Bookreview: 10 Days to Faster Reading

reading, time management, self improvement | December 07, 2013

Especially as an IT person, it's important to constantly acquire new skills. The only way to accomplish this is by reading a lot. Besides reading technical documentation, every now and then I buy a book that doesn't necessarily have to be about IT.

Last month, bol.com had a promotion running: buy 2, get 1 for free. In the reasonably limited list of free books, I spotted 10 days to faster reading by @speedreadr. Because I had never really had any reading training in the past, I decided to give it a go.

Like many people, I too have a big pile of reading material. I wish I had the time to sit down and make my way to the bottom of it. I'm sure that some day I will. But the pile keeps growing.

"It takes time to save time." -- time management

Time is the number one problem that keeps me from doing it. Being able to read more in less time, all while having a higher level of comprehension, is a skill I learned by reading 10 Days to Faster Reading. Thanks, Abby!

The book is only 200 pages, which makes it 20 pages a day. It's a very easy read, and because it draws analogies between speed reading and car racing, it's very fun too. For example, during the daily time trials, you can experiment with some of the information you've learned and track your improvements on the personal progress chart. The book is also specifically targeted at non-fiction reading.

"The road to knowledge begins with the turn of a page." -- fortune cookie

While reading the book, I realized that I was already applying some of the techniques. By learning some more, I now understand why these techniques work. And by having some dedicated training for each technique, I managed to more than double my reading speed.

How nice is that!