What is speed reading?
RAPID READING is a procedure that allows you to fully browse a text, word by word or in adjoining words, at a speed higher than 500 words per minute (wpm). Fast reading is not a method of skimming the text, nor is a method of photoreading. Read below some basic information about quick reading and differences from usual reading.
SPEED READING

• It is done by moving through the whole text without any returns on the words already read
• The speed at which you read is over 500 wpm (optimally over 900 wpm)
• Memory and understanding are improving
• The effort you make to read sensibly decreases as your reading speed increases

USUAL READING

• It is done by going through the text and often returning to the words read to better understand what you read
• The speed at which you read is about 250 wpm or 350 wpm if you are reading more then average
• Memory and understanding remain at the same level
• The effort you make to read is the same while your reading speed is kept at the same level

How effective am I using fast reading?
​5 ARGUMENTS indicating that RAPID READING is accessible to anyone

• The pathway of processing the sense of information is dominant in the brain
• The eyes are equipped with the fastest muscles in the body
• The peripheral view is used to read adjacent word groups
• The reflex of the vocal cords movement is phased out to achieve a reading speed of 900 wpm or higher
• Working memory works best at reading speeds of over 900 wpm

5 ARGUMENTS to quit usual reading

• We are reading the text word by word and we do not use the peripheral vision
• We learned to read aloud and associate reading with the reflex of vocal cords movement
• Therefore reading speed remains at approximately 250 wpm
• We consume a lot of time for reading
• Our motivation to read is low because it takes us a lot of precious time

What results can I get with fast reading?
SPEED READING

• An increase in reading speed of 50-100% with 24 days of fast reading training
• An increase in reading speed by 80-140% with 30 days of fast reading training
• An increase in memory and understanding capacity by 5-15%
• Developing and using an effective learning method
• Accelerated personal development

USUAL READING

• Maintaining the current reading speed and raising it with small values by systematically reading many books and magazines
• Maintaining understanding and memorizing at the current level
• Due to the increasing flow of information, at some point you will probably need to learn fast reading
• At that point it may be more difficult to do

​​What can motivate me to learn fast reading and quit usual reading?
SPEED READING

• Fast reading is not lost after being taught
• You will gain more time for reading or
• You will gain more time to apply what you read or
• You will gain more time to spend it with your loved ones or your hobbies
• You will avoid losing useful time with reading and you will be more motivated to read
• At first you will make an effort to learn fast reading but you will then enjoy all the benefits offered for short and long term

USUAL READING

• You will keep your old way of reading
• You will avoid the effort to learn a more effective way to read
• You will continue to make considerable effort to read and understand the texts you are going through
• Over time, you will have serious issues trying to adapt to a steady increase in the amount of new and useful information
• You will continue to waste a lot of your precious time every time you have something to read
• Your reading motivation will remain at low levels

I have discovered the benefits of fast reading! What can I do next?
Start NOW learning speed reading!​

• The first step (Customization+T1+Q1) is always FREE!
• To familiarize yourself with the training program, first follow the DEMO.
• The quick reading TUTORIAL will guide you through all the necessary steps.

Check your reading speed and storage capacity

• You can measure your reading speed for free.
• You can find out what is your memory capacity.
• DEMO takes up to 5 minutes and involves.
• The quick reading TUTORIAL will guide you through all the necessary steps.

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Hence, their main drawback is that understanding of the text so far is affected more or less, depending on how much information has been omitted.

However, the three methods can be used additionally. Read on to see how!

When reading a text you usually do it for two main reasons: whether you want to see what the text contains in order to decide whether or not you want to read it in full, whether you have already decided it and you are ready to read it in full . These two reasons are the ones that lead you to the appropriate reading methods of that text.

If you want to decide whether to read or not a short text, article, review, novel, etc. which does not have much to say 30 pages, you will usually use the "scan" of that text. This involves fast scrolling of that text either diagonally, by skipping words, or just the meaningful words. There are many skimming methods that can be used. The result of this review is that you form an overall view of the content of the text. Based on this information, you can then decide whether or not you want to read that text entirely. Of course, sometimes you can say goodbye if you have gone through at least 40-50% of the text. The question here is to what extent does the understanding of that text read only partially satisfy the need to assimilate the information contained therein?

