Publishers of Books Worth Reading

BY KIRKUS REVIEWS

McMaster presents a program for enhanced reading speed and comprehension.

The author, an investor and writer, breaks down the process of reading and outlines a handful of methods designed to increase reading speed and efficiency.

McMaster astutely acknowledges the huge role reading plays in our society—studies have found that the average person is spending more time than ever reading every day—Americans were found to spend about five hours a day reading (averaging only 16 minutes of daily reading for pleasure). People are swamped with emails and links in their newsfeeds as workplaces require employees to process more and more material. McMaster wants to stress to his more conscientious readers that the kinds of speed-reading he’s advocating do not amount to skimming. The methods discussed here are not to be thought of as “cheating”; the author asserts that these approaches, based on both science and common sense, strengthen the very process of reading. Some of his advice is based on research data, such as the number of eye movements required to read a standard page of prose (as many as 48,000 such movements for a 200-page book). He also discusses the concept of “eye span,” which is developed over the first few years of school and refers to the number of letters or words a person can see at one time. Increasing eye span, he writes, involves a process called “grouping,” in which the reader learns to take in standard phrases at one glance: “The trick is to get your brain and eye to recognize ‘at your earliest convenience,’ or any phrase you like, as one so-called character.” McMaster also proposes using a “tracker” of some kind—a card, a pencil, a finger—to draw the gaze steadily down the printed page. These practices (like the rest of his advice) are designed to bring the reading process completely under the reader’s control.

The pace throughout is necessarily brisk and informative. Though there’s a good deal of compelling research-based insight into the “nuts and bolts” of how the reading eye extracts information from the page, the main strength of McMaster’s book is its practical approach to the activity itself rather than an analysis of its mechanics, though his arguments for the benefits of reading text laid out in multiple columns on a single page is intriguing. Most of his book is very different from the kinds of short cuts most speed-reading plans offer—time and again, he insists on one core demand: no multitasking. “If you aren’t giving reading your full attention, you’re not doing it as well as you could be,” he writes. “The better you keep your attention on your reading, the better you read.” The author also stresses the importance of making reading a routine and setting gradually increasing reading goals (crucially, he urges his readers to refrain from subvocalizing, avoiding “sounding out” words they’re reading). McMaster delivers all of this in lean, no-nonsense prose designed, fittingly, to be read and understood quickly. Readers at any skill stage will find some engaging ideas and advice in these pages.A valuable collection of thought-provoking strategies to strengthen reading muscles.