Speed Reading For Education

7 Speed Reading EDU is the world's most advanced accelerated reading system for schools. Based on proven principles of faster reading, 7 Speed Reading EDU contains all the features of 7 Speed Reading plus:

The next step is to see 7 Speed Reading for yourself. Simply fill out the form and we'll send you a free no obligation trial of the full version of 7 Speed Reading EDU.

speedreadingtechniques.org

On the pro side it has easy-to-use interface, video tutorials, multiple user accounts, well-structured course system for beginners & advanced students plus the ability to exercise with any digital text.

Elbert Zeigler

"I found 7 Speed reading. Doing eye exercises, warm-ups before reading, and how to look at words in groups instead of one at a time improved my reading and comprehension. I recommend 7 Speed Reading for you."

courselounge.com

7 Speed Reading is a decent speed reading software with an innovative approach. The customizable features are quite appealing since it allows you organize your speed reading training effectively.

Daniel Walters

"I have always struggled with reading slowly. Once I started using 7 Speed Reading, I did notice an improvement from approx. 200 wpm to 300 wpm."

winningspirit.com

If you want to learn how to speed read so that you can read everything faster, your best option is to get the self-paced speed reading course called 7 Speed Reading. It is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed-reading training program.

bestadvisor.com

From learning how to read and comprehend faster to how to keep your eyes healthy, everything is covered in this course for almost any age, and a team of professionals will help you master it.

Stephen L. (Reviewer)

I liked the accessibility of it. It helps, because users are able to easily maneuver throughout the software to varying levels and practice their reading at varying speeds.

Devad Goud

After having used this software, I learned techniques and skills such as eliminating my subvocalization, which not only greatly enhanced my speed reading, but also allowed me to get more engagement in what I read.

Reinard Mortlock

The biggest problem I had was sub-vocalization, 7 Speed Reading helped a lot with techniques to improve this and substantially improve my reading speed. The application is easy to use with loads of books to read to improve your reading skills.

Adel Serag

When I seriously exercise using the app, in no time, my reading speed goes from less than 400 to 600 and my target is 900 plus.

Nik Roglich

The pace trainer is great for getting my eyes focused and sharp. Also the word search exercise is very important, gets me searching for specific text.

Jose Godinez

I have improved my speed reading and comprehension since I started using 7 Speed Reading, I enjoy using it and I will continue to use it in the future.
McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams

If You Enjoy Reading, You’ll Enjoy Greater Success In Life, Study Confirms


September 9, 2013

There are many reasons to encourage children to develop a love of reading at an early age. Good reading skills are crucial in school in all areas of study, not just English and literature. What’s more, kids who read every day and who enjoy reading learn more skills like creative thinking and logic, and at the same time are gathering more information and knowledge about the world around them. However, there’s a difference between reading for research and reading for enjoyment. In fact, even though here at 7 Speed Reading we emphasize that speed isn’t everything – you have to also comprehend and remember what you’re reading – and that there are times when it’s better to slow down your reading pace. One example of when a slower pace is better is when you’re dealing with vocabulary and information that is completely new to you, or very complex in nature. Another is when you’re reading for pleasure. After all, in a work of fiction you want to immerse yourself in the world that the author has created and get the most out of every nuance in the text and plot and character development. You wouldn’t fast-forward through a movie you’ve never seen and expect to get the same enjoyment out of the film, so why would you need to skim as fast as possible through a book that’s designed to help you relax and have fun?

