The History of Speed Reading

The term ‘speed reading’ was coined in the 1950’s by Evelyn Wood, a school teacher and researcher.  She developed a portable, reliable and convenient device for increasing reading speed. Prior to that, there had been much interest in speed reading by psychologists and educational specialists working on visual acuity who used a tachistoscope and concluded that, with training, an average person could identify minute images flashed on the screen for only one five-hundredth of a second. Though the images used were of airplanes, the results had implications for reading. It is reported that while brushing off the pages of the book which she had thrown down in despair, she discovered that the sweeping motion of her hand across the page caught the attention of her eyes, and helped them move more smoothly across the page. She then used the hand as a pacer.

Understanding our Reading Speed

Once someone reaches the age of about 11, typically their reading speed more or less remains the same throughout their adult years. The average reading speed for people over the age of 11 is between 170-220 words per minute. However, the human brain has the capacity to read significantly faster. The major hindrance to reading faster is that we tend to read at the same rate as we speak. If you are a slow speaker, the chances are you are also a slow reader, and if a fast speaker then a fast readers. However, even the fastest speaking person is severely limited if he only reads as fast as he is able to speak, as we have the ability to read significantly faster than we can speak.

Speed Read 2XL therefore seeks to train our readers how to read faster than we speak.

Research studies, books and reviews

• Buzan, T. (2000) The Speed Reading Book. Millennium Edition: BBC Books
• Carver, R. P- Prof (1990) Reading Rate: A Comprehensive Review of Research and Theory
• Cunningham, A. E., Stanovich, K. E., and Wilson, M. R. (1990) Cognitive Variation in adult college students differing in reading ability. In Carr T. H., Levy B.A. (Eds.) Reading and its development: Component skills approaches (pp. 129- 159). New York: Academic Press
• Davis, Z. (2009) PowerReading:Informationswelle nutzen, Zeit sparen, Effektivität Steigern. Germany: People building
• Duggan, G. B., and Payne, S. J. (2009) Text Skimming: The process and effectiveness of foraging through text under time pressure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15(3), pp228-242
• Edward, C., and Godnig, O.D. (2003) The Tachistocope Its History & Its Uses. Journal of Behavioral Optometry: 14(2): 40. [PDF] available at: http://www.oef.org/jbo/journals/14-2%20Godnig.pdf [Assessed April 13, 2012]
• Federal Trade Commission Report (1998).
• Harris, A. J., and Sipay, E. R. (1990) How to Increase Reading Ability: Longman Publishing Group
• Just, M. A., and Carpenter, P. A. (1987) Psychology of Reading and Language Comprehension. Boston: Allyn & Bacon
• Mcbridge, V.G. (1973) Damn the School System- Full Speed Ahead! : Exposition Press
• National Reading Panel. (2000) Teaching Children to Read: An evidence based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implication for reading instruction, pp.1-3: NRP Publications & Material *On speedread2xl, the page number is p3-1- changed to p1-3 see above
• Nell, V. (1988) The Psychology of Reading for Pleasure: Needs and gratifications. Reading Research Quarterly, 23 (1) pp 6-50 
• O’Brien, J. A. (1992) Silent Reading: with special reference to methods for developing speed, a study in the psychology and pedagogy of reading. New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 32-33. [Online] available at: http://www.books.scholarsportal.info/viewdoc.html?id=/ebooks/oca3/17/silentreadingwi00obriuoft 
• Perfetti, C. A. (1995) Reading Ability. USA: Oxford University Press
• Scheele, P. R. (1996) Power Reading Whole Mind System. USA: Learning Strategies Corporation
• Stepware, INC. (2006) A review of the research on the instructional effectiveness of Acereader. Report no. 258: Educational Research Institute of America