Speed Reading: Strategies to Read Faster for Accelerated Learning in 12 Hours or Less!

45 Pages·2018·0.33 MB·English

by  Ralph Castle

Speed Reading
Strategies to Read Faster for Accelerated
Learning in 12 Hours or Less!

By
Ralph Castle
© Copyright 2018 - Ralph Castle - All rights reserved.
The contents of this book may not be reproduced, duplicated or
transmitted without direct written permission from the author.
Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held
against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the
information herein, either directly or indirectly.
Legal Notice:
You cannot amend, distribute, sell, use, quote or paraphrase any part or
the content within this book without the consent of the author.
Disclaimer Notice:
Please note the information contained within this document is for
educational and entertainment purposes only. No warranties of any kind are
expressed or implied. Readers acknowledge that the author is not engaging in the
rendering of legal, financial, medical or professional advice. Please consult a
licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book.
By reading this document, the reader agrees that under no circumstances
are is the author responsible for any losses, direct or indirect, which are incurred
as a result of the use of information contained within this document, including,
but not limited to, —errors, omissions, or inaccuracies.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Reading in Ancient and Modern Times
Chapter 2: Various Types of Reading
Chapter 3: The Fundamental Principles of Speed Reading
Chapter 4: How Speed Reading Can be Beneficial
Chapter 5: How to Prepare for Speed Reading
Chapter 6: Essential Tools Needed for Speed Reading
Chapter 7: Addressing Bad Reading Habits
Chapter 8: Effective Speed Reading Strategies
Chapter 9: Some Speed Reading Exercises
Lesson 1: Eliminating Sub Vocalization
Lesson 2: Increasing General Reading Speed
Lesson 3: Word Grouping
Lesson 4: Learning How to Skim
Chapter 10: How to Measure and Track Your Speed Reading Progress
Chapter 11: Speed Reading Practice Passages
Story 1
Questions
Story 2
Questions
Chapter 12: Additional Help and Resources
Conclusion
>>>GET YOUR EASY TO USE PROGRESS
SHEET<<<
1. Mark off each exercise result
2. Plan your reading goals
3.Watch your progress grow!

What Gets Measured - Gets Done!
>>>CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD <<<
By using this Progress Sheet, you'll have...
a simple to maintain progress record
a clear way to visualize your progress
a motivational reminder to practice
Success doesn't come to you, you'll have to go to it!
Introduction
T
he modern era that we live in is defined by an
ever increasing pace of life. Whether we are at
work or at home, we are required to do more
and more in less time, meaning that we have to perform tasks as quickly as
possible.
Speed reading is a system of reading techniques that allows a person to
break the bad habits that keep them reading at a snail’s pace.
While most people have mastered such things as eating on the go, multi-
tasking and any number of other tricks to shave off valuable time while getting
things done, many still struggle with a slow reading pace. This is largely due to
how most people were taught to read in the first place, as the techniques used in
teaching a person to read can significantly reduce their reading speed overall.
This is no ordinary book.
This book will present the dynamics of speed reading, providing
information, strategies and even lessons that will enable you to increase your
reading speed and comprehension in as little as 12 hours.
By the time your eyes read the final sentence on the last page of this
book, you will be reading like a pro!
Chapter 1: Reading in Ancient and Modern Times

When you think of reading, you no doubt think of reading the
alphabet that you are accustomed to.