“Deep reading” is something that helps you learn to enjoy the act of reading, and not just look at reading as an efficient way of gathering information. Annie Murphy Paul, author of the books Brilliant: The Science of Smart and How to be Brilliant, describes deep reading as “slow, immersive, rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity.” By reading more slowly and thinking about what you are reading, letting your brain make the connections between the text and your own memories and experiences, you become better at analyzing and handling everyday tasks and increase the power of your mind to encompass and integrate information so that you make the most of it and of the opportunities around you. Learning to read and enjoy books as a child has been proven by many researchers to lead to better job prospects. One of the latest studies, led by Mark Taylor at Nuffield College, Oxford, tracked a large group of children born in May 1970 to see where they ended up in their 40s. Of the 17,000 people in the study, Taylor found that those who enjoyed reading at age 16 were much more likely to be in upper-management positions in their 30s, as opposed to those who did not enjoy reading and instead played computer games or sports.

It’s just one of the many reasons why parents need to encourage their children to read, and to set an example by providing books and promoting visits to libraries. For more information on the study done by the researchers at Nuffield College, read this article at the National Literary Trust website. You can also read Annie Murphy Paul’s article on deep reading at the Mind/Shift blog sponsored by KQED here.

Get Professional Advice On Speed Reading From Dr. Bruce Stewart At www.ExecuRead.com


September 5, 2013

”Information overload” is something that keeps even the most qualified professionals from reaching their peak performance at work. Everyone from a small start-up owner to the head of a multinational corporation needs to be able to read, process, comprehend, remember, and use all of the critical facts, essential budget figures, and all of the other details that go into an efficiently functioning business. And because the road to professional success often starts in school, it’s also important for university students, and teenagers working to qualify for admission in top-ranked universities, to have the skills they need to succeed. Speed reading is perhaps one of the most effective skills to have in order to stay ahead of the game – something that Dr. Bruce Stewart has known and taught for over 30 years.

7S: You were working with the Evelyn Wood speed reading school at the same time that you began your professional life as a lawyer. When did you first start getting interested in, and using, speed reading techniques?

BS: As an assistant district attorney in South Africa I was overwhelmed with the reading requirements inherent in a really mountainous case-load with minimal time for trial-preparation. There was also the need to remain up to date on new legislation, legal journals, current case-law and the changing mores of a society experiencing the traumatic changes of social unrest in apartheid South Africa. Being able to read faster with better comprehension and retention sounded like a good idea so I enrolled in the 8-week Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics course. It changed my life. My conviction rate soared, I continued my legal studies and got my life back under control. A number of other ADA’s asked me to help them with their reading skills, as did a number of judges, so I approached the Evelyn Wood Institute about becoming an instructor and started teaching these skills in late 1975 / early 1976. I left the Justice Department in 1978 and joined the Coca-Cola Company where I found that corporate executives and managers were experiencing the same reading burden that I had experienced. I adapted and honed my teaching skills for corporates and soon had Microsoft, IBM, Lotus as clients as well as accounting firms, financial analysts and the Reserve Bank. The demand was so great for this training and I had some strong ideas about how to enhance my teaching with my own experiential knowledge, so in 1979 I bought the Evelyn Wood operation in South Africa, re-designed the courses to yield bigger results in less time, added to my own knowledge with a Master’s degree and then a Doctorate, and finally expanded my ExecuRead range of courses, from South Africa, into the UK in 1998, the USA in 2001, and then into Canada, the UAE and into Vietnam.

7S: Your ExecuRead clients include multinational banks, city councils, school districts, and even people in the U.S. Armed Forces. What makes people in such widely differing fields want to learn speed reading?

BS: Over 90 percent of new information is acquired through reading. And while total information doubles every 9 to 18 months, reading speeds are on the decline. The skill of reading is archaic – we teach our kids to read the same way we were taught to read and we terminate the reading skill learning process in the 2nd grade. The result – we are trying to survive in an information age with the reading skill of a 2nd grader. The math is simple – if the volume of information doubles every year or so and our rate of absorption remains constant, we end up knowing less and less about more and more every year. And ignorance will ultimately reveal itself in unwise decision-making, financial collapse, failing school grades and death on the battle-field. I think the reason behind the wide diversity of my clients lies in my ability to integrate my teaching into a client’s requirements. For example, military intelligence analysts already use the OODA model for processing intelligence data. I showed them how to integrate speed reading, information filtering and information triage into OODA to make the whole process substantially faster, more efficient and more accurate. So without having to totally reinvent the wheel, we’re saving lives on the battlefield.

