How to read a 300-page book in 3 hours and how to retain it for the rest of your life?
Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary — Jim Rohn
My 35 years of teaching, training, and consultancy experience in the Marketing and Human Resource areas of Management have warranted me to rush through several books throughout my career. My book vault contains several authors from Richard Bach to Peter Drucker and according to me reading a book means interacting with the author directly.
This article is an oversimplified one suggesting several tips and a formula for faster reading and better comprehension for ambitious readers who seek value out of a given book in a limited period of time, like me.
The objective of reading is to get a stronghold of the meaning of an entire book.
Quick Tips for Fast Reading
1. Eye Span
Eye span is the number of words that can be seen together at one particular point of time without movement of eyeballs. Normally, every pair of eyes has a minimum eye span of three words to a maximum of six words. Stop reading word by word. Instead, read eye span by eye span for efficient coverage of given passage. Initial practice might take time, but it would be fruitful in the long run.
2. Subvocalization and Lip movement
Subvocalization is the internal speech typically made when reading, producing a humming noise. And some of us have the habit of reading word by word with lip movement. Both these habits hinder your speed. Stop subvocalization and lip movement. To stop these habits, practice reading by holding a pen or pencil between your lips.
3. Finger Indexing or Paper uncovering
The most required tip for fast reading is to give a deliberate push to your word reading count, usually quantified with WPM. It stands for words per minute and a normal reader would have an average speed of 200 to 250 wpm. To know your reading speed, set a timer, finish the reading process, stop the timer, count the number of words, divide them by the total number of minutes, and you have arrived your average speed in terms of words per minutes.
Try to improve the quantification of words gradually. During the initial days, you might not be able to focus on the passages due to the font size or the alignment of the sentences. For this purpose, you can use a white paper slowly uncovering the paragraph line by line or by finger indexing each line as you read. Remember, beginners in reading can practice this technique, and after gaining speed, this technique may be completely ceased.
Dear reader, with these tips, you must have now become confident to start.
Lets dive-in. The formula I use for speed reading is “3S”-Scan, Scribble, and Summarize.
1. Scan
Gather the information necessary to focus and formulate goals
Read the title — Help your mind prepare to receive the subject at hand. Organize your mind before you begin to read and build a structure for the thoughts and details to come.
The Scan aims to focus your concentration by questioning every title and sub-title. The questions may be the usual 5Ws (What, Why, When, Where & Who) followed by the big HOW? This vital step helps the reader to take a few seconds thereby swiftly runs through his brain with maximum curiosity and allows him to raise his level of awareness and interest. The better the questions, the better your comprehension is likely to be. You may always add further questions as you proceed. When your mind is actively searching for answers to questions it becomes engaged in active learning.
2. Scribble
For Deeper Comprehension
Every paragraph has a key sentence and every sentence has a keyword. The reader can practice the habit of scribbling, by using underlines, sidelines, encircles/giving special signs to keywords of every sentence, and to the key sentence of every paragraph. This renders the reader with an enhanced comprehension of the book.
Every time I run through my scribbling in books of my favorite Guru, Peter F Drucker, the insights drawn from them go deeper and deeper leading to clarity of concepts and new perspectives, thanks to my habit of scribbling in all my books.
3. Summarize
Train your mind to retain the entire book by way of chapter summaries
Normally, you get your clues for writing a summary from the first and (or) the last paragraphs of each chapter. After reading every chapter, write your own summary of the chapter covering all the key concepts. A compilation of all the chapter summaries leads to a summary of the entire book, and in my case a memorable Souvenir. After summarizing, recall mentally at least twice for better retention.
With regular practice, this “3S” formula — Scan, Scribble, and Summarize can make you a better reader with high speed and clear comprehension.
Happy reading!
If you like these tips & formula, give your maximum claps to spread this idea to a maximum of serious readers and post me your feedback by sharing your views.
