We are a generation that orders too many books but reads very few. Everyone loves to have a bookshelf in the background with hundreds of books on it but only a few manage to read all of them. A lot of us get attracted to a book just by looking at its cover. However, buying a book and reading a book are two different things. You can purchase any number of books driven by attraction but for finishing all of them, you need attention, the zeal to learn something new and a strong reading sense. Some read books only during holidays or while travelling. This means reading for the sake of passing time.
Now, learning and passing time do not really complement each other. The time spent learning is most valuable and you can not learn with the mindset of reading something just for the sake of passing time. In such cases, you may start reading a book and get bored just after reading 5 to 10 pages. Another constraint that prevents people from reading too many books is having limited time. A slow reading speed adds to the problem. However, there are some people who manage to finish a book in 1 to 2 readings. A busy person can only read so many books if they have a very impressive reading speed. The question arises, how to improve the reading speed? In the next few hundred words, you will find the secret to it.
Starting With Favourite Niche
Reading is a habit that needs to be developed. Every book-junkie was once an amateur reader. Everyone has an interest in a particular field. For instance movies, sports, politics, humour or geopolitics. The best way to improve reading capability is by adding the interest factor. You can’t get bored with something that interests you. If you have a love for movies, start with romantic novels. Try to finish the novel in one reading itself. Do this for a prolonged period. After a few books from the same genre, try reading books from different genres. Within a few months, your reading speed will increase significantly.
Star Ratings
Most of us prefer to buy books online and while it takes some more time to get the book delivered in comparison to buying the book from a store, the brighter side is that you get to see the star ratings and read reviews from the readers who have already read the book. With so many reviews already published, the chances of getting ‘fooled’ by a graphically attractive cover decline significantly. You will know which books are worth reading just by reading the reviews. You can also get a little information about the story and whether it fits your interests.
Reading Without Speaking
While growing up, most of us were taught to speak the words loudly as we read. While this helped in remembering the words that we read better, it also takes extra effort and can break the reading flow due to small factors such as a momentary pause of modulation of voice. The best way to read a book with a constant speed is silent reading. Reading without speaking the words aloud makes the task easy and smooth and you can continue to read for extended hours.
Avoid Rereading
Rereading is something that happens a lot with new readers. When you read a book in several sittings, you have to start several times. Many amateur readers forget where they stop the last time and hence they reread several lines or pages. You can avoid this by underlining important points while you read. Also, place a bookmark as the page you finished last and underline the last line you read. You can also fold the page you last read to reach that particular page when you open the book again.
Getting a Library membership
Sitting in the comfort of your house and reading the book is the new blue but the only problem is that you have to order a book in advance in order to read it. Since delivery time always varies, a gap is created between two books that you read and this can affect the continuity. You can keep the continuity by getting a library membership instead of buying books. Everytime you go to the library, you will find some new books and they will be available instantly. This will maintain the continuity and you will save a lot of money too.
Set A Goal
There are several types of research that prove that the productivity of human’s increases when they work with a deadline. Make a commitment to yourself. Give yourself a goal for instance, “I have to read 200 pages a day”. Stick to the goal and try to better the record every time you open a book. Do not close the book until you’ve met your goal. This will certainly help you in reading more books in a year than you ever did. This will also improve your dedication and concentration.
Reading More and More Books
There are no alternatives to practice and experience. The only way to gain experience in reading is by reading more and more. Try to set a monthly deadline, say 5 books a month. Increase 1 or 2 books to this target every month. In this way, you’ll be reading more than 70 books per year. Try to increase this number by 5-10 more books per year. Within a year or two, finishing a book in one sitting will be a piece of cake for you.
Improving Vocabulary
Almost 20% of the time that we spend in reading a book is spent looking at the meaning of new words in the dictionary. If you can reduce this time with every passing month, your reading speed will increase significantly. The question is how to do it? Use a highlighter to highlight all the strange words that you spot while reading a book. Look for their meaning in the dictionary and try to read them 5-6 times aloud in order to remember the meaning. You can write to them in notebooks as well. Another great way of improving vocabulary is by using some new words every time you write something new. This will improve your vocabulary significantly.
