A lot of people ask us what the difference is between SmartReading and speed-reading.
The difference is crucial, as you will see from the explanation below.

Speed-reading – faster “talking”

When you read normally, you pronounce or voice the words you read in your mind. In the case of speed-reading, you simply have to talk faster. Thus, you force your brain to hear the words faster. At the same time you also want to understand, analyse and remember the intentions of the author, and in order to do so, you jump back and forth in the book to check your accuracy. Whenever you read something you recognize, you think it over once again. In the meantime your mind wanders off and your concentration is gone, even though you continue reading. The result is that you have to go back in the text to re-read it. You are actually asking your brain to do a lot of things at the same time and faster than it is used to. That makes speed-reading a very tiring concept and not very brain-friendly.

SmartReading – reading visually, more brain-friendly way

In SmartReading we substitute the ‘talking while reading’ with reading visually, which is a lot more agreeable and less tiring. When you read visually, you read more sentences at once, absorbing them instantly. Visual reading helps your right brain hemisphere to absorb large chunks of text. That particular part of the brain does not ‘voice’ words, but absorbs them visually. Shorter pieces of text are read by the left-brain hemisphere, which does use voicing as a way to process the words. SmartReading offers you the optimal mix between both sides of the brain.

SmartReading means doing just one thing at a time. Reading visually ensures perfect absorption of the text. Because you read sentences and paragraphs in one go, your ‘internal dialogue’ will not be distracting you. Loss of concentration is something that no longer occurs, leaving you with a perfectly focused and concentrated mind. Jumping back and forth in the text is hardly necessary anymore; you understand and think about the text only when you have absorbed all of it. Being able to make connections and analysing material will be significantly easier.

A student put it this way:
“For me, the difference between reading ‘normally’ and SmartReading is that the experience itself differs in energy level. When I read normally I have to concentrate to absorb the words, understand what the text says, realize how I feel about it, how it benefits me and so on. Therefore, reading is a very busy exercise for me. When I apply SmartReading I find that I no longer impede myself. Basically all I do is open myself up and capture the text, take in the words directly so the ‘interfering person’ is no longer necessary. I find reading a far more peaceful and rewarding activity – a great improvement!”

How does that work with a novel?
We do not stop a certain habit of reading. We teach you a new technique, a new strategy to use while reading different kinds of material, so you can choose the best way to read. A novel, for example, you read slowly to enjoy the prose of the story but for study or work material you read using the Smart-method in order to extract relevant information.