I was not impressed with this. I'm not saying it can't work, only that I'm very skeptical, and that what works for the author may not be universally applicable. Some of the techniques used are pretty obvious, and are probably in use by thinking readers already. Others seemed problematical, and though I tried employing them, they did not seem work for me. It begs the obvious question: if this is so good and so effective, then why isn't it being widely adopted in schools and colleges?

I also did not trust the references this author gives, some of which are not to scientific studies but to some other guy's book. When I did track down one study that was referenced, it really wasn't applicable - not in the way this author was trying to claim it was. It was a controlled study in a set of school districts that used slide projections, and claimed only a modest subsequent improvement in reading and comprehension, and then only over longer texts. There was no significant improvement over the control group when it came to shorter texts, so this felt dishonest to me and made me question whether the author had actually read the study - or whether he'd just speed read it and misunderstood it because he'd read it too fast for comprehension!

There is a big difference in meeting the stated claim "Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour" when applied to a simple work of fiction, and when attempting to apply that to a more complex work, or to a textbook, so I have no faith in the efficacy of the techniques described here except perhaps in some limited applications. Even the author admits his method has limitations, so on balance I can't commend this as a worthy read.

Speed Reading is a great book to show methods of learning to read quicker as well as explaining some thing so that may be holding you back from reading quicker. With tasks in each chapter to help with what you have learnt it is a good way to work on reading quicker but it does still require a lot of dedication and effort as trying to change old habits can be challenging. I'm no too convinced this book will get most people reading 200 pages in an hour as the title suggests but if you work at it you can definitely learn to read quicker. This is a great book on this topic and could be beneficial to all.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me an advance copy of Kam Knight’s manual, Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour, in exchange for an honest review.

#SpeedReading is essentially a simplified guide on how to…you guessed it, speed read! While the book offers many useful tips for novice speed readers, those who are familiar with the process or who are already avid readers of dense material will not likely learn anything new from the text.

Though I fall into the latter category of readers, I did find the sections on peripheral vision techniques and eye-strengthening exercises interesting. If nothing else, it may give readers some information about speed reading that they did not know prior to reading this book.

This is a very useful book with some great techniques. All in all I would definitely recommend this book for those of us who have lots of reading to do for work/study and not much time to spend! I particularly like how this book is concise, recognising that we gravitate towards this book to save us time!

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was so fun and taught me so many small hints and tips on how to improve my reading speed! I highly recommend this one to anyone wanting to read quicker without skipping words!

I am already a pretty fast reader, but I picked up this book out of a desire to improve my speed even more. I always feel as though I don't have enough time to read everything I want to. I already identified with some of the techniques outlined in the book, that, after reading this book, I realize I already do - space reading, for example, and things that I don't do (e.g. subvocalization), that clearly are already contributing to my speed of reading. I was most interested in improving speed and comprehension. Based on what I've read, I can see the usefulness of several of the techniques which, with practice, I am confident will improve the quantity and quality of my reading experience. This book is a great resource for learning and for going back and refreshing existing skills.

This book helped me read faster though I still have a lot of practicing to do! Highly recommend to anyone who is wanting to get through that to-be-read pile faster!

This was OK. Ironically, I skimmed much of it, either because it didn't apply to me (e.g. reading text books) or I wanted to get the "meat". The author's approach is very logical, and suspect it will help many readers. I'm not sure I got a lot out of it. But, maybe worth a try.

I really appreciate the free review copy!

Very impressive read. I am sure it took a lot of effort on the author’s part because the book is well organized and broken into sections in a certain order that allows for organized learning. There are five sections and each section has three chapters that provide numerous tips and insight to help improve reading speed, comprehension and memory. The various techniques make sense and will require effort on the readers part. Readers will have to be hands on with the training techniques and definitely have to put the advice into practice. I appreciate the tips and will definitely work on adding the methods when I am reading. As the author stated “speed reading is about increasing habits that speed you up while decreasing habits that slow you down.”

The author not only give tips but he makes sure that you understand and absorb what's been written, as well as being able to recall what you've learned. He gives a deeper dive into the art of reading. A lot of useful information on previewing before you start reading, methods to use for different reading materials, space reading and using visual range in addition to various eye exercises. He offer advice on what questions readers should ask while reading so that they can get the bigger meaning or purpose of what is being read. Again a lot of information that never crossed my mind and will surely make me a better reader and also be able to comprehend what I’ve read. The author explains each technique by defining it, explaining it along with illustrations and practice drills that the reader can perform.

Reading faster and retaining more information deeply affects many aspects of life so why not give the useful concepts a try. I am sure you will find several useful tips that will help you with your quality of reading. I highly recommend this book!

While this book is great in theory, I cannot speed read now. I have never been a slow reader but it may be that fibromyalgia (fibro fog) limits my speed at reading.

I’ve always been interested in speed reading. It was a class my mother had taken in school many years ago and I was always interested in learning the process myself.

This is a great book for anyone that wants to read faster, however, do not expect it to happen straight after reading this book. It is full of useful techniques to get you there but it does take time and commitment to learning to read faster. What I did like about this book is that it doesn't teach you to skim books, but actually take everything in
Overall it was a good book and I will continue practising the techniques and hopefully, I will manage to read faster in the, not too distant future.

This may be the most practical book I have read on increasing reading speed. Rather than nearly impossible exercises, Knight concentrates on slight changes, shifts in habits that speed up reading and ones that slow you down. He says what is important is not how fast you make it through the text but how fast facts and ideas are understood.

