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Books and Articles by Richard Sutz
Richard Sutz is the founder and CEO of The Literacy Company, developers of The Reader's Edge® speed-reading program. Sutz's program teaches silent reading fluency for effective and efficient speed reading.
Articles & Books From Richard Sutz
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022
You can use speed reading to enhance both your reading ability and your reading enjoyment. Some misconceptions about the speed reading method persist — pay no attention to them. By making slight adjustments to your reading habits, especially stopping yourself from hearing or saying each word, you can move from being an average reader with average comprehension to a proficient speed-reader with excellent comprehension.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
You may have some preconceived ideas about what speed reading is. Don't worry, many people have erroneous ideas about the practice of speed reading, including the myths in the following list, all of which are false:
You don't enjoy reading as much when you speed read. On the contrary! Speed reading is efficient reading.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you're challenging yourself to become a speed reader, you may be curious to know how you compare to others in the speed-reading department. (And who wouldn't be?) Roughly speaking, readers fall into these categories where speed is concerned:
1 to 200 WPM (words per minute): You're a talker. You read one word at a time at about the same speed as you talk and you may move your lips when you read.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Stopping yourself from vocalizing is an essential first step to becoming a speed reader. Vocalizing is hearing words as you read — you may even move your lips and quietly pronounce each word. If you're saying or hearing every word, you're reading at the speed you talk, not at the speed you think. Use these tips to kick your vocalization habit to the curb:
Read for meaning rather than sound.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Speed reading isn't a whole different way of reading; it's just a more focused way of reading. Reading engages the eyes, ears, mouth, and, of course, the brain. Speed reading engages these senses even more than normal reading because you use your senses and brain power even more efficiently.
Speed reading is
Seeing: The first step in reading anything is seeing the words.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Speed reading up to 16 words at a glance is possible because when you read most words, you don’t see the letters in the words or the words per se. What you see on the page are shapes or images that you recognize from your past reading experience — that is, the words are in your vocabulary.
The only time you actually see a word and examine all its letters is the first few times you encounter it.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The larger your vocabulary is, the faster you can read because you don’t stumble as often on words you don’t know or recognize. When you read words that you’re already familiar with, you read beyond the words for their meanings. In the act of reading, you absorb ideas, thoughts, feelings, and descriptions — not individual words.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The larger your vocabulary is, the faster you can read because you don’t stumble as often on words you don’t know or recognize. When you read words that you’re already familiar with, you read beyond the words for their meanings. In the act of reading, you absorb ideas, thoughts, feelings, and descriptions — not individual words.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Think of scanning as a hyperactive form of skimming, which is in a turn a quicker form of speed reading. You speed through the text in search of information without any regard for the overall gist of the author’s ideas. All you want is information about a specific topic — George Washington, the influenza virus, copper production in 19th-century Peru, ancient Greek sandal sizes, or whatever.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Eye movement is controlled by muscles in your eye sockets and eyeballs, and like the rest of your muscles, you can strengthen them through exercise. Eye strength comes in handy for speed reading, which taxes your eyes more than regular reading because it requires your eyes to cover more distance on the page. Making your eye muscles stronger and more flexible improves your clarity of vision and retards the natural eyesight deterioration that occurs with aging.
