Why is it needed - high reading speed?
Reading speed records, which I will talk about below, are certainly important because they show a person’s capabilities. There are also records in running - 100 m in 10 seconds, but in life no one walks at such a speed.
There must be a purpose for reading. Otherwise, it is like a ship increasing its speed, but having no goal or final destination for its voyage.
Well, those metaphors seem to be enough. Let's look at the basic technical parameters of reading. In addition to reading speed itself, there are also such concepts as text comprehension and reading productivity.
The most important parameter is productivity, i.e. the ability to work through a text with a minimum of time and effort. And the goal is precisely to increase this reading productivity.
Productivity depends on the ability to properly plan and organize the reading process, and not just on reading speed.
At one time, I achieved a high reading speed, but at the same time I realized that aimless reading at high speed only increases Chaos in my thoughts. Therefore, after mastering this skill, I became interested in developing the “Rubbing Debris” and “Unfinished Business” skills. I then turned to the classification of reading lists and the purposes of reading. This, in fact, formed the basis of my Personal Reading System.
But, nevertheless, in this article we will talk about reading speed. Given the presence of other components of the System, this is a very important part of it.
Let's start with the usual reading speed - the so-called mechanical reading speed.
Those. without lack of any reading technique. This is how we are used to reading, we can speed it up a little, slow it down a little, but in essence, the average speed will not be higher - 200 words per minute.
95% of people read at a speed of 180 - 220 words per minute (1 page in 1.5-2 minutes). At the same time, the level of text comprehension is about 60%.
In our country, a state standard for reading speed has been established for primary schoolchildren: for the first grade - 30-60 words per minute, for the second - 90-110 and for the third - 110-140.
In the United States, the following reading speed standards have been introduced, taking into account the assimilation of text content (at least 70 percent): for elementary school students - 80-158 words per minute, middle school - 175-204, high school - 214-250, for students - 250- 280, for highly skilled readers - 340-620 words per minute.
In 1956, during a research project at Northwestern Polytechnic University, C. Napier and E. F. Hart surveyed 147 readers: 82 among the business community and 65 among the rest of the population. The average speed was 232 words per minute. The speed among business people was 223 words per minute, among the rest of the public - 241 words per minute. However, two-thirds of the participants read at approximately 200 to 300 words per minute.
Further research has shown that an average speed of 230 - 250 words per minute is common for most readers, but among business people this speed can vary greatly.
Each of us has internal untapped reserves. As readers we should strive to achieve speed over 300 words per minute and assimilate the content of the text with a coefficient not lower than 70 percent.
To increase your reading speed, you need to apply some techniques, hence the technical reading speed. Those. speed, which is formed as a result of using various reading techniques.
Verbal reading speed has a limit (600-700 words per minute). This is the number of words people can pronounce in 60 seconds. So if we continue to read the way we were taught, talking to myself, then our reading speed cannot exceed 700 words per minute.
In order to increase your reading speed by about one and a half times, it is enough to stop turning your eyes back and reread the text. How to do it? Just form a new habit of reading only forward, without going back. Begin to consciously monitor your eye movements and “allow” them to move only forward.
Moreover, as research shows, the higher the speed, the higher the degree of understanding of the text. This happens because information is organized into meaningful chunks that are immediately understandable to your brain.
The Andreev School proceeds from the speed scale given in the table:
I have expanded the table to include, for convenience, the average number of words. The speed reading course allows you to increase your reading speed by an average of 3 times compared to the initial one; As a rule, students reach a reading speed of 3,000 characters per minute or more. This pace allows you to read about 100 medium-sized book pages in an hour.
Reading records
The reading speed of 16-year-old Kiev resident Ira Ivachenko is 163,333 words per minute with complete assimilation of what she read. This achievement was officially registered in the presence of journalists.
The unofficial reading speed record - 416,250 words per minute - belongs to another Kiev resident Evgenia Alekseenko. The record was set on September 9, 1989 during one of the tests by the center's management in the presence of 20 course participants. At the time of setting the record, Evgenia was 16 years old. It takes her about a minute to read a medium-sized book. Evgeniya retells the contents of what she read for hours, not missing the smallest details.
In his book How to Pass Exams, world memory champion Dominic O'Brien tells Eugenia's incredible story.
It’s curious, but no one realized the unique ability of this young lady until she was 15 years old. It was then that her father gave Evgenia a long newspaper article to read. When two seconds later she returned the newspaper to him, saying that she found the text interesting, the father decided that the girl was joking.
