This was one of those techniques and methods that really will help you in your life. If you can read even 50% faster than the speed you are reading at now, you would be able to learn much more than before. An increase of 500% (and sometimes much more) in reading speed has been very well documented by educators.

The most well known system out there to increase your reading speed was created originally by Evelyn Wood. The program has been around for at least 60 years and it is very well established around the world. For any parent who wants to give their child a major advantage in reading, learning, and school, I feel that this skills is a critical one to have.

From resource 1

Evelyn Wood’s discovery began when she was working on her Masters Degree at the University of Utah shortly after WW11. She submitted an 80 page term paper to her professor Dr. C. Lowell Lees and then watched in amazement as he read and graded it in less than ten minutes. His untrained reading rate: 2500 words per minute, yet he could not explain how he did it. Mrs. Wood, a school teacher, began to wonder if she could do the same thing and if there were others with similar skills. A two year search turned up some 50 people from all walks of life, teenagers to an eighty year old. They could read from 1500 to 6000 words per minute, and understand and remember what they had read. Analysing them she found they read more than one word at a time, seeing words in meaningful patterns, and moved their eyes quickly, smoothly, and easily down the page. They adjusted their speed to the type of material they were reading and knew how to find the thoughts in a paragraph, and the central idea in an article or book. “The purpose of reading,” Mrs. Wood wrote, “is to get the information, feeling, and understanding the author is trying to convey. And, gauged by this purpose, these natural readers succeeded admirably.”

Painstakingly Mrs. Wood began to teach herself these principles, until she was able to read several thousand words per minute, and along the way had developed a system for teaching others. Tested and proven at the University of Utah, in 1959 the first Institute was opened in Washington DC and the process was started that has altered forever the the way people learn from written sources. Since then the course has expanded throughout the United States, to Australia in 1968, and around the world.

Me: A few months ago I bought this book HERE on speed reading off of Amazon and it really is very good.

There are a lot of these Evelyn Wood Programs going on these days. these are the types of claim they make, which is true. (source)

Double Your Reading Speed — Guaranteed!

You’ll learn how to determine your current reading rate, then increase it immediately. Your reading speed will double – guaranteed! Finish the newspaper in five or ten minutes. Rifle through magazines, reports, and trade publications in record time. Polish off entire books in one sitting. Plus, there’s an advanced comprehension and retention system that will help you understand more.

Program Highlights:

• Read even the most complex material at increased speeds — move from the average reader’s 250 words per minute to speeds exceeding 1,000 words per minute
• Remember ideas, concepts, information — retain what you’ve read for months instead of just days or hours
• Understand what you read with remarkable depth and clarity — without long, laborious notes, without slow reading and continuously going back to the material
• Absorb verbal information — meetings, presentations, conversations — and recall accurately what was said or discussed
• Manage the stacks of information you face every day without the usual frustration and fatigue — even financial and legal documents, periodicals, and more
• Help your children improve their grades and prepare for tests or college entrance exams (Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics is appropriate for anyone who reads at a 6th grade level or higher)
• Stay on top of your coursework as you pursue your own graduate degree!