Skimming through

Ever heard of a guy called Howard Stephen Berg? Well, Mr. Berg happens to be the fastest reader in the world. He can read something like 25,000 words per minute. Amazing, is it not? But here's more. Unlike some people, when questioned on the content of the piece he has read, be it then and there or three years later, Mr. Berg could answer them 100% accurately. In other words, he can read fast and at the same time remember everything he reads. Now that's what's truly impressive.

What if you could be like this? It's probably very useful; especially when you've got to read through a zillion books, notes and websites to get some 'proper' information for your research that is to be handed over the next day. Doing your assignment would be a whole lot easier then. It might even be fun.

This ability or method which enables you to read and understand written information more quickly is commonly known as ‘speed reading.’ It ensures that while your rate of reading increases, your comprehension level is not reduced, meaning, even though you read fast, you remember either everything or almost everything you read. In addition, it also helps you to become much more discriminating about the information that you consume.

Sounds exciting? In countries such as the United States, speed reading is well-known and widely taught. However, in Sri Lanka, this is yet to be explored although many have learnt it themselves and are seen reaping its benefits.

I caught up with one such gentleman – Sanjeev Jayaratnam who, with an incredible reading rate of 900 to 1000 words per minute himself, spoke about this rather exciting and immensely beneficial form of reading. Having mastered the art of speed reading on his own, he can teach you to read faster as well, he tells me, and one lecture later you'll be reading faster than you thought you possibly could, or else your money back, he guarantees.

"If you are reading slowly, your brain goes to sleep. So basically you train your brain to function to its full capacity… maybe not full capacity, but much more than it usually does," says the bubbly and professional Sanjeev, former head of consultancy services at IFS and Microsoft, lecturer and director of the well-known all male choir, The Revelations.

Talking about the benefits of speeding reading, Sanjeev says, promptly, "Obviously it helps you read faster," adding, "your productivity is doubled, because the faster you read, the more you can read in a short period of time. And it is not just about reading faster. You are also trained to remember what you read."

Most people tend to read in blocks – either letter-by-letter or word-by-word, Sanjeev explains. "You'll find that you are fixing your eyes on one block of words, and then you move your eyes to the next block and so on. Sometimes you even go back to a previous block if you think you've missed something. Just think about how your eye muscles are moving as you read somethings," he says.

Such irregular eye movements (such as going back to a previous set of words) results in you losing the flow and structure of the text. You then find it harder to concentrate or understand the information and end up wasting a lot of time reading and re-reading.

Speed reading helps you improve your reading skills by increasing the number of words you read in each block, reducing the length of time spent reading each block and reducing the number of times your eyes may skip back to a previous sentence or block. All this needs a conscious effort. There are a few techniques such as holding the text a little further from your eyes or running a pointer (finger, pen or pencil) along the line you read.

Although this form of reading was known and practised by people for a long time, it was not until the late 1950s that a portable, reliable and handy device was developed as a tool for increasing reading speed.

"It started with Evelyn Wood," Sanjeev says. Wood took her term report to her lecturer and was amazed that he read it really fast. She then tried to understand why some people were naturally faster at reading than others and was trying to force herself to do the same.

"While she was brushing off the pages of a book she had thrown down, she noticed that the sweeping motion of her hand across the page caught the attention of her eyes, and helped them move more smoothly across the page. She then used the hand as a pacer," Sanjeev said – she later coined the term ‘speed reading.’

People all over the world have benefited from this. U.S. President John F. Kennedy was one – he encouraged his staff to take lessons! Another U.S. president, Jimmy Carter along with his wife, both avid readers, enrolled in a speed reading course.

And for those who read around 1000 to 2000 words per minute with around 50% comprehension (i.e. you remember at least half of what you read) there is the World Championship Speed Reading Competition. In an era in which everything moves so fast, it is only natural that we learn to read fast as well.

What's more is that, speed reading is not merely increasing your rate of reading it also ensures that your comprehension level is not reduced. In fact it helps you comprehend much better. It is indeed a need.