Being able to Read Fast

On my commuter train home tonight I sat opposite a guy who was reading a large paperback book. I noticed something quite remarkable (to me at least) about the way he was reading: he sat, calm, still, impassive, completely in the book. Two minutes after leaving the main London terminal he had flipped over a page. By the time we reached our first stop 3 minutes later he had flipped over another page. I realised he was averaging two pages every three minutes. That struck me as an incredibly fast read, incredibly fast...I suddenly wondered how is experience of books must be so diametrically opposed to mine...Really spooky-wooky. Then I got to thinking...And how fast does this guy "read" life, absorb life itself...To have a swift comprehension, a rapid understanding...Wow, I wonder how that places you in to the world, as compared to folks whot take maybe five times as long to read something...I switched on my Sony CD Walkman and reverted to the less user-activated process of listening to Classical music: Mendelsohn's Variations Serieuses in D Minor, performed by Aleksandar Serdar, a debut recital on EMI Classics. (Picked it up in Marylebone High Street Oxfam shop for a stunning four pounds 99 pence, fell in love with it, and have been listening to it ever since). Doing this made me feel briefly more centred and less disoriented. But raising my eyes up and across, and looking at Monignor SpeedReader opposite made me feel quite nauseous and frustrated again.

Speed-Reading Resources