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Rev it Up Reading, based in Wallingford, offers speed-reading seminars to private companies and, in the past year, to individuals as well.
“I started the program 18 years ago under the title of The Reading Edge, which I offered to corporations,” said Abby Marks Beale of Wallingford. “This past year, we have created a public version, called Rev it Up Reading, for the New England area.”
Beale offers speed-reading seminars in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts at $149 a class. The seminars typically last a half day and can double or triple a person’s reading capacity, Beale said.
“People are so stressed with everything they need to read on paper and on screen,” said Beale. “When you learn to read faster, it becomes a set of tools you can pick and choose to use. Most people don’t know they have these choices.”
Louis Loomith, Beale’s oldest client at 78, enrolled in a speed-reading class last spring and said she continues to use the techniques.
“I’m interested in all things that make learning and thinking more effective,” said Loomith. “I learned very explicit training in the eye movement for improving one’s reading, which I continue to use.”
The seminars teach people how to read at a faster pace while absorbing the necessary information, said Beale.
Richard Feldman, founder of New York-based Learning Techniques, has taught speed-reading techniques for the past 20 years. He offers seminars for private companies and the public in the tri-state area.
“Speed reading is on the upward swing now because it has become popular again, though it is a cyclic trend,” said Feldman.
Feldman and Beale both attribute increased interest to e-mails and paperwork that may seem endless.
More college-age students also enroll in the seminars to help ease text-heavy reading assignments during the school year, Feldman said.
Those who engage in speed reading must practice the skills in order to retain the techniques, said Feldman, who offers additional instruction at no extra cost if clients are not satisfied with their reading capacity at the end of his seminar.
Norwalk Community College has offered speed-reading seminars since 1989 and this year’s seminar, taught by Feldman, is scheduled for Nov. 13 at $150.
“This course has been very successful and we have received a great deal of positive feedback from the students,” said Lynn Boyar, director of special programming at the college.
Though enrollment for speed-reading seminars is increasing, the sale of speed-reading books is not, said Sharon Bosley, buyer for Barnes and Noble Booksellers.
“Sales of books on speed reading have been consistently down for the last two years,” said Bosley. “Barnes & Noble carries a small selection of speed-reading titles. All were published before 1999” except one new edition put out in 2003.
Speed-reading courses are also offered online at Barnes and Noble University at no cost. “Evelyn Wood 7 Day Speed Reading” by Stanley Frank (published in 1992) is the most popular title, she said.
“The biggest issue is that people think ‘I already know how to read; why take a reading class?’” said Beale. “But people have so much to read and they are working with old skills because schools don’t teach this stuff.”
Beale wrote a book titled “Ten Days to Faster Reading.”
“My goal is for people to develop their personal best, whether they double or triple their former reading rate,” she said.
So, how fast did you read this story? If you’re an average reader, it took about three minutes. A speed reader can do it in less than two with the same comprehension, according to several speed-reading Web sites.
Carlene Olsen is entering her senior year at Boston University and served as a summer intern with the Register.