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The best way to read quickly is to read lots. And lots.
- Tyler Cowen, Economist

Most "speed reading" techniques seem to be not about reading quickly but about sucking the content out of written material with the least amount of effort.
- Anon.

For example:

Skim
Read the table of contents, glossary and index first. With that you will learn about the most important topics are in the book.

Next, go through the book and read anything in bold, any titles and any subtitles. That will give you a good idea of the structure and the main ideas of the book.

Finally, read the first line of every paragraph of the book. This will get you all of the specific points and none of the filler.
Source: Lifehacker.com

Reading fast is essential to being a successful manager, because of the information overload in today’s internet age- e-mail, mail, memos, sales reports, project reports, letters, sales literature, newspapers, magazines, research documents, surveys, and now, SMS- short messaging services.

One who reads well can
- Assimilate the information.
- Integrate it with existing knowledge and experience.
- Retain it for later use.
- Recall it when needed.
- Communicate.

Read books that you know you understand.
How do you know you will understand the book?

One way to find out is, the ten-finger rule:
As you read the first chapter of the book, put up a finger for the words that you do not understand as you finish the chapter.

Reading Fast For Managers
i. Approach the material by asking yourself what information you are seeking – be clear about your purpose.
ii. If there is a number of reading material, sort it in order of importance to your need.
iii. Organize beforehand how the reading material reaches you

THE ‘Z’ SCAN
Speeding up your reading is mainly about expanding the number of words read during each eye jump (we look at a page in a ‘Z’ fashion and eye catches written words in a stop/start manner).

SEVEN TIPS FOR READING FAST

1. Use a card to cover all but one line of a page – read this line with one sweep of the eye, then move the card to reveal the next line. Gradually increase the speed with the card moves down the page.

2. Practice turning 100 pages at roughly two seconds for each page, moving the eyes very rapidly down the page; do this in short sessions of about two minutes.

3. Ask a friend to select a paragraph or sentence from a book without you seeing which part it comes from. Then try to find the chosen text, giving self first five minutes, then four minutes and so on. Now try the same approach with the main idea behind an article.

4. Select some paragraphs from a long piece of text that seem to stand out from the text. Scan through looking for themes and major lines of arguments. You can extend this further by taking a business article and deliberately reading only the first sentence of each paragraph and perhaps the last one.

5. Try reading a whole book in two minutes: turn the pages as fast as you can, taking in as many words as possible without stopping. Force yourself to race through the material. When you return to the ordinary reading, you will find your average reading speed is now higher than before, perhaps twice as fast as before.

6. Give yourself a series of rewards for completing reading tasks such as speed exercises – this motivates to keep on the practice.

7. Use the ‘Metronome’: Set it ticking at a reasonable pace, with each beat indicating a single sweep of your eyes. This helps to acquire a smooth, steady rhythm. It counteracts the natural tendency to slow down after a while. Use the machine to pace yourself so that eventually each beat represents one page you are sweeping.

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