Speed Reading

This book covers all the basic information to help you start reading faster and it emphasizes that after reading that information speed reading can be accomplished just by pushing yourself. It also gives tips on helping comprehension, but I didn't really think they were very helpful. The book isn't very clear on how to fix the problems it's showed you you have, but just reading fixed my problem. I haven't looked at any of the other books on speed reading, but this book helps without the stupid claims of making you a genius or anything like that. If you do decide to get this book you should do exactly what the author says and don't skip any of the book because the boring parts are perfect for practicing your speed reading.

Zorn's book is a great book and it has really put me on the road to further improvement of my reading rate and comprehension. He makes no absurd promises, but he tells you from the start that if you practice the methods he presents, you will get results, and that it's all up to you to keep at it.I started at a pitifully slow reading rate of 169 words per minute with 60% comprehension and progressed to 468 wpm with 100% comp. by the end of the book. I found that my results were much better when I worked through complete chapters at a time (and every day), rather than stopping in the middle of a chapter, since the information presented in each chapter serves as a reading warm-up for the tests presented later in the chapter.Throughout the book, Zorn encourages the reader to keep practicing and to not give-up. I actually bought this book many years ago, and put it down, just certain that it would never help me. I was wrong, this book has definitely helped and I hope to further improve.Dr. Zorn , wherever you are, thank you!!!

First of all, I had always been a terribly slow reader with some degree of retention dificulties as are a lot of people I know. In the past, I was so disgusted with my reading performance/retention, that I avoided any opportunities to read books. Truly skeptical, but realizing I had nothing to lose, I decided to go to the local library and try out a few books on the subject. The 1st 3-4 books immediately lost my interest upon my perusing the material. And like many others out there, because this book had the least amount of pages, I decided to give this last one a try....What have I been doing with my life in the last 20+ years! I set aside 1 week for results. If nothing, I would forget the whole idea. What I found was that after the first 1/2 hour, I could not put the book down. There were NO promises and secret 'tricks'. Just simple explanations of common reading habits that slow us all down (including sub-vocalization).The drills and practice reading work! The are also questions to check your comprehension. Too many people want all of life's solutions in one moment. That won't happen here. You must practice. You have to give the reading a chance. If you remain close-minded and negative, you won't give yourself the chance to excel. Speed: I started at a little less than 250 wpm, but after recognizing my bad habits and getting away from them, and progressed to about 2700 wpm!Retention/comprehension: At under 250 wpm, my retention and comprehnsion of material was 40-50%. Using the methods realistically, I topped out at 80-85%!Here's the kicker - these results were achieved after only 2 hours of continuous practicing of deleting my old habits! I wish I had known about this book many years ago so that I could have become well-rounded in my readings. But it's never too late. Don't sit around complaining like I did for 20+ years! Get this book and get to work. I apply the skills to everything I read whenever I can. These methods should be taught to our children at an early age when it can be absorbed without doubt and suspicion.After reading the book from the library, I bought it, ended up sharing the book with a friend who topped out at about 1800 wpm (from 300) with 90% comp/retention. I gave it to him as a going away gift. Ordered it again for another friend who has already seen results in his 1st 1/2 hour. Now I'm ordering for myself- AGAIN! :)I've just read some reviews of other 'speedreading' books. Too bad. Those who've been disappointed - read this one and you won't be sorry. And don't believe the saying, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". I'm living proof it can happen. I'm 31 and doors have been opening for me since I read this book. Thank you Mr. Zorn for sharing your knowledge. I now read local newspapers, front to back - except sports, in about 10 minutes! Still pushing. And Newsweek/Time articles - approximately 20-30 seconds depending on the length! Push yourself!