Hum A Tune To Avoid ‘Internal Speech’

Ankur Gupta answers readers’ queries on speed reading

Pradnya Jadhav (planning to appear for CAT 08) writes : “I noticed that my Reading Speed varies by quite a margin with different contexts. Is it acceptable?”

When you drive from Mumbai to Pune, there is a huge variation in your driving speed. While you cope with the snarling traffic within Mumbai you literally move at a snail’s pace. But on the Expressway you zoom ahead.  In some places you simply cannot drive fast because of the road conditions. This analogy is relevant to your reading speed. The answer to you question is that there is nothing to be concerned about.othing to be concerned about!

A nervous Nikhil Sasikumar is concerned about the huge pharmacy syllabus he has to study. He asks for tips to read fast and also understand things so that he can fare well in exams.

Speed reading certainly allows better comprehension since it becomes more focused. However, it is not a panacea for all study issues. Neither is it a substitute for regular studying. So please speed read your way through the entire year rather than at the last moment.

A.P. Rao, a better-than-average reader, glances over each line from left to right but is unable to read vertically down from top to bottom of the page. He asks : If I am not able to do this for a newspaper column, how do I go about doing this for say, a normal paperback?

Newspapers have a defined thin column width to help you actually speed read - line by line, instead of individual words. Practice with newspapers, masking out the adjoining columns with blank paper, if they disturb you during your practice. Then graduate to magazines with wider columns and then to paperbacks.

Chandru Badrinarayanan, a compulsive reader confesses that he started ‘speed reading’ to attain a speed of 644 wpm but his normal speed is around 300- 350 wpm. Despite reading for 4-5 hours per day, he still finds that time is short for all that he wants to read.

The trick Chandru for you would be to be selective in your reading and be crystal clear on the purpose of your reading.

Sidney D’Souza wants to know how to train his 5 year old to develop speed-reading.

The first step would be to familiarize your progeny with the sight words and encourage reading jointly as a read-along exercise. Parcel off a separate time when you read and the child listens and vice versa.
A worried Yasmin Inamdar gets affected adversely in studies because of forgetfulness, which has not happened earlier and wants to know what to do.

Such instances occur often in our lives. With sustained efforts (not worry) these can be conquered. Use creative visualisation and affirmations to help support you for the future, while you continue your efforts without getting pulled down by present forgetfulness.
 
Sachin Chaturvedi wants to know about a diet plan which can help creative and faster thinking as he is in the advertising industry, and always on the look out for newer and fresher ideas.

The principle of any diet plan to keep you alert would be to provide your brain with better nutrition including oxygenation. So deep breathing would rank first followed by brain foods like sprouts, a few walnuts, antioxidants like flaxseed, tonics like brahmi.

Prem Gulani seeks an explanation on how it is possible to read without “internal speech”.

A very useful technique you could try out is to simply hum (not sing) any familiar tune while you strive to read through the text.

Neha R. would like to know if speed reading will help when it comes to studying or where you have to remember things.

Rapid reading techniques allow you to read more in less time as well as enhance your comprehension.

.
Thought for the Week

“If there’s a book you really want to read,
but it hasn’t been written yet,
then you must write it”
Toni Morrison
(Nobel Prize-winning American Author, Editor, and Professor)
.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times