I have always struggled with reading fast, and would say that I read slightly slower than the normal person. It has always been something I wish I could do better, but just dealt with. After embarking upon my literary journey this year, I have come to find that the main thing which holds me back from reading faster is mouthing words as I read them. This shouldn’t necessarily be looked at as something bad, because it also has its benefits. It has made me an efficient technical reviewer since I think about what is written while it allows my mind time to process. However if the goal is strictly to read fast, then it definitely hinders me.
About mid February I came across an article on the Art of Manliness website titled “How to Speed Read Like Theodore Roosevelt.” This article intrigued me for different reasons. Since I love learning about history, it appealed to my intrigue to learn more about a past president. Did you know he would read a book every day before breakfast? It is amazing to learn that Theodore Roosevelt read tens of thousands of books in his lifetime.
This brings me to the other reason, speed reading in an effort to increase my own reading pace. It’s quite interesting that the first point the article makes on vocalizing is exactly what slows my reading down. After reading the article I decided to give a few of the tips a go. By using my finger to pace my reading I have substantially increased my reading speed. This tip has also forced me to stop vocalizing the words I read. If you are interested in improving your reading speed then you should definitely read the article and try out the Spreeder website.