If you want to read or not a longer text, book, course, novel, etc. you'll be using a technique that is closer to photoreading. That is, you will take the book in your hand, you will read something about content such as a short preface or introduction, perhaps about the author or the book's contents, then you will browse it and read some random passages and you will make a first impression on the text. As a result of this review, you will most likely be able to decide whether you want to read this book entirely or not. Further, if you prefer to use photoreading, then you will browse the book in full, you will "photograph" each page and then you will proceed to the mental rebuilding of the content, starting from the information obtained and using imagination. And here the question is whether the degree of reconstruction of the original information, which probably does not exceed 30-40%, and which can seriously affect the understanding of the text, satisfies the need to assimilate the information contained therein?

If you've decided to read a text in full, speed reading is an option if you've already gone through a program to learn this useful skill. SpeeRead offers such training programs. Otherwise you will use the usual reading, which you already own. The difference is just the reading speed of the text, regardless of its length. Fast reading requires integral reading of any text. Although it seems paradoxical if you have not gone through a training program, fast reading is done without extra effort and the ability to understand and memorize text is improved.

INTEGRAL READING IS THE KEY POINT AND THE MAIN ADVANTAGE OF SPEED READING!

By usual reading the capacity for understanding and memorizing is 60-70%. If you use fast reading your memory capacity and understanding rises to 70-85%.

In addition to enhanced understanding, the scroll time can be shortened considerably by using fast reading!

The doubling of reading speed is perfectly possible with a 24 or 30 day  training program.  That means you will read any text twice as fast as it is today. But to achieve these performances you need this systematic and intensive learning process because your eyes have some muscles that need to be trained. Skimming and photoreading do not require this training because time is gained by incomplete scrolling of texts at the risk of their poor understanding. You find HERE a description of how to optimize memory processes by fast reading. There are other benefits to using fast reading that you can read HERE. One of them is related to the optimization of learning processes. Details HERE.

In addition to these direct benefits, learning and systematic use of fast reading also optimizes the skimming or photoreading processes you use. Eye training also shortens the time allocated to these procedures, which you will apply faster and more efficiently. More efficiently also because by developing your ability to understand, you will quickly detect and associate keywords or the  "photographed" one with the general context of the text you have gone through.

In conclusion, learning and using fast reading optimizes the process and read time of any text but also improves the practice of skimming and photoreading techniques.

BUT THE CONCLUSION IS NOT RECIPROCALLY VALID. Using only skimming or photoreading will never train you or help you read integral and rapid your texts and you will always have serious gaps in understanding and memorizing them.

What technique do you use when reading?

In other words, ability designates a potential that is not yet being used. When this potential begins to be properly stimulated, through training, it turns into usable skill. This skill is fast reading and it brings us a lot of benefits such: earning time, better understanding of information and its more efficient memorization, effective learning, better reading motivation.
And now let's see more clearly what's the difference between a program for learning speed reading and a speed reading app.

The program for learning speed reading is a complete training algorithm.

• It takes into account all the functional and neuropsychic particularities involved in the act of reading and appropriately trains each of them.
• Because eyeballs muscles are involved in the act of reading, they need to be trained appropriately, which requires a longer or shorter (minimum 20-30 days) training interval.
• Systematic repetition of training (ideal everyday) is important in order to achieve efficient performance in fast reading. So do when we want to train any other body muscles.
• Understanding all the mechanisms involved in the act of fast reading generates the confidence that fast reading is possible. Once this confidence is generated, you only need the proper training.
• Our eyes move jerkily on the text when we read. The eyes focus a piece of text (1-2 words) and then jump to the next word or group of words. Useful information is transferred to the brain during the interval of fixation. The jump time is shorter than that for setting the information. During the jump, no useful information is transferred from the text to the brain. However, the muscles of the eyeball work in both cases. During fixation, they focus on the information. Then they also leap to the following words. These muscles work all the time when we read. So a complete workout for quick reading has to take all these aspects into account in order to produce performance, that is, to help the trainee actually develop their reading skills.
• Fast reading is no longer lost once it has been taught. It can be used regardless of whether the text support is the paper or the screen of a device.

