Health and Fitness

What have you been reading lately? In a gathering, you can soon see who the broad-spectrum readers are, since wide readers are often quick thinkers and good public speakers too. They quickly win the adulation, respect, and fellowship of others. After all, reading expands the mind and many people think of it as one of the most satisfying pleasures known to mankind, being a combination, as it is, of mental agility and physical relaxation well above the level offered by television or the cinema.

The act of reading is mostly a mental activity, as you read with your mind and use your imagination to depict the setting of the detective thriller you are reading. You use your mind to imagine the pleasure that the main characters in the story are experiencing as the plot unfolds; or you contemplate the different arguments and ideas introduced by the author of that self-help book you are reading.

Reading effectively helps you to develop an extensive range of vocabulary through reading different kinds of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not understand exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a good idea of what the sentence is trying to say.

The act of reading makes you more aware and more curious about hitherto unknown words. Some readers even develop ‘the dictionary habit’, which means that every time they come across a strange word, they attempt to work out what it possibly means in the context. If they cannot do this, they refer to the dictionary.

Similarly, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing the reader to different subjects. He/she learns to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other types of education, he/she is learning by actually doing and while he/she is reading he/she is automatically learning about the subject matter of the book too – a free by-product!

Reading teaches you to have an active and open mind. Merely grasping the writers idea is not enough, you must make a positive response to what you read. Be an active, not a passive, reader. Develop the habit of drawing your own conclusions, the habit of active thinking, of agreeing or disagreeing with the author. Always keep your mind open; understand and consider the ideas that you read. A practical part of active reading is the drawing of conclusions.

Now let me tell you to the concept of speed reading. All of the above applies between three and ten times over, because speed readers can read that much faster than the average reader! Imagine that! – Being able to read, comprehend and remember all those books. You would certainly become well-read in your subject far more quickly than others. Just think how that could help you at work or in school or college …

Let me share four primary rules for effective reading and better comprehension:

1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember that practice makes perfect. 2) Learn the habit of reading the main ideas, ie look for the subject and predicate – the principal ideas 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try to read faster. Give yourself a time limit on the specific book that you are reading.

Reading is a fantastically stimulating mental activity. It expands your reality and capability. You have so much to gain in discovering the joys of reading. So, go ahead and take down a book right now.

Are you interested in speed reading for yourself or a loved one? If so, please go along to our web site called Speed Reading. This and other unique content ” articles are available with free reprint rights.

written by Marion Jones \\ tags: articles, Books, career, college, education, entertainment, hobbies, homeschooling, other, reading, school, self help, self-improvement, speed reading, Uncategorized

The worlds most famous speed reading course is Reading Dynamics developed by Evelyn Wood. It’s famous for teaching people to read faster, or speed reading as she called it. Her live course was the first known course that taught students to read faster and it started with about 25 hours of training to double your reading speed.

Over time the method was made available all over the world. These well practiced techniques teach students to read more rapidly, and also comprehend more of what they are reading. These techniques have proven to be repeatedly effective with all ages in many countries all over the world.

There are many stories about how Evelyn Wood first learned speed reading. My personal favorite was that she, as a child, was fishing at a nearby lake in Utah where she was living. To Evelyn, fishing was a relaxing necessity, but her mind was always very active.

When fishing, she brought a book to read until she saw that the float on the fishing line was bobbing. Then she’d reel in the fish. It was said that she read with the sun at her back for natural light, and used her index finger on her dominant hand to track under the words she was reading.

Whenever a fish bit, she just put down the book and started fishing again. That’s how it all started.

As she got older, she went to the University of Utah where one professor read and graded her 80-page research paper in about ten minutes. This came to 2,500 words per minute. He didn’t know how to tell his student what made is so he could read fast, nor how he developed his ability. He just read and could understand very quickly and efficiently.

Challenged by the potential to read that fast, Evelyn researched and studied fast readers to see if she could improve her reading speed and comprehension too. Then, she began to teach students herself, she figured out that it could be favorable to them if she passed her skills on.

The desire to read faster and comprehend more is Universal. People all over the world were fascinated in, what turned out to be, Evelyn’s own techniques for speed reading and comprehension. As she expanded her research and investigation of speed reading, she found people from different parts of the world reading 1,500 to 6,000 words per minute. All had an impressive level of comprehension proven by their knack for recalling specifics of the text.

She cataloged what each of them did to read faster and she discovered that each had their own traits and all of them had multiple traits in common with the others. These included:

1. Words were seen, and read, in groups. 2. Readers identified patterns and key words when they scanned text, quickly identifying the purpose and theme behind the writings. 3. Readers also sped up or slowed down with the simplicity or complexity of the reading materials. This permitted them control of levels of comprehension.

Based on this the Evelyn Wood program was created. Techniques were developed and tested.

In 1959, she was proficient and prepared enough to make a system that would teach others to speed read as well. Later that year, she opened the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Institute in Washington DC. John F. Kennedy was the first president to have his White House staff trained by the Evelyn Wood method.

Today, the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Institute no longer exists in the US. The rights were sold off to various publishers to market as courses, self-taught, and the remaining Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics teachers have private instructional practices. Some teachers are still healthy enough in their mid 6os and 70s to teach the original technique.

Today, the few remaining teachers have passed their secrets to others, who have put the courses online for you to study. Though, you might learn from itinerant speed reading instructors who often teach classes at community colleges, or private corporations throughout the US and beyond. In New Zealand, Australia, and Western Europe, some offices of the original Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics have survived the creator who past on over 20 years ago.

Since the 1990s, courses became available in audio, video VCR, and later, DVD, adding a convenience that Evelyn could never have even dreamed of when she first taught. Faster reading with greater comprehension can be obtained by students around the world by using the system that Evelyn Wood invented while fishing one sunny day. To find Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics courses, check with www.speedread.org, they carry the audio and video versions to help you double your reading speed and achieve far greater in life.

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written by Dr. Jay Polmar \\ tags: better jobs, great grades, read faster, reading, speed, speed reading, straight A, Success, Womens Issues