Read & Remember More…Sign Me Up!
Do you remember the name of that person you were introduced to yesterday? Do you have a list of books you would like to read but can’t find the time? Are you envious of the person who seems to have read every book and remembers all the details of what they read (even the author and title)? No. Yes. Yes!
This week’s Find exposes the Wizard behind the curtain and shows you how to obtain the skills to become that person who reads and retains everything!
I was amazed to Find out that speed reading is an obtainable skill! Sure, some people naturally read quicker than others, but it is likely that they are implementing these skills without even realizing it. I have learned that the impediments to my speed are subvocalization and reverting; last week I didn’t know what that even meant. However, I am now in training with Acceleread!
These are confessions of a (formerly) slow reader. How slow you ask? Before I started to train with Acceleread I read 300 words per minute, fairly average for an adult (check yours here!). One of my New Year’s goals was to read more books more quickly. Imagine how many books I could read if I could double my speed? Imagine how much time I could save reading the papers in the morning.
In the last week, I have already improved by 20% to 360 words per minute. Get your time back or just read more books! The app will allow you to 2 free lessons then you may continue for $4.99. This may be the greatest productivity value that exists!
Blinkist is an company (website and app) that summarizes non-fiction books to its essential elements called Blinks. Given the amount of superfluous information in most books, this is another huge time saver. And now that you’ve become a speed reader with Acceleread, you can put those skills to use. The succinct writers at Blinkist have condensed thousands of nonfiction books into 2-minute key messages and 15-minute insight summaries.
Obviously this won’t work for fiction where literature is all about nuance, but it is a perfect solution for most non-fiction. They have Blinked thousands of books and continue to add more titles. If you haven’t already read last week’s Find The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo you can find it here and be done with the book in 15 minutes! Imagine reading 4 great books in the span of 1 hour, or possibly even reading 300 books in a year, and taking in the essential information! You can sign up for free and test drive for a few days; I liked it so much that I paid $49.99 for a one year unlimited subscription.
Moonwalking with Einstein
by Josh Foer
Now that you are quickly reading every book available on Amazon, Moonwalking with Einstein demonstrates that memory is also a skill that can be learned. Some people seem to have a better memory, but it is likely they naturally implement those skills.
The author was covering the World Memory Championships for a magazine and was struck by the fact that most participants were normal people. This book captures his 12 month journey of training and ultimately succeeding in becoming the American Memory Champion. It will provide an interesting introduction to better memory so that you can remember everything you read thanks to Acceleread and Blinkist.
Now that you are a speed reader you can read this book rather quickly or alternatively you can read the Blink version in 15 minutes, up to you!
Consider yourself a Reader and Acceleread, Blinkist and Moonwalking with Einstein Found!