The Starting Analysis

Do you want to spend less time on unpleasant, ``required'', reading? Do you read for fun and want to enjoy your reading more? This book will help you do both. You will enjoy your fun reading more and spend less time on the other stuff. You might expect a book on speed reading to start by measuring how fast you read. You might expect a book on speed reading to begin with calculating your words per minute or testing your comprehension. You might expect a book like this to start with a bunch of charts and graphs, but we are going to start a little differently. Charts, graphs, and multiple choice tests are valuable in the right time and place, but they can get in the way of learning the skills of speed reading. Instead of what you might expect, let's start with a short reading attitude test. This test will help you decide what chapters to read, and in which order to read them. Does that seem strange? Do you normally assume you must read books from start to finish? Sometimes reading a book cover to cover is your worst option. Natural speed readers automatically take things at their own pace. For the rest of us, reading chapters ``out of order'' can seem like breaking the rules. There is no rule saying you have to read this entire book, or that you have to read the chapters in their printed order. We'll spend more time on this idea later. For starters, let's have a look at the test. Each question has two possible answers. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. The questions are about your preferences, your feelings, what you like and what you don't like. Identifying your preferences will help you make the most of the book. Your preferences will help you tailor the presentation of ideas to serve your needs, the same way a personal trainer would interview you before starting you on an exercise plan.

1. Reading is
   1. Fun
   2. Not Fun
2. I read
   1. Whenever I can
   2. Whenever I can't avoid it
3. A world without books would be
   1. Heaven
   2. Hell

Some people want to learn to read faster so they can read more. Other people want to read faster so they can spend less time reading. Answering the questions should help you see in which of these two groups you fit. The two groups match two basic types of reading, fun reading and required reading. The ``read more'' group is usually thinking about fun reading. The ``spend less time'' group is usually thinking about required reading, either for work or school. Some people only read when they can't get out of it. Reading just isn't on their list of fun things to do. Other people enjoy reading so much that they will read their cereal box again and again each morning at breakfast, just to have something to read. As stated earlier, the goal is for you to enjoy your fun reading more and spend less time on the required reading. Are you in the ``read more'' group? If so, you might as well work straight through this book in the printed order. It is not a long book, and there are many ideas in it for you to enjoy, as well as complete instructions for how to read faster and better. You will end up with both prime benefits of this book; you will receive more pleasure from your fun reading, and you will spend less time on required reading. What about the ``spend less time'' group? One option is to read only the chapter titled The Drills. Read that chapter, practice the drills, and give this book to a friend who reads for fun. That is a good option if you just want to get the most required reading done in the least possible amount of time. But before you decide where to start, take a moment to read the descriptions of the different chapters of this book. You might see something that catches your interest. Read the interesting chapters in whatever order you like. Just remember, if you want to read faster, you have to read and practice the drills. In addition to this introduction, the book has five main chapters. The first chapter of this book is The Drills. These drills teach you to read faster. You don't need anything else. Do the drills about ten minutes a day for three weeks and you will read significantly better and faster. Chapter two is The Rationale, and it explains how and why drills work. Chapter two will make more sense if you have practiced the drills. On the other hand, if you need to know all the reasons for what you are doing before you can do something new and different, skip ahead to The Rationale. Then when you come back you can read and practice the drills with peace of mind. There are many obstacles to speed reading. After you learn the drills, and find out for yourself just how easy speed reading is, you might wonder why you weren't taught to read this way in school. There are political obstacles, because the methods taught here contradict predictions from teachers and school psychologists. Obstacles also come from some commercial speed reading teachers, because they deceive people into taking expensive classes without providing results. There are even practical obstacles that might prevent you from learning to speed read. If you are the fastest reader in the office, who do you think will be stuck reading those boring reports? Chapter three, The Obstacles, looks in detail at these and other road blocks to speed reading. Chapter one teaches you to speed read, but that is only a beginning. Other Stuff, the fourth chapter of this book, defines four basic types of reading. Who wants to read poetry at one-thousand words per minute? If you are reading a novel just for fun, who cares how quickly you read it? Sometimes faster might not really be better. On the other hand, required reading is different. At work and at school you may need information as quickly as possible. Chapter four talks about the differences among the four basic types of reading: reciting, reading, skimming, and scanning. The fourth chapter also shows how to break-in a book and ways to preview books. Chapter four even teaches useful relaxation techniques. All the methods taught in chapter four can increase how much you get from of your reading. Chapter five is The Rewards. If the attitude test placed you in the ``spend less time reading'' group, you might benefit from reading this chapter first, even before doing the drills. Most people learn better when they have reasons to learn better. After all, how you read is not anyone else's business. Chapter five offers reasons for learning to speed read that you might not have thought of on your own. This can help motivate you to do the drills and gain the skills. Remember, the only reasons that count are the ones that motivate you! Take a moment right now and think of what you want from this book. You can go straight to The Drills, do the exercises, acquire the skills, and then give the book to a friend. Or you can go straight to The Rewards, to boost your motivation before knuckling down to the task. If you are unsure where to start, let me suggest starting with The Obstacles, which is full of interesting information even if you never learn the drills. Will skipping ahead to Chapter three, The Obstacles, feel like cheating? If so, then it is an even better idea. You just might start a life-long habit of making books work for you, instead of struggling to work through them. Writing should serve you, whether in the form of a book, an article, or a report. You are the master; the words are the servants. Writers work hard, hoping their words will be useful to you. The reader is in control. Enjoy being in the driver's seat and decide for yourself where to start!