News
Garber Announces Advisory Committee for Harvard Law School Dean Search
News
First Harvard Prize Book in Kosovo Established by Harvard Alumni
News
Ryan Murdock ’25 Remembered as Dedicated Advocate and Caring Friend
News
Harvard Faculty Appeal Temporary Suspensions From Widener Library
News
Man Who Managed Clients for High-End Cambridge Brothel Network Pleads Guilty
They used to read from 100 to 400 words per minute They can now read from 600 to 2000 words per minute
Watching their hands fly over the pages (their hands act as pacers) you can't believe that they're actually reading. They must be skimming.
But they're not--
To begin our second year of monthly reports on successful students. We are presenting four persons who have made extensive use of their Reading Dynamics experience. As students and professionals they must read heavily, and they expect their professional lives to continue the pressure for large amounts of reading. The oldest, Steve, is in his first year of internship at a local hospital. Paul will graduate from college in June; Mike and Larry, ages 14 and 18, attend prep school.
Mike recorded the most dramatic reading change. He began the course at 120 words per minute and increased his reading rate in the same material nine times. Far more significantly, he reports "greatly increased comprehension" and an increase in his grades.
Larry attributes a 10 per cent increase in his grades to his impoved reading ability (present reading level: 800-1300 WPM).
Paul began the course at about 370 WPM and now does his textbook reading at about 1200 WPM and novels at 1800 WPM. Both rates represent a minimal three time increase over the rates of the proficient college reader.
Steve says that he saves 60 per cent of the time that it once took him to read medical texts, yet he reads them twice.
The Shapiros are not unusual. Nor do they naturally read so fast. They learned this revolutionary technique of rapid reading at the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Institute . . . along with more than 6000 other persons in the Boston-Providence Area. Of these, the average student begins at about 300 words a minute and finishes at speeds over 1200 words a minute.
You can do this, too.
You may not learn to read quite as fast as The Shapiros (and then again you might!), but the nationally known Reading Dynamics Institute guarantees that you'll at least triple your reading efficiency with good comprehension -- or receive a full tuition refund.
Just to show you that they are not unique, here are typical samples of progress in words per minute by Reading Dynamics graduates in the Boston-Providence Area. These are test rates only. The average student reads 1 1/2 to 3 times faster than his ending test rates. Utah school teacher discovers techniques of dynamic reading. Evelyn Wood first observed dynamic reading 18 years ago when a professor at the University of Utah read her term paper at an amazing 6000 words a minute. Mrs. Wood's curiosity caused her to look for other exceptional readers, and over the next few years she found 50 people who could read faster than 1500 words per minute with fine comprehension, outstanding recall and great reading satisfaction. She was now sure it was possible to read faster than anyone had thought, but the question of how was not yet answered. It took 8 years of toil and research working with naturally fast readers before she began to find the answers. Eventually she developed a technique where-by the average student was able to learn to read 3 to 10 times faster. She taught her method at the University of Utah for three years refining it even more. Further studies were conducted at the University of Delaware, and the first Reading Dynamics Institute was opened in Washington, D.C., in September, 1959. Since that time institutes have been opened in 61 cities throughout the country, and national enrollment for the course has topped 350,000. Comprehension is stressed. At a recent teacher training conference, Mrs. Wood emphasized that dynamic reading is nothing like the skimming techniques commonly used in speed reading courses. She said, "Skipping words is dangerous, as you don't know whether or not you have skipped a word which could change the whole meaning of the sentence." "You read five times faster," she pointed out, "not by reading every fifth word but by reading five times as many words in the same amount of time." Mrs. Wood emphasized that using her technique of rapid reading, every word on the page is noted. No mechanical pacers. She was also critical of reading courses that use a mechanical pacer, as students tend to revert to previous reading speeds once the pacer is not there to help them. When reading dynamically, the reader's hand is used as a pacer.
These are test rates only. The average student reads 1 1/2 to 3 times faster than his ending test rates.
Utah school teacher discovers techniques of dynamic reading.
Evelyn Wood first observed dynamic reading 18 years ago when a professor at the University of Utah read her term paper at an amazing 6000 words a minute. Mrs. Wood's curiosity caused her to look for other exceptional readers, and over the next few years she found 50 people who could read faster than 1500 words per minute with fine comprehension, outstanding recall and great reading satisfaction.
She was now sure it was possible to read faster than anyone had thought, but the question of how was not yet answered. It took 8 years of toil and research working with naturally fast readers before she began to find the answers. Eventually she developed a technique where-by the average student was able to learn to read 3 to 10 times faster.
She taught her method at the University of Utah for three years refining it even more. Further studies were conducted at the University of Delaware, and the first Reading Dynamics Institute was opened in Washington, D.C., in September, 1959. Since that time institutes have been opened in 61 cities throughout the country, and national enrollment for the course has topped 350,000.
Comprehension is stressed.
At a recent teacher training conference, Mrs. Wood emphasized that dynamic reading is nothing like the skimming techniques commonly used in speed reading courses. She said, "Skipping words is dangerous, as you don't know whether or not you have skipped a word which could change the whole meaning of the sentence."
"You read five times faster," she pointed out, "not by reading every fifth word but by reading five times as many words in the same amount of time." Mrs. Wood emphasized that using her technique of rapid reading, every word on the page is noted.
No mechanical pacers.
She was also critical of reading courses that use a mechanical pacer, as students tend to revert to previous reading speeds once the pacer is not there to help them. When reading dynamically, the reader's hand is used as a pacer.
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.