We all have friends who are always reading books. Friends who say they read 3-4 books a month and we're thinking 'how do you do that?'. First, who has the time to read that many books a month? Speed readers and people who can read without distractions from their own minds.
President John F Kennedy could read up to 1,200 words a minute. The average is around 250. Imagine how many books you could read in a year if you were closer to JFK's reading ability.
That's what the app, Outread, claims to do. Not 1,200 words a minute, but a lot faster than you're probably reading now.
The speed reading trainer has exercises and techniques to train your brain to read faster while comprehending what you're reading. The app says one of the things that slow us down as we read, is that inner voice we hear as we see the words, (the voice that says 'I've read that somewhere else,' and 'wonder if I need to mow the grass this weekend.') Another reading speed bump is how our eyes physically move from one side to the other of the page.
One reading exercise in the Outread app improves peripheral vision and short-term memory by placing a grid of numbers on the screen. Your task is to find those numbers in order as quickly as possible.
The app offers a few techniques to improve your speed. One shows highlighted text on a page one or two words at a time. You decide if you want the highlights to move at 300 words per minute or 800 wpm. The more you read, the more you'll find you can speed things up incrementally.
What are you reading during these techniques and drills? Outread+ includes books such as "The Great Gatsby", and other classics you never got around to reading. Dozens of books from all genres to choose from. You can also use the app to read articles from Forbes and other magazines as well as things you've saved in other apps.
I can't say for certain the app is the reason, but after using it for a few hours, my time on these tests improved and I gradually increased my reading speed to over 400 words per minute.
Outread is an app only for iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. It's free but for all the features there's a subscription of $5 a month or $30 a year for Outread+. The app offers a free 7-day trial.
