Scientific Speed Reading

How much more could you get done if you completed all of your required reading in 1/3 or 1/5 the time Increasing reading speed is a process of controlling fine motor movementperiod. This post is a condensed overview of principles I taught to undergraduates at Princeton University in 1998 at a seminar called the PX Project. The below was written several years ago, so its worded like Ivy-Leaguer pompous-ass prose, but the results are substantial. In fact, while on an airplane in China two weeks ago, I helped HYPERLINK http//www.dirtsalad.com/ t _blank Glenn McElhose increase his reading speed 34 in less than 5 minutes. I have never seen the method fail. Heres how it works The PX Project The PX Project, a single 3-hour cognitive experiment, produced an average increase in reading speed of 386. It was tested with speakers of five languages, and even dyslexics were conditioned to read technical material at more than 3,000 words-per-minute (wpm), or 10 pages per minute. One page every 6 seconds. By comparison, the average reading speed in the US is 200-300 wpm (1/2 to 1 page per minute), with the top 1 of the population reading over 400 wpm If you understand several basic principles of the human visual system, you can eliminate inefficiencies and increase speed while improving retention. To perform the exercises in this post and see the results, you will need a book of 200 pages that can lay flat when open, a pen, and a timer (a stop watch with alarm or kitchen timer is ideal). You should complete the 20 minutes of exercises in one session. First, several definitions and distinctions specific to the reading process A) Synopsis You must minimize the number and duration of fixations per line to increase speed. You do not read in a straight line, but rather in a sequence of saccadic movements (jumps). Each of these saccades ends with a fixation, or a temporary snapshot of the text within you focus area (approx. the size of a quarter at 8 from reading surface). Each