I
n the case of the English alphabet, reading is the
process of interpreting groups of letters used to
form words. These words are usually quite unique
one from another, although there are several cases where the same spelling of a
word may in fact have more than one definition. Despite these occasional causes
of confusion, the alphabetic system of writing is still regarded as one of the most
efficient forms of written communication.
Writing has not always been so efficient, and there are several
societies today which still use other forms of writing that require a mastery
of several thousand different characters. These systems have their roots in the
most ancient forms of writing which used pictures rather than alphabetic words
to express thoughts and ideas.
One such writing system that is fairly well known is that of
Hieroglyphics. This was the writing system used by the Ancient Egyptians some
4,000 years ago. Known as pictographic writing, this system employed images to
represent a particular idea. Thus, while today we would write the sentence ‘the
boy pet the dog’, the Ancient Egyptians would have virtually drawn a boy
petting a dog. This writing system has one huge benefit over alphabetic systems
in that anyone can usually make sense of what they are reading. Even if you
can’t understand the spoken language, if the pictographs are fairly well
represented then you can probably make sense of the written language. This was
also handy for representing ideas to a largely illiterate society. While you could
argue that the Ancient Egyptians were literate in the sense that they could read
their pictographs, this isn’t really the same as literacy in the modern era.
A major downside to pictographic writing, however, is the sheer number
of symbols that are needed in order to convey the nearly infinite number of ideas
and thoughts a person can have. Instead of having an alphabet consisting of 22-
26 letters that can be arranged in a virtually limitless number of variations,
a pictographic script will need a picture for each concept, resulting in an almost
endless number of pictographs. Thus, while this form of writing might be easier
to read, especially by illiterate persons or anyone not fluent in that particular
spoken tongue, it is infinitely more difficult to write as you have to memorize an
immeasurable number of symbols to be able to communicate well.
Another form of writing used is the ideographic form of writing. This is
essentially the evolutionary child of pictographic writing. Languages such as
Chinese are considered ideographic. The premise of this writing style is that it
takes a pictograph and creates a sort of shorthand version of the picture, meaning
that a symbol using lines and other easy to write characters can be used in lieu of
an actual picture. The images in an ideographic writing system are not so easily
understood by those who are illiterate or unfamiliar with the spoken language,
thus it is harder to read than its pictographic forebear. Even so, this style of
writing uses symbols to represent ideas rather than words, meaning that a single
symbol can convey an entire word or thought. While the symbols of an
ideographic system are easier to write, they can still number in the thousands,
meaning that a lifetime of study is required in order to master the written
language.
Lastly there is the alphabetic style of writing, the one which most of us
use today. This system replaces symbols with words, each written with a unique
collection of letters. The main advantage to alphabetic writing systems is that
they only require you to learn a handful of symbols, commonly referred to as
letters.
Once a person can draw the letters, all they need to do is learn what
letter corresponds to the sound of the word.
Thus, if a person can speak English they can write the language simply
by knowing how the letters are pronounced. They may not spell everything
correctly, but if a person was to read their writing out loud they would probably
understand the written words. This writing system uses letters to represent
sounds rather than ideas, meaning that you have to learn the language of the
writing system in order to understand the writing itself. In a sense this is the final
stage of evolution which has brought writing from pictures representing ideas to
symbols representing sounds.
The significance of the different writing systems is important in
understanding the challenges of reading in this modern age. While ancients
could read an entire sentence with only a few symbols, today numerous words
are required to convey the same thought. This can best be summed up by the old
saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’
While you can get an entire idea by simply looking at a single picture,
you will need to read many words to recreate that picture. Essentially this is
what alphabetic writing systems do—they recreate pictures with written words.
Thus, in this age we have to read the proverbial thousand words in order to
invoke the single picture. And that is the greatest struggle with reading today, it
can take far more time than a person has because so many words are used to
convey a single thought.
Chapter 2: Various Types of Reading

D
ue to the challenges of reading the modern
alphabetic writing systems, several different
reading styles have been developed. These
different reading styles, when perfected, can help anyone to read a passage more
effectively depending on the purpose of the reading. Thus, one style will be
better suited for someone trying to find specific information from a written
source, whereas another will be better suited for someone who is trying to
understand the emotions and thought processes of the author. Learning the
different styles of reading will help anyone to increase their reading speed as
they will be able to change styles based on their specific needs at any particular
moment. This will also help you to lay the foundation for advanced speed
reading techniques.
The most common style of reading is the active reading style. This takes
place when you read a book and are interested in understanding the whole story.
Rather than simply looking for particular pieces of information you want to
enjoy the experience that every written word has to offer. Anyone who studies
literature or simply reads books for entertainment will use the active reading
style. While this style can provide the richest reading experience, it is also one of
the slowest styles, meaning that it is completely counter intuitive for anyone who
wants to increase their reading speed. Unfortunately, this is the style most people
are taught when they are being taught how to read and write. As a result, most
people have a slower reading pace since this is the only style they know.
Thus, in order to become a proficient speed reader you must first learn to read in
styles that require less time and attention.
Another slow reading style is what is referred to as detailed reading.
This is usually reserved for scholastic undertakings as this style focuses on large
amounts of detailed information being gleaned from a particular piece of writing.
Whether you are reading a text book in high school or in university, detailed
reading is the style you will want to use as it allows you to retain more
information than any other style. This is also the style you will want to use in the
case of reading an instruction manual where each and every word can make a