Speed reading

Last winter I attended a speed reading seminar. Before I was a relatively fast reader but decided to see if I could improve.  Now the main thing you learn at these speed reading seminars is running your finger under or next to the text you are reading. I was given some exercises that would improve my speed even more. I gave these a try and sure enough the worked. The thing is I am not sure that speed reading is useful on all occasions.

Now I am a native Icelander but i learned English at a young age. I found right away that the methods worked better for me when reading Icelandic. This is not surprising as it is my native language. For simpler English text it also worked really well but if the books are to difficult I prefer reading regularly. Maybe I should practice more or maybe the method just works better with easier texts.

So should one try speed reading? Sure, especially if you are a slow reader. The teacher in the course said some books can be read twice if necessary but I prefer to read them just once and spend longer amount time on the first go. I think from here on out I will mix the two depending on the case.