Patterns

There are a few things in my life I'm good at.

Okay, I like to believe there are more than a few things. But that's not the point.

I've always been a reader. I love the stories, but, in addition, I love words. Often, I've wondered if being good at spotting and/or developing patterns (another thing I'm not too shabby at), has something to do with the speed at which a person reads. Leaving behind my love of the stories, I'm a considerably fast reader, it seems like, and although I've never timed myself, I can move through a document faster than a number of people I know.

I once asked my mom--I don't remember what lead up to the question--if, when she read, she heard someone "reading" in her head. She said yes.

This has lead me to a new theory. When you read, your brain skips the smaller words and fills in the blanks. I think that the more patterns you recognize (the pattern of words within the sentence), the faster you become. Because you read (really read) fewer words, you have the ability to move faster through the text.

I also think it possible to read faster if you don't hear someone in your head.

Although I think this is a pretty good theory, I didn't have much to base it on until I came across something called "spreed." It's fascinating. They hold that you can become a faster reader simply by reading faster than your brain can read to you. To prove this, they feed you one word at a time (you have to tell it to) at 300 wpm, and then tell you to play around with it until you find a speed that seems comfortable. Although it can be harder to read a book like that (in part, because you don't get words fed to you one-by-one in a book), it gives you, I think, more confidence to read a document faster than you think you can.

It's not too bad for some impressive, if insane, bragging rights. For instance, I know I can read at least 600 wpm. I just...choose to leave out some of the minor details.

m.