Speed reading lets you read thousands of words a minute
| Speed reading lets you read thousands of words a minute | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "With the right training, techniques or apps, people can learn to read thousands of words a minute while fully understanding and remembering what they read." | |
| Domain | Education & Learning |
| Tactic | Pseudoscience / Junk Science Fraud or Scam |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 1959 |
| Origin | Commercial speed-reading courses, notably Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics, launched in 1959, followed by books, seminars and apps |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-27 |
| Further reading: books on Education & Learning | |
The claim that speed reading lets you read thousands of words a minute has been sold through courses, books and apps for more than six decades. Promoters say that by eliminating "subvocalization," the inner voice many readers hear, reducing eye movements, or reading several lines at once, people can read many times faster with no loss of comprehension. A major 2016 review of reading research concluded that there is a trade-off between speed and accuracy: people can learn to skim faster, but understanding declines as speed increases. Typical skilled readers read about 200 to 400 words per minute, and the main limit is not how fast the eyes move but how quickly the brain can process language.
The claim
Evelyn Wood, a Utah schoolteacher, founded Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics in 1959, claiming students could reach speeds of thousands of words per minute. The course gained fame when President John F. Kennedy was reported to be a fast reader and members of his staff took it. Later programs and books promised similar results, and in the 2010s apps such as Spritz used "rapid serial visual presentation," flashing one word at a time in the same spot, claiming to let people read a novel in an hour or two.
What the evidence shows
- The 2016 review. In a review in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Keith Rayner, Elizabeth Schotter, Michael Masson, Mary Potter and Rebecca Treiman examined decades of research on eye movements, word recognition and comprehension. They concluded that speed readers' claims of reading thousands of words per minute with good comprehension were not supported, and that gains in speed came at the cost of understanding.
- Eyes are not the bottleneck. Readers fixate on most words, and the visual system can take in only a limited span of letters around each fixation. Identifying words and integrating their meaning takes time, which limits reading speed.
- Subvocalization. Research suggests that inner speech is part of how skilled readers process language, and attempts to eliminate it entirely tend to reduce comprehension.
- Rapid presentation apps. Studies of rapid serial visual presentation found that it can impair comprehension, partly because it prevents readers from looking back at earlier words, which readers naturally do when sentences are difficult.
- Skimming has a role. Skimming can be useful for getting the gist or finding information. What the evidence does not support is the claim that skimming at very high speeds yields full understanding.
The best-established way to read faster with good comprehension is to read more and build vocabulary and background knowledge, which make text easier to process.
Why it persists
Speed reading appeals to busy people overwhelmed by information and promises a dramatic improvement with little effort. Courses often test comprehension with easy questions or familiar material, making results look better than they are. Testimonials and celebrity associations add credibility.
Lessons for readers
- Ask how comprehension was measured when speed claims are made.
- Be skeptical of claims that a learned technique can multiply a natural cognitive ability many times over.
- Skimming and reading are different activities with different purposes.
- Building knowledge and vocabulary improves reading more reliably than tricks.
- Celebrity endorsements are not evidence.
See also
- Humans use only 10 percent of their brains
- People remember 10 percent of what they read and 90 percent of what they do
- Brain Gym exercises improve learning
Sources
- Keith Rayner, Elizabeth R. Schotter, Michael E. J. Masson, Mary C. Potter and Rebecca Treiman, "So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help?," Psychological Science in the Public Interest 17, no. 1 (2016).
- Elizabeth R. Schotter, Randy Tran and Keith Rayner, "Don't Believe What You Read (Only Once): Comprehension Is Supported by Regressions During Reading," Psychological Science 25, no. 6 (2014).
- Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain (Viking, 2009).