Speed reading myth #1 – Fast reading makes memorization less effective.
What is the reality: All the tests performed with fast readers clearly demonstrate that memorization is better than with slow readers. One of the reasons is that to manage to read a text quickly, fast readers must have an increased concentration compared to slow readers. Moreover, fast readers have more self-confidence in their capacities, which strengthens even more the memorization process.
Speed reading myth #2 – We can’t enjoy what we read quickly.
What is the reality: We can compare slow readers to observers who are standing too close to a monument like the Statue of Liberty. By being too close, they are not able to get the meaning the artist wanted to deliver because they read word for word and thus they only see a tiny part of the Statue and not as a whole.
On the contrary, fast readers are standing far enough to have a general overview of the whole Statue, and can completely appreciate the work of the artist.
Speed reading myth #3 – Fast reading increases eyestrain.
What is the reality: The principle of fast reading induces that fast readers have less muscular efforts to do because they make fewer eyes fixations per text line than slow readers.
Indeed when you read, the eyes movement along the text lines is not straight but rather in a sequence of successive jumps. At the end of each jump, the eye makes a fixation of the text and sends this picture to the brain. Thus, a very slow reader will make one fixation per word while a fast reader will make one fixation every five or six words.
For example, imagine a page made of 30 lines, 12 words per line, for a total of 360 words. A slow reader who reads word for word has to do 360 fixations (one per word), which means 360 eyes movements. A reader who reads 5 times faster will only make 72 fixations, which means 5 times less ocular movements than the slow reader.
Speed reading myth #4 – People should always read at the same speed.
What is the reality: There is absolutely no rule and no reason for this. The only rule is that you should be able to read rapidly a maximum of information whenever you need it. The rest of the time, everyone is absolutely free to read at the speed he prefers.
Now that you know that these speed reading myths are only myths and not the reality, you can be sure that learning how to read fast is nowadays one of the best investments in yourself you can do since information is now the new money. The more information you have, the richer you become. So, don’t wait to get rich and start learning how to speed read right now.