Rating: 
Summary: 350wpm-1500wpm in Six Months. Newly discovered literacy.
Review: ... It's hard to call what this book teaches "rapid reading." That phrase makes it sound exotic and unreachable. I truly believe after reading this that everyday people can learn to read at 1000+ words per minute with excellent retention. I first read this as a 20-year-old college student. With it, I learned to clock my reading rate at 350 words-per-minute. Like most people, I read from left-to-right in "rows of corn," sub-vocalizing. Although extremely bright, I never really could enjoy extensive reading. Doing it for school was a chore. I tried all sorts of methods for taking notes on books. I tried a tape recorder. I tried writing in the margins. I tried post-it-notes. I tried marking page sections and writing notes longhand in a separate notebook. I tried typing at my computer as I read. I'd end up with sometimes dozens of pages of notes and outlines yet not feel like I could discuss the text fluently. This book teaches how to process text differently. Now, I relax my eyes and ideas simply flow from the words. A page in a book is no longer like a step ladder or rows of corn -- but it is like a sculpture. As a pianist, I can say that reading text for me has become like reading music. Just as I can see a sheet of music and gain an idea of the song, I can look at a written page and see ideas. Every author has a rhythm and style. After extensive and sometimes frustrating practice, based on techniques in this book, my understanding of text has completely changed. I am much more able to understand an author's central themes. Whereas before it seemed I could only think on a scale of words and sentences, now I can easily think on a scale of sections and chapters. I have much better judgement in taking notes and feel able to discuss books that I read much more fluently. Books that might have taken me 15 hours to read before now comfortably take 3 or 4. I am now able to actually enjoy reading fiction. It's more like listening to a new peice of music now than forcing myself to plow through a haystack of text line-by-line and inch-by-inch. Literacy education truly needs to incorporate methods of visual reading. My only regret about this book was that I realized I hadn't been fully taught to read before!
Rating:
Summary: This Book Will Save You Many Hours
Review: As a college freshman, I had difficulty keeping up with the reading for all of my different classes. In the summer after that year, I purchased this book and benefitted greatly from it! This book teaches great techniques for taking effective notes on materials you read. After trying four or five other books, I found that this one was the only one which provided realistic answers on how to improve reading speed and comprehension. A must for any student!
Rating: 
Summary: What you can get out of this book
Review: I bought Breakthrough Rapid Reading (BRR) over an year ago when I wanted to read tons of technical journals and books but never had enough time. I also loved to read science fiction and fantasy as well as the news paper every day. As you can imagine, it meant that I would have to spend 4 to 5 hours each day reading all the stuff that I had to and wanted to. Mostly I had to compromise choosing tech stuff and sacrificing my love for sci-fi novels.
BRR did help me speed up. I was able to triple my reading speed as far as newspaper and novels are concerned.
Tech stuff still means that I slow down and look and understand each concept before moving on.
This is the key. This is what this book is all about.
Though it claims it will retrain your eyes and brain, all it does is to convince you to skim whenever you can. Since in most of the novels and newspaper over half the information can be skipped without losing context, you start reading, or shall I say getting through, them faster. If you want to retain information, remember what you have read, you need to slow down and read and re read sentences till you understand them.
So do not expect miracles. If you practice hard enough, you will be able to increase your reading speed by following few simple tricks in the book.
CONCLUSION: A good buy if this is your first speed reading course.
Rating:
Summary: Can work wonders for your speed!
Review: I didn't find the comprehension tips very helpful, but my speed simply skyrocketed. I'd never been a fast reader before, averaging only around 300 words per minute. But more and more I found out as I move on to college, reading would become an invaluable skill. I started to read many books that claimed to "triple" your speed, but to no avail. However, when I read this book, my speed jumped from 300 to 500 within ONE WEEK. And after 5 weeks I could read as fast as 1500 words per minute. It was a miracle! All the drills really push you to sweep through material FAST - and with lots of practice you get used to it and speed reading becomes a part of you. I'm so thankful because not only does that take a huge burden off my shoulders for future reading, it also impresses my friends when I can go through an English book within 2 days while they work on it for 3 weeks!
Rating: 
Summary: only recommended for people who are problem readers
Review: I don't think that these methods really work for people who are already competent readers. Rather, they are intended to assist people who have problems concentrating on a printed page because they watch too much television. This book makes reading much more difficult. I read very quickly before the exercises and didn't see much improvement in my speed. The effort to use my finger as a pacer was not worth the slight improvement in speed. If you read slowly, I can see how this book can help you. It will train you to concentrate on a printed page and give you a method of retention that will become second nature. However, if you are fairly intelligent and have no problems reading or retaining, the book is more or less a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Just started...but looking good...
