Speed Reading

I’ve been interested in speed reading since I was a kid. I liked books a lot and was very impatient. My comprehension wasn’t always so great, but that had a hidden advantage: I could read a book a second time and be amazed by the parts I had forgotten or didn’t get on the first pass.

Anyway, I found some newer resources on the ‘net about speed reading and thought I should put them here:

• A post from Derren Brown's blog with video
• Tim Ferriss' blog post with instructive text

I view speed reading as a form of training for what I call the “lizard brain” — the cerebellum. This is the part of the brain that handles programmed reflexes, like video games, driving, touch-typing, etc. It takes repetition to train it, but once you’ve trained it you don’t have to “think” about the actions, the lizard brain does it for you.

The lizard brain is also the part that too many older people let get flabby which makes lots of tasks harder later in life.

Ciao!