Knight writes about setting a clear purpose for your reading, identifying what you hope to gain from reading the material. He suggests previewing the material to give your mind a framework for the reading process. He gives practical instruction for chunking, using peripheral vision, reducing sub-vocalization, and much, much more.

The one suggestion that struck me was adjusting the reading speed for the type of book. I have been practicing that especially as I tend to read fiction and nonfiction in the same way. I am making good progress.

I recommend this small book to readers who would like some practical ideas for increasing reading speed and absorbing what is read.

I received an egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

This is an interesting and unique read! The techniques and strategies that Knight describes are easy to understand, though not necessarily simple to execute right off the bat. I also appreciated that the book itself is organized in such a way that's conducive to speed reading. I'll definitely be returning to this book several times in the future to continue honing my own speed reading skills.

It's not a comprehensive guide to all the techniques that can be used to speed read things, but it is presented in a very clear format and with easy examples to follow for those who have never really managed to speed read, rather than just skimming across books. I enjoyed the examples and practise drills, and while it won't bring much new information to anyone who's already practised how to speed read, it's an excellent primer on starting to speed read and does a lot to demystify expectations of what happens when you speed read something. You won't be reading and comprehending War and Peace in a single day, but that's not what the intention of the book is for, and it's clear about that from the start.

Excellent introduction to Speed Reading, would recommend.

Great book with a wide range of sensible suggestions for improving reading speed and increasing recall. I was a little sceptical but there are several helpful methods and techniques to practice, as well as exercises to avoid eyestrain.

This book was worthwhile. Some of it seemed like it would be obvious. For example, if you are reading a book leisurely and for enjoyment, the author recommended reading slower. I thought that was kind of a given. I didn't think there were some worthwhile tips that helped me become a faster reader. Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Not much in this book that most of us develop on our own through trial and error. Both myself, my children and grandchildren certainly did.

As doing a degree I had hoped this book would help but didn't offer me anything new.

Very disappointed

I went into this book assuming it would be the same advice I have always heard but never been able to implement long term. It's short and I am always interested in ways to improve my reading, so I gave it a shot anyways. It starts off ways to prepare to read a book to get more out of it, retain the info more quickly/efficiently and expectations based on the type of material you're reading ( not all material is equal and don't expect to read it all at the same speed). It also included pretty straightforward advice, such as to read the table of contents and reviews of what the books about so your brain isn't always thinking about what's next and can focus on what you're currently looking at. Then it gets into tricks or tips which I thought were very useful for me. I had never heard of spacing. I never considered looking at the blank space between words instead of the actual words, but I did start utilizing that tip and it did help a lot. The author doesn't fill the book with fluff and a lot of the advice is practical, easy to use and works. I mean I wouldn't expect to read a 200 page book in an hour, right away, but really great useful little book. I can see if you really stick to the advice she has suggested you would easily cut your reading in half over time. Right away I was able to cut my speed by probably 25%. #netgalley #speedreading #kamknight

As part of my job, I read a lot of book, both fiction and non-. That is why I am constantly trying to up my reading speed while keeping (or hopefully developing) my comprehension and retention abilities. Sadly, so far I've not been able to do so, mostly because the majority of speed reading "hacks" found in books and internet at large focus only on this one aspect - the speed with which one reads. Everything else is sidelined at best and completely discarded at worst.

Kam Knight's "Speed Reading" purports to change that by helping the readers not only to boost their reading speed dramatically (a book per hour sounds amazing, though a bit fantastical), but also help them retain as much from what they've read as possible. Quite a grand promise, but Knight manages to uphold it. To a degree, at least, for reading a book in an hour is possible only in sci-fi films.

The tricks Knight teaches the readers are quite simple, yet very efficient. The first of them is the preparation, which includes the intention the reader has towards the book he is about to read. This step is very important because it clearly sets what the reader expects to learn or get out of the book, itself making the reading process more focused and intentional.

The second step is a brief skimming of the text before the actual dedicated reading. In this step the reader gets acquainted with the structure of the text, its main points, and the overall style. The skimming of a book consists of reading the front and back covers, a somewhat detailed read of the table of contents. In this step the reader tries to find the connections between the different chapters and how they represent the flow of ideas, as well as what the main points of the book are. Finally, the reader goes quickly through the introduction and conclusion, as well as the first and last paragraphs of each chapter, just to get a taste of the writing and main ideas within the text.

Having passed this preliminary step of getting acquainted with the book, the readers are thought what they actually came here for - speed reading techniques. Though the majority of what Knight teaches should already be known by everyone interested in speed reading (most notably, chunking), there is one technique that I believe is his invention - space reading. Unlike chunking which looks at sentences as large "chunks" of words, space reading consists of moving one's gaze in the empty spaces between words. Initially, the readers are asked to jump in the spaces between each word and with training - between two, three, and even more words. Coupled with the peripheral vision exercises found later in the book, it makes for a very powerful method for raising the speed of one's reading.

As mentioned earlier, Knight does not leave comprehension and retention behind. He teaches a few techniques for them, none of which is anything new. In one section, we are asked to learn finding topic sentences and extend our vocabularies, while in another, to visualize what we read (easy with fiction and some types of non-fiction, much more difficult with academic texts) and to try recalling the main points of what we've read. As I said, it's nothing new, but at that same time it's a good reminder for things many people forget to do.

All in all, this is a very interesting book on speed reading which teaches something new (space reading coupled with enhanced peripheral vision) together with rehashing some of the the most famous techniques (chunking and subvocalization). Of course, like many of its ilk, it promises things that it can't deliver.