Review: I had some serious doubts about "Speed Reading"...so I bought this one from Amazon after researching, and reading alot...ALOT...of user comments. This one struck me as the only one that claimed the least, looked the best (from user comments), and seemed like a good overall choice. In about 4 days, I've worked my speed to double my original rate. I'm still going through the book, and frankly im not even a third of the way through. I now comfortably read probably 120% more than what I originally could. When I read the old fashioned way, I feel like a snail. It takes work. Kump not only gives you exercises, directions, explanations of those directions, but also gives you some estimations of how much you will accomplish - depending on how hard you work at it. I'll give an update when i'm through the book completely. But as of right now...I frankly dont see how anyone of average reading abilities could get this book and not at least double their reading rate within a short amount of time. And to me, that alone is worth the price of the book (two lunches, tops).
Rating:
Summary: Just started...but looking good...
Review: I had some serious doubts about "Speed Reading"...so I bought this one from Amazon after researching, and reading alot...ALOT...of user comments. This one struck me as the only one that claimed the least, looked the best (from user comments), and seemed like a good overall choice. In about 4 days, I've worked my speed to double my original rate. I'm still going through the book, and frankly im not even a third of the way through. I now comfortably read probably 120% more than what I originally could. When I read the old fashioned way, I feel like a snail. It takes work. Kump not only gives you exercises, directions, explanations of those directions, but also gives you some estimations of how much you will accomplish - depending on how hard you work at it. I'll give an update when i'm through the book completely. But as of right now...I frankly dont see how anyone of average reading abilities could get this book and not at least double their reading rate within a short amount of time. And to me, that alone is worth the price of the book (two lunches, tops).
Rating:
Summary: The best book, I've ever seen, on speed reading!
Review: I ran across an older version of this book years ago at a public library. At the time I had seen a few infomercials on speed reading so I decided to see if I could find a book on it. I did the initial drill and I was reading at exactly 240 words a minute, which is the average rate for a college student according to the book's graph. I went through the book and within 3 weeks I was reading at a rate of over 800 words a minute. The drills are tremendous. However, I got lazy and started putting it off. Like an athlete if you don't work out (drill) you will lose the speed. Speed reading is something I really regreted not sticking with years ago and I'm glad they through out this new edition (hardly changed, just some internet references). Within 3 weeks I've broken 1000 words a minute and I feel like I could have gotten so much more if I drilled myself harder. I've tried out Evelyn Wood's book and a photo reading book, but by far I consider this one the best. When you first learn to read with your finger it might seem strange, however with time you'll notice the speed skyrocketing and it will feel uncomfortable when you don't use it.
Rating:
Summary: The best book, I've ever seen, on speed reading!
Review: I ran across an older version of this book years ago at a public library. At the time I had seen a few infomercials on speed reading so I decided to see if I could find a book on it. I did the initial drill and I was reading at exactly 240 words a minute, which is the average rate for a college student according to the book's graph. I went through the book and within 3 weeks I was reading at a rate of over 800 words a minute. The drills are tremendous. However, I got lazy and started putting it off. Like an athlete if you don't work out (drill) you will lose the speed. Speed reading is something I really regreted not sticking with years ago and I'm glad they through out this new edition (hardly changed, just some internet references). Within 3 weeks I've broken 1000 words a minute and I feel like I could have gotten so much more if I drilled myself harder. I've tried out Evelyn Wood's book and a photo reading book, but by far I consider this one the best. When you first learn to read with your finger it might seem strange, however with time you'll notice the speed skyrocketing and it will feel uncomfortable when you don't use it.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough, with plenty of exercises.
Review: I started out viewing the Evelyn Wood videos (3 videos), which showed me the basic principles on speed reading. But Peter Kump's book was filled with more exercises than the three videos could have gone over with the viewer. I found that even without the background I already had in the methods that Evelyn Wood teaches, the Peter Kump book is excellent and stands on its own. The exercises are explained thoroughly and not only does he teach rapid reading but also teaches comprehension techniques as well. I was able to triple my speed in a matter of hours. With diligence I should be to able to increase my speed 5-fold,maybe 10-fold. The only other thing the reader should have is a timer or stop watch to help time oneself during the exercises.
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