The Complete Idiot's Guide to Speed Reading [Paperback]

Abby Marks Beale (Author), Pam Mullan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 3, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1592577784 | ISBN-13: 978-1592577781 | Edition: 1

On your marks, get set, read!

Most adults today are working with antiquated skills and ingrained beliefs about their reading abilities, or lack thereof. But with the tips and examples offered in The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Speed Reading, getting through a load of must-do reading doesn’t have to be an arduous or overwhelming chore. The strategies are surprisingly simple once revealed. With practice, readers will not only speed through and understand books, articles, and professional journals but will also build their personal reading confidence and competence.

• Written by a reading specialist
• Useful for students, business people, lawyers, doctors
• Includes how-to strategies as well as practice timed readings
• Tips for reading on paper and onscreen

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Abby Marks Beale is the founder and CEO of The Corporate Educator. She is a speaker and trainer who creates content-rich programs using accelerated learning and adult learning principles that make it easy for participants to learn. Her topics of specialty include faster reading, email management and etiquette, and time and stress management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: ALPHA; 1 edition (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592577784
• ISBN-13: 978-1592577781
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Abby is a published author of many articles and several books, most recently The Complete Idiot's Guide to Speed Reading. Abby also wrote 10 Days to Faster Reading, published by Warner Books. Her college level text, Success Skills, Strategies for Study and Lifelong Learning is now in its third edition and published by Southwestern/ITP. Abby is also the content editor for Read More, Faster. . . On-Screen!, a revolutionary ebook written by our associate Pam Mullan.

Abby is the creator of Rev It Up Reading: Getting Up To Speed With What You Read, a new online course available in the Fall of 2008. This course is based on a previous online class she developed and taught for Barnes and Noble Online University. The new online course will incorporate exercises and material from her 10 Days to Faster Reading book.

Abby received her Bachelors of Arts in Spanish from Boston University and her Masters of Science in Adult Education from Southern Connecticut State University. She receives a large part of her professional development from her memberships in National Speakers Association (NSA), American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) and the International Reading Association (IRA). She is currently pursuing an education in homeopathic medicine.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Speed Reading Book!! August 23, 2008

By Throbbin' Hood

Format:Paperback

I've bought speed reading software (Speed Reader X: Speed Reading Made Easy) in the past and found it quite disappointing. Yes, you DO learn how to read faster with comprehension, but you are limited on what you learn.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Speed Reading is extremely helpful in learning MANY new methods to speed reading. It's up to date to include speed reading on-screen, and offers many tips on increasing your comprehension as well. You'll learn to try out many methods to keep pace (single-finger, multiple-finger, card), and, with experimentation, can figure out which method works best for you. You also learn about picking out key words to get the main idea, while skipping the smaller, less-important words (filler). Or, if that method doesn't work well for you, there's always "though-chunking," reading words as groups. This method works best for me, and increased my reading speed because my eyes stop on 3 or 4 points per line instead of stopping to read each word in a 13-word line. In a sense, you're stretching your peripheral vision to read more than one word at a time. And the book offers many exercises on improving that.

There are a number of sample readings for you to practice on, along with space to keep track of your progress. This is very helpful to boost motivation and confidence, which the book points out is very helpful in making progress. If you feel and know you can speed read, then you will. The book offers a number of tips and strategies on how to remain focused while you read, where the best (and worst) places to read are, and how to give your eyes a rest.

I've just finished reading this book and continue to practice, practice, practice everyday. That is ESSENTIAL in learning a new method. With the tips I've learned in this book I was able to increase my reading speed from 235 WPM (words per minute, an average reader), to 390 WPM with about 80% comprehension, the same as I would get with my normal speed. I was able to read Johnny Got His Gun, a 320 page novel, in 2 days, something that might have taken me over a week with my normal reading. And I understood it all. A great book.

Bottom line:
Get this book if you really want to learn how to speed read. It DOES take practice, but you WILL get results.

81 of 89 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Very Useful March 19, 2009

By Wing

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've tried a number of different speed reading materials lately in hopes of improving my reading rate and comprehension. I had high hopes for this book based on the number of positive reviews, but it turned out to be the least useful for me.

This book is not a structured course but more like a collection of tips and techniques. For example: Most speed reading resources instruct you to use a pacer as you read. In this book, the author gives 13 different variations of using your hand or a card as a pacer and tells you, "it's your job to figure out which ones work best." Surely as an expert in speed reading the author could offer better direction as to which method is most effective.

I did not find the material to be well organized. The topic on evaluating your current reading habits doesn't appear until Chapter 6 (shouldn't that be in Chapter 1?), and the section covering common bad reading habits doesn't appear until Chapter 13. "Calculating Your Reading Speed" is the last appendix in the book.

There is too much superfluous information vs. actual speed-reading techniques. There are sections on "Calming the Body and Mind," "Better Blogging," and two full chapters on "Overload Management" with advice like weeding magazines out of your collection you don't plan to read and clipping newspaper articles you want to read again. However, the section on subvocalization (sounding out words in your head while reading--a problem covered in every speed reading resource I've seen) is less than 2 pages long and offers no real advice on how to eliminate it.

There is about 40 pages of practice material in the back of the book consisting of several non-fiction articles. At the beginning of each article is the average number of words per line. I don't know why they couldn't simply put a running word count in the margin to keep you from tediously having to count each line when you're done with a timed test.

One other thing I want to point out: One of the pacer variations involves pointing your index and pinkie fingers out and holding your two middle fingers back towards your palm with your thumb. The author dubs this "The Vulcan" because she saw it used on Star Trek. At the risk of sounding too picky (or too geeky), this is NOT the "live long and prosper" hand gesture used on Star Trek. It makes me wonder if the author's own comprehension and memory skills are all that keen.

In the end I felt this book had too much non-essential material, and the actual techniques for increasing your reading speed and comprehension were not covered well enough. A better book is Speed Reading for Professionals (Barron's Business Success Guides); it's probably about 1/4 the size of The Complete Idiot's Guide but much more effective in my opinion.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tips for every reader!!!! June 8, 2008

By R. Miller

Format:Paperback

I bought 3 extra copies and gave to teachers who teach reading. I also tutor Adult literacy and am using it to help with teaching my student. As a reading teacher myself, I enjoyed the tips throughout the book and got many ideas to incorporate in the classroom. I manage mechanics on a full time basis have bought 2 extra to have for use at their leisure. As for helping me, the chapter on electronic mail and organizing that was very helpful. I now spend less time and energy through techniques in the chapter.THIS BOOK IS WORTH EVERY PENNY! Thank you Abby!