but after all, a library is only a collection of books. Begin with a good-looking bookshelf that you can easily build on. A skill like reading cannot be learned in only one place, so you cannot afford to leave all the difficult work to the day-school or even the after school curricula. You have to collect books that you believe your child will enjoy too. Use the Internet as a source for learning about the modern reading games that will attract little children to the superior and ancient art of reading,

When you child is interested in reading for its own sake, you might read up on speed reading. Speed reading is best suited for informative learning and background reading. It's immensely suited to cramming or studying for examinations. It is ideal for school and university. However, the first job, before you can think about speed reading, is to get your child reading in the first place.

Are you interested in speed reading for yourself or a loved one? If so, please pop along to our website called Speed Reading.

categories: speed reading,reading,books,articles,hobbies,career,entertainment,education,school,college,self help,self improvement,homeschooling,other

Learning Speed Reading

May 31st, 2009

What have you been reading lately? In a gathering, you can soon tell who the frequent readers are, since frequent readers are often quick thinkers and good public speakers too. They quickly win the adulation, respect, and fellowship of others. After all, reading expands the mind and many people see it as one of the most satisfying pleasures known to mankind, being a combination, as it is, of mental agility and physical relaxation well above the level offered by television or the cinema.

The act of reading is primarily a mental activity. After all, you read with your mind and use your imagination to paint the setting of the action thriller you are reading. You use your mind to imagine the pleasure that the main characters are experiencing as the story unfolds; or you bring into play the different arguments and ideas brought up by the author in that self-help book you are reading.

Learning how to read properly helps you to develop (an extensive|a wide through reading various kinds of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not understand exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a general idea of what the sentence is trying to convey.

The act of reading makes you more alert and more interested in hitherto unknown words. Some readers even develop 'the dictionary habit', which means that whenever they come across a new word, they attempt to work out what it possibly means from the context. If they are stumped, they refer to a dictionary.

In the same way, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing you to different subjects. You learn to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other types of education, you are learning by actually doing and while you are reading you are automatically learning about the subject matter of the book too - like free by-product!

Reading teaches you to have an active and open mind. Merely understanding the writers idea is not enough, you must make a positive response to what you read. Be an active, not a passive, reader. Develop the habit of drawing your own conclusions, the habit of active thinking, of agreeing or disagreeing with the author. Always keep your mind open; understand and consider the ideas that you read. A practical part of active reading is the drawing of conclusions.

Now let me introduce you to the phenomenon of speed reading. All of the above applies three, four, eight, nine, even ten times over, because speed readers can read that much faster than the average reader! Imagine that ... being able to read, comprehend and remember all those books. You would certainly become well-read in your subject far more quickly than others. Just think how that could help you at work or in school or college ...

Let me share four primary rules for effective reading and better comprehension:

1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember that practice makes perfect. 2) Learn the habit of reading the main ideas, ie look for the subject and predicate - the principal ideas 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try to read faster. Give yourself a time limit on the specific article that you are reading.

Reading is a wonderfully stimulating mental activity. It expands your reality and capability. You have so much to gain in discovering the joys of reading. So, go ahead and get down a book right now.

About the Author: