Speed Reading [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Zorn is an educator--Scheele, Tony Buzan, Howard Berg and Marcus Conyers...these others are hucksters. Buzan's books are helpful, but his tendency is to try to make too little go too long a way, primarily, one suspects, to promote his "brainpower" business.

This slim little book effectively balances useful reading exercises with practice texts (mercifully brief). Zorn covers all the basics--regression, phrase reading, recognition rates, concentration, comprehension, "superreading" (5,000 wpm and above) and so on. There are NO wild promises, no sales pitches, no fancy jargon. If you can only get ONE speed reading book, get this one.

What this book doesn't have--which some of the others do (at the expense, I should add, of practical speed reading instruction)--is instruction on learning techniques. That's a different cup 'o meat, though, in my opinion; you can get one of Buzan's books dealing with Mind Mapping if you want to improve study habits. I'm sure there are others out there, too...I just don't know what they are.

Zorn has written a modest, straightforward, helpful book. I'd hate to see this go out of print while so much junk (like the PhotoReading Whole Mind System) continues to remain in print.

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!