A fast reading app partially meets the same requirements. However, some requirements are not satisfied. Let's see how.
The application is actually used to read text faster and NOT used for training. In other words, it is not necessarily systematically used.
The most popular apps are those that traverse text through a small window on a device's screen. In the window, one or more words in the text will be visible at a time within a time frame that corresponds to a user-set reading speed. In this way, all of the text will pass through that window and will be readable, usually at a speed higher than the usual read speed of the user.
The mechanism driven by this type of application is to block the need for the jump between words normally performed by the muscles of the eyeball. The muscles will only focus on the text but will not make the leap. This way of doing generates a small surplus of resources to read something faster but does NOT completely train the muscles of the eyeball. The consequences of systematic use of these applications will produce far more other results than fast reading training programs.

• The first consequence is the increasing dependence on the device when you want to read.
• The second consequence is that reading texts on paper will be more and more difficult to achieve because the eyes muscles will gradually diminish the ability to jump between words, essential when reading naturally.
• The third consequence will be linked to the selectivity of texts that will be read because not yet any text can be electronically transposed to be inserted into the application. Or the effort to transpose it will be unreasonably high.
• The fourth consequence is that fast reading skill is not properly trained and, indirectly, natural reading is impaired over time. The result is demotivation in relation to reading.

In conclusion, we can say that fast reading skill training programs are preferred when we want to be independent when reading. We can choose any kind of text on any kind of support, and the skill, once learned, can be used anytime.

Speed reading applications are interesting in the exploration and familiarization phase with fast reading. They can be used punctually to test your own potential and the benefits of fast reading. However, as a long-term solution they are contraindicated because, through systematic use, they can alter the natural process of reading.

For more information read about the 5 arguments for which fast reading is accessible to you.
​See also here an Infographic available in English language.

Let's look at the differences between fast reading and photoreading:
Photoreading is a complex method used to quickly navigate longer texts such as novels, short stories, and generally extensive content books.

The actual technique of photoreading involves "photographing" each book page for 1-2 seconds and then refining, in your mind, the contents of that book, based on the information retained on each page so "photographed". Before photographing all pages of the book, it is recommended that you read the preface, introduction, possible reviews and other book information in a normal way. Starting from this initial information that is complemented by quick page browsing, you are encouraged to rework or compose the contents of the book in your mind. The effort you need to do is to connect all the information from the book and that are duplicated by the imaginary component. You have a lot of information to imagine. The time spent photoreading a book may be higher or lower (hours or minutes / tens of minutes) depending on your ability to combine information with imagination and the need to extract as accurate information as possible from that book. For these reasons, the ability to browse and understand the information in the book using photoreading is seriously affected by the method itself. Obviously some information will be correctly understood, but the percentage is hard to predict when it comes to the whole book. Instead, the method of photoreading can be useful when you want to decide whether you will go through a whole book or not. The commercialization of the photoreading promises breathtaking reading speeds of the order of 10,000-20,000 words per minute. These speeds are impossible for the human eye, and they are virtually speeds of incomplete crossing of written information.
Fast reading, unlike photoreading, is a method of fully scrolling a written text. Fast reading is an ability that each of us has, and it can be turned into practice by training. SpeeRead provides you with some quick reading training programs. Common reading is done at speeds of 250-300 words per minute. Optimal read speeds start at 900-1,000 words per minute. These are speeds that the human eye can reach. Eye movements are done through muscles that need to be trained to move faster. By training, you can increase your reading speed along with increasing your ability to memorize and understand your texts. In the absence of understanding, fast reading makes no sense to anyone. Because fast reading is done by going through the whole written text, your probability of understanding it as accurate as possible is greater than with incomplete scrolling methods, as is the case of photoreading.
In conclusion, the results you can get by speed reading or by photoreading differ significantly. The ability to understand as accurately and completely as possible a written text is sensitively greater by rapid reading than by photoreading. However, the two methods can be used additionally. In the end, the purpose is to extract the useful information from the written texts and the choice of one or other method depends to a large extent on the reader.

