Abby Marks-Beale

over the counter psychology

I hate to be so negative, but honestly this is the worst psychology books I have ever read. If you're in to psychology that is not backed by research, then you might like this one because there isn't even a References page anywhere to be found in this book. If we look at the many assumptions the author makes (e.g., getting rid of subvocalizing) and compare with the scientific literature, one realizes that the fast majority of claims in this book are just dead show more wrong. Anyone interested in the topic should read Rayner and colleagues' 2016 lit review article on speed reading. They basically argue that speed reading training is highly suspect and not backed by rigorous science. Of course the author of this book is mixing her pseudoscience with business which is always a bad idea. Save your money and do not waste your time on this book. show less

Actually, as I took a speed-reading class during my school years, I would only give this book a solid 4. As for downsides, the book doesn't mention Schulte tables or dual n-back, which are crucial to improve periferal vision performance or sharpen memory.

However, after I went through first 3 chapter-days, I began reading much faster. Applying the dogfooding principle, I finished the book in 2 sessions on Friday evening and Saturday.

Did I start reading faster? Yes.
Did I do it in under 10 show more days? Yes.

Will it help me with the upcoming The Art of Electronics "battle"? We'll see.

P.S. And yes, don't use fingers as pacers on tablets. Go for the business cards. show less

I'm afraid I didn't manage to get this book completely finished before having to return it to the library (the book didn't work for me!).

However, it was quite an interesting read, and I've given it three stars, since I feel it will probably help some who really wish to increase their reading speed.

An initial chapter includes a description of various finger methods to use to help you to read faster. Although I've never regarded myself as an idiot, my intelligence is apparently lower than show more idiot level (though I understand idiots have an IQ of 0-20), since I failed to comprehend what was involved in some of the methods - I just couldn't grasp it. But I'm sure all you others will be able to.

Most of the passages at the end of the book for test purposes I found extremely boring, and when I attempted to speed-read these I had from 0-10% comprehension, or at least retention, as far as I could judge. Though the author does inform us that if we continue to speed-read, eventually we will end by focussing to such an extent that we will eventually gain more comprehension than we usually have even when reading slowly. But I didn't get that far, unfortunately.

I DID find out:

1) that the books I read are in general books I really want to read and that I find interesting (as far as the present book is concerned to a slightly lesser extent) and that I don't really want to read these books any faster than I do, since I also really want to understand them and retain some memory of what I've read.

2) that when I occasionally read works of fiction I do actually read quite fast - this happens automatically.

For those who sometimes have to read material they don't really find interesting, for example, students, who are obliged to take boring courses, or businessmen having to read dull reports, I feel that with a bit of application these persons could probably increase their reading speed considerably with the help of this book. But that is just a conjecture.

To revert to the finger (and also hand) methods of increasing speed, the author presents various of these, too many as far as I was concerned. I got bored trying them all, and I PERSONALLY didn't find any of them helpful. I find it best just to command my eyes to read faster without help from my fingers. But we are all different.

The author informs us that the key to achieving faster reading rates is "learning to spread your peripheral vision". We are introduced to "eye warm-ups" and special techniques such as looking for keywords and reading in "thought chunks". I PERSONALLY found that this slowed down my reading considerably as I had to think about what "thought chunks" were not to mention locating them.

There's a chapter about skimming, scanning and skipping. The author is correct when she states that some of us feel obliged to read everythig, when there's no need to. I too have that problem. But in the case of this book I took her at her word and skipped the 2 or 3 final chapters, which, as I stated above, I didn't have time to read anyway.

Apart from the obscure explanations about finger methods, the book was well-written and easy to read. It is probably worth reading for those really committed to increasing their reading speed. show less

This book gave plenty of techniques on how we can read faster. The best thing about this book is that it doesn't require you to subscribe to any technique, but to try out different techniques to see which ones suit you better. For a truly different experience in speed reading, try reading Photoreading.