7S: Speed reading isn’t something that most people can learn overnight, but you offer weekend speed reading courses at your offices in North Carolina. What do you teach the participants in those classes that allows them to put speed reading principles into practice so quickly?

BS: Invariably, when folks decide they need to read faster, their need is already pretty urgent. They don’t want long training sessions over numerous weeks that require a huge time-commitment. They want a quick solution with huge results. This was my biggest challenge – to design a training format that would increase reading speed 5 times with equal or better comprehension and with better concentration, retention and recall – all within a single weekend or a couple of days at a client’s location. I think that the secret lies in the face-to-face environment of a classroom where I am able to probe my students to find out what they are capable of achieving (even if they don’t know it!!) and then to push them into performance levels that often stun them. I recently enjoyed working with a US Marine intelligence analyst who, in two days grew from a 417 words per minute reading rate at 56 percent comprehension to a 7000 words per minute reading rate with 75 percent comprehension! The poor fellow is still in shock but has a smile a mile wide.

7S: As we mentioned in the introduction to this interview with you, “information overload” is something that more and more people are having to cope with, and you offer advice on information management as well as speed reading classes. Do you find that one helps with the other?

BS: Information overload is something that is impacting everyone. Speed reading is only part of the solution. There are other tools we can use. Information management involves filtering information to extract mission-relevant knowledge from information “fluff” and information triage prioritizes the processing of mission-relevant knowledge that is extracted in the information filtering process. Part of the strategy is to define reading purpose, trigger existing subject knowledge and to stimulate subject curiosity. My ExecuRead courses are thus somewhat more than mere speed reading classes.

7S: You emphasize the need for the personalized approach to instruction in speed reading, and lead classes on site rather than using a web-based or self-study program. Why did you decide to use this teaching model?

BS: Firstly, because I’m probably a bit of dinosaur. Remember, I started teaching these skills before the internet. In the days of the audio-cassette where you were dependent on the mobility-restrictions of a cassette-player and the ever-present risk of the tape being “eaten”. TV was in its infancy, radio not much better and computers virtually unknown. Hard-copy books were pretty much your only source of information and the personal touch was expected. The classroom-course was a natural and obvious extension of the school classroom where I could get to know my students, understand their needs, sympathize with their frustrations and guide them to success. Speed reading is not a product – you cannot buy it with a check or credit card. It’s a skill that has to be learned and developed and working with a tutor makes the process easier and achieves results faster.

Secondly, because I am not convinced that a physical skill can be totally acquired from a book. Physical skills like golf, surgery and typing require both the knowledge of what to do and the practice of doing so. And with a qualified, competent instructor, practice makes perfect and permanent.

I am not averse to web-based or self-study programs. They are more affordable and more accessible than classroom-courses and they are certainly a good step up from doing nothing at all. Sure, there’s no instructor to guide you, show you what to do, answer your questions, motivate you to keep going, but then you didn’t pay for that. Your relationship with the company ended when your payment cleared and the course material was delivered. But if you want to understand why you read so slowly, why you fall asleep while reading, why you cannot concentrate or remember what you’ve just read, and you want to learn some basic techniques to double your reading speed, then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a web-based or self-study program if you have the self-discipline and self-motivation to do the work required by the course.

Early Intervention Key to Overcoming Reading Disabilities


September 2, 2013

Children who have problems reading also often have problems doing well in their classwork and on tests, even if they have a good understanding of the subjects being taught. Unfortunately, if the reading problems aren’t identified as a cause of the poor scores and grades, a child might be classified as having learning disabilities rather than simply problems with reading. That’s why it’s important to identify reading issues as early as possible, before they cause multiple problems in the