Although generally we all talk about fast reading, in practice we can distinguish between fast reading and texts "scanning" or skimming. Let's see how these two methods differ.

Fast reading is done by reading the WHOLE text to be read, but the reading speed and the memory and understanding capacity are increasing as this ability is trained by the reader.
Text scanning or skimming is done by NOT reading the WHOLE text and using instead various methods, such as diagonal browsing, longer words reading and omission of link words, vertical scrolling, keyword identification and reading etc.
The purpose of both methods is to read the texts in the shortest possible time and with the best understanding of them. Starting from here, we can see that these two methods, although grouped together under the generic name of quick reading, do not serve the same purpose because they do not produce the same results. That is why the name of "scanning" or fast and incomplete scrolling of texts is more appropriate for this method, which is different from the actual speed reading itself. We still see what the differences between the two methods are.
Fast reading implies, as the name calls it, full reading of a text but in a fast manner. There are 5 arguments that show that this method is accessible to anyone if they want to go through an appropriate training algorithm. Fast reading is an ability that we all have. To be able to capitalize it, we need to turn it into a usable skill. For this we need to systematically train with a program designed for this purpose. SpeeRead is such a program. The purpose of developing this fast reading skill is to gain time reading INTEGRAL any text and understanding and memorizing it. If it is well-learned and used, rapid reading can become an extremely valuable learning tool.
"Scanning" texts, on the other hand, involves INCOMPLETE scrolling of text to gain time. Time gain is due to omission of some words in the text. This affects to a greater or lesser extent the understanding of that text. Regardless of the strategy of scrolling the text, the risk of incomplete understanding is preserved. This makes this method more useful for scrolling text to DECIDE whether it is worthwhile or not to be fully read. The fastest way to "scan" a text is to search for the keywords in that text relative to the interest of the reader. If the keywords are found then the phrases containing them are read. If those phrases are sufficiently loaded with useful information, the reader can decide to read the full text. Text scanning strategies are easier to learn and do not require intensive training.
Consequently, fast reading and texts "scanning" are different methods of faster covering of texts because they produce different results. However, the two methods are complementary and can serve the same purpose, extracting useful information from a text.

1. Common reading is done at a speed of approximately 250-300 wpm and is a slow reading, with repeated returnings on the text, to understand its meaning. The memory capacity is about 60%.

2. Fast reading is done at reading speeds between 500 and 900 wpm. The storage capacity is about 70%. Texting is faster and text returns are rare but still necessary. Geting into this area of reading it is only through training or intensive reading.

3. Optimized speed reading is done with reading speeds ranging from 900-1000 wpm. The storage capacity is about 80% and can be improved by increasing the reading speed to 2000 wpm. Reading is continuous in this case and the returns to the text are completely removed. There are some features specific  ONLY for optimized fast reading:

• the meaning of the information read is perceived very quickly, making unnecessary the returns on the text
• the eye muscles involved in viewing the text and focus on words work at the optimal parameters
• peripheral vision helps us to go through groups of 2-3 adjoining words that have a clear meaning grouped so
• the imperceptible movement of vocal cords or the phenomenon known as somatic sub-vocalization disappears definitively
• working memory functions better because it receives unaltered visual information from the sensory memory at a convenient pace
• thus interfering with the useless environmental stimuli at the time of reading is removed from working memory that is now only processing and understanding of the useful information for the reader

All of these phenomena described above are only possible in the field of optimized fast reading. It is also worth mentioning here that the eye muscles are able to normally support reading speeds up to 2000 wpm at word by word reading. With the peripheral vision you can read 2-3 adjoining words grouped with meaning. In this way the reading speed can go up to about 4000 wpm. All these performances are possible through proper training.