In 2016 I accepted the challenge to read 50 books until January 1st 2017.
That means reading a book every week, which doesn't sound much, but when you are working and studying full-time this is not an easy task!
I like to be well prepared for everything I do so I started researching about the most optimal way to read books for maximum speed and comprehension.
I found that there are three types of reading:
1. Mental reading (also known as sub-vocalizing) - this is like reading to yourself, sounding each word in your head. Here you are limited by the speed you say words out loud. Average speed is 200-250 words per minute.
2. Auditory reading - hearing the words you read. When you read in this way, you are limited by the speed you can listen to words. Usual speed is around 450 words per minute.
3. Visual reading - understanding the text without going through an intermediate process like speaking and hearing. People reading visually usually read with 700 words per minute or even more!
Most people are using the mental reading style, so they can benefit tremendously by moving to auditory or visual reading.
My initial speed was only 250 words per minute, you can test your reading speed here:
http://www.myreadspeed.com/calculate/
There are some special reading techniques that either sacrifice comprehension for more speed or the opposite.
One of these is skimming - actively searching for the most important parts of the text and ignoring the rest. This technique greatly improves the speed but can reduce the comprehension and is not suitable for information dense literature.
Using a pointer - place your finger or a pen under the line you are reading to track the position you must focus your eyes on. This helps your eyes to stay at the right place instead of losing your position and having to go back.
Going quickly through the chapter first before reading it more carefully - this gives you a bird view of what's to come which greatly improves your comprehension.
After practicing to avoid the bad habit of subvocalization and using some of those techniques I improved my speed to 500 words per minute and completed the reading challenge!
We all read every day and life is too short to read slowly!
Let me know in the comments what is your current reading speed before and after using these techniques!