What is your reading speed?

Whilst browsing online book stores yesterday I came across a book called Speed Reading; How to increase your reading speed and comprehension by Bryan Botwin. I like to think of myself as a relatively fast and competent reader, but thought I would read it anyway. Any of us bookworms will admit that being able to read faster can only be a good thing as it enables us to read more and more books in less time.

Speed Reading: How To Increase Your Reading Speed And Comprehension by Bryan Botwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A few helpful tips to increase your reading speed. Short and sweet.

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I have encountered the notion of speed reading before and vaguely remember doing an online test to discover my reading speed. Taking an online test is recommended by the author to establish your current speed and to be able to monitor any progress made in future.

I took this speed reading test today and I was genuinely shocked by my results. The site says that the average speed at which we read is around 200 words per minute and we retain roughly 60% of the information before us. I was pretty confident of beating this, being an avid, long-time reader. I was incredibly pleased to see my reading speed was a whopping 550 words per minute and my retention rate was 91%!! I took the test again as instructed and my words per minute had increased to 638! Apparently only 1% of readers have a retention of more than 85% and can reach speeds of up to 1000 words per minute! Pretty interesting stuff! If you want to take a look at the book, get it now for free below.