However, her answers to the questions her father asked about the contents of the newspaper publication turned out to be correct.
Evgenia herself admits: “I have no idea what my secret is. The pages fly into my head on their own, and I remember the “meaning” rather than the exact text.
There's some kind of analysis going on in my brain that I honestly can't explain. But I feel like I have a whole library in my head!”
A student of the Russian Oleg Andreev School, Svetlana Arkhipova, set a reading speed record of 60,000 characters/min. It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
American Sin (Sean) Adam became the record holder for speed reading. In 2003, he set a world record of 3,850 words per minute.
Englishwoman Anne Jones has won the world speed reading championship six times. Her reading speed is 4,253 words per minute. Now Anne is very famous in the UK in the field of speed reading. She also travels the world to provide speed reading training to her clients.
Presidents John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt also persistently trained in speed reading and achieved excellent reading results - over 1,000 words per minute.
M. Gorky read at a speed of 4,000 words per minute. A.S. Novikov-Priboi, recalling the days spent in Gorky’s company, spoke about how the famous writer read magazines. He simply glanced at them, page after page, and in the end it only took him a few minutes to “swallow” the magazine. Thus, Gorky could read a huge pile of magazines in a short time.
Balzac read at a speed of about 2,000 words per minute. Napoleon read at a speed of 2,000 words per minute.
V.D. Bonch-Bruevich recalls that Lenin had a phenomenal memory. Having barely read a page from a book, he could immediately reproduce it close to the text, despite the fact that he was reading diagonally. P.N. Lepeshinsky claims that the degree of tension in Lenin’s mental apparatus during reading was simply phenomenal. He remembered almost 100 percent of what he read, and he could read in several languages, with equal success.
So, summary:
1. The usual mechanical way of reading, which we learned from school, allows us to read at a speed of 200-300 words per minute.
2. By eliminating silent talking and returns, you can increase the speed by 2-3 times.
3. Further development of reading techniques allows you to increase the speed to 2,000 words per minute.
4. Comprehensive development of personality abilities (memory, attention, psychological state) allows you to achieve 5,000-10,000 words per minute.
5. And the fastest way to read is PhotoReading. Allows you to reach up to 25,000 - 30,000 words per minute.
Everyone knows that records are set in professional sports, in the height of houses and the speed of vehicles. However, the desire to achieve outstanding quantitative indicators and record them, oddly enough, is also present in modern culture.
In September 2014, the next version of the Guinness Book of Records was published. In addition to the usual achievements recorded in it, several well-known musicians appeared on the pages of the publication. Including Shakira, Miley Cyrus, Metallica, Katy Perry and some others.
How many words does Eminem read per minute?
Eminem set a record for words per minute when he performed the song “Rap God” - the famous rapper pronounces one thousand five hundred and sixty words in six minutes and four seconds. So, how many words does Eminem read per minute? The simplest calculation shows - 243.75 words!
However, Eminem's record for the fastest rap performance did not last long. He was beaten by Drum & Bass MC Harry Schotta. This achievement has not yet been recorded by experts. However, in the six minutes and twenty-three seconds that the track “Animal” lasts, the performer pronounces 1,771 words, which is 211 more than before. Harry Schotta himself claims that he did not strive for special fame, he was just trying to have fun... the result was outstanding success. It is unknown how true this is... however, an excess of aplomb seems to be uncharacteristic for Schott.
The similarity of both tracks in sound and tempo of performance is quite understandable: otherwise it is impossible to achieve such a speed of pronunciation. Let's hope that the performer will still be able to mobilize, tune in properly and surpass his opponent, creating a new record for the number of words per minute. But even if for some reason this does not work out, he will still be one of the most outstanding rappers in the history of music in terms of recitative tempo!
The track, during which Eminem last performed a record for words per minute, is included in the album “The Marshall Mathers LP 2”. This composition, according to one of the ratings, was in high demand for no less than twenty weeks. The first performance of the song took place back in 2013 at the YouTube Music Awards 2013 and then at the MTV EMA 2013. The average execution speed reaches 4.28 words per second.
Eminem and the words per minute record - video
You can verify the reality of such outstanding and amazing speech speeds yourself by watching a short video:
Everyone knows the records in sports, food, appearance, etc. However, such records have also been set in the field of reading.
Everyone knows the records in sports, food, appearance, etc. However, such records have also been set in the field of reading.
