| How did speed reading come about? When did it | | | | on training eye movements with a variety of |
| start? All this and more in today's article! | | | | exercises using the tachistoscope in an attempt |
| It all began with the invention of the | | | | to increase reading speed. However the results |
| tachistoscope - a machine that could flash a series | | | | were short lived as reading speeds rapidly |
| of images at varying speeds on a screen. With | | | | diminished when reading without the machine. |
| the use of the tachistoscope it was found that an | | | | It was not until the 1950s that a reliable technique |
| average person could correctly identify minute | | | | for speed reading was developed. The inventor |
| images flashed on the screen, even if the image | | | | was a school teacher named Evelyn Wood. She |
| only appeared for one-five-hundredth of a second! | | | | made her remarkable breakthrough almost by |
| The U.S Air Force recognized the implication of | | | | accident, when she noticed how her eyes |
| this discovery, and wanted to be able to use this | | | | smoothly followed the movement of her hand as |
| knowledge to make their fighter pilots more | | | | she moved it across the page. She then wrote a |
| efficient. Receiving orders by a quick flash on a | | | | whole book about how you can read faster by |
| screen would be much faster than listening to the | | | | simply guiding your eye with your hand. It became |
| orders on the radio. A series of experiments | | | | known as the "Evelyn Wood method". |
| were conducted using words instead of images, | | | | Since then, speed reading has gained widespread |
| to test whether or not this was possible. The | | | | recognition, partly due to some famous users of |
| results clearly demonstrated the potential of the | | | | speed reading, such as President John F Kennedy. |
| human eye to read at speeds that were | | | | But in today's world, speed reading is becoming |
| previously unthinkable. Sadly for the military, they | | | | more and more important; the benefits of |
| did not have the proper technology to put their | | | | mastering the skill in today's hectic environment |
| ideas into use. | | | | are probably ten times what they were 50 years |
| In the years that followed, much interest was | | | | ago. With the boom in demand for individuals with |
| generated on this subject and many courses | | | | high education, people need to read more than |
| were developed that claimed to increase the | | | | they ever had to before. |
| reading speeds of participants. These mostly relied | | | | |