163,333 words were read in one minute by a 16-year-old girl Irina Ivanchenko from Kyiv. At the same time, the entire text read was fully assimilated and perceived. Journalists recorded this achievement.
Another resident of Kyiv, Evgenia Alekseenko (she was also 16 years old at the time the record was set), was able to read 416,250 words per minute. To read a very voluminous magazine, Evgenia needs only 30-40 seconds, and she reads a book with an average number of pages in a minute. But the most interesting thing is that this girl can endlessly retell everything she read, delving into even the smallest details.
Another record for reading speed was set by a resident of Russia - Svetlana Arkhipova (student of the Oleg Andreev School). In a minute she read 60 thousand characters. This achievement was rightfully included in the Guinness Book of Records.
In 2003, the record holder in the field of speed reading was an American resident, Sin (Sean) Adam. Since childhood, he had quite serious problems with his vision, and he sought to improve it through various trainings, in which he showed determination and patience. His record is 3850 words per minute. Sin Adam does not stop there and improves his abilities: 4550 words in one minute.
Six-time world champion in speed reading - Ann Jones from England. Her achievement is 4253 words per minute. She conducts trainings all over the world and teaches people speed reading techniques.
In addition to world-famous speed reading records, there are also achievements in group continuous reading. Thus, five students from the Dominican Republic read books aloud without interruption for 300 hours. They read in turn the works of the President of the Dominican Republic, texts authored by Juan Bosch, a writer and politician. The students didn't even have time to eat or sleep. Of course, setting such a record required long-term training: they trained for more than two years, developing their vocal cords and endurance.
The previous record for reading duration was set slightly earlier - in 2009. Its participants are women who read books aloud for 240 hours.
Larisa Glushkova
And how soon does he do it?
On Friday, Nicki Minaj released the album “,” which included a collaboration with Eminem on the song “Majesty.” The very next day, the Genius portal reported that in it the rapper managed to break his own record for the speed of reading.
This was noticed by one of the site users, hiding under the pseudonym 09ymmit07. While analyzing the fastest part of Marshall's verse, he counted the number of syllables the rapper spoke per second and later compared the numbers to the speed-crazy third verse of "Rap God."
As a result, he found that in “Majesty” Eminem raps 123 syllables in 12 seconds, thereby pronouncing 10.3 syllables per second. At the same time, the same indicators in “Rap God” are 157 syllables in 16.3 seconds - or 9.6 syllables per second. Genius editors later confirmed these figures.
However, "Rap God" still holds the Guinness record for the most words in a song - 1,560 words in 6 minutes and 4 seconds. The result is truly impressive!
By the way, what do you think of Eminem's new verse on Nicki's album?
In an adult, this skill is so fixed that often he simply does not realize this moment. For example, do you know who set the world record for reading speed?
Incredible speed records
They move at a speed of approximately 90 meters per second. This achievement was officially registered in the presence of journalists. The unofficial reading speed record is 416,250 words per minute. That is 62 beats per second! Using photoelectric and acoustic devices, the scientist established that the speed of the traffic jam reaches 40 km/h, and the flight altitude is up to 12 meters.
We invite you to learn about some incredible speed records. The fastest speed in animals1. Slowest speed in sports5. Golf ball speed6. The unofficial reading speed record is 416,250 words per minute. The fastest drum speed is 16. Flight speed of a champagne cork17.
Traditionally, speed records mean Olympic records in running, swimming, or the speed of cars, planes and other vehicles. But, there are other interesting speed records that have been recorded and they relate to different human abilities or inanimate elements. It is not possible to form a rating here, since the spread in speed and units of measurement are different, but we will announce the most unusual speed records. The constant wind speed in the bay is 240 km/h, which is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. During a dive towards prey, it reaches a speed of 322 km/h. The most notorious “brake” among mammals is the sloth, which is capable of covering as much as 2 meters per second.
Speed reading records.
Who reads the fastest?
The reading speed has decreased due to the not very high quality of reading technology. And then you can read even much faster than 6000 characters per minute. For example, if you read the text continuously, using the “autoreading” or “vertical reading” or “slalom trajectory” technique, then the speed will be about 6000 characters.
The exercises in all the speed reading courses I know of are repeated. Every year more and more speed reading teachers appear. Vasilyeva - speed reading, Andreev - fast reading. Photoreading is not flipping through books, but something more. The reader has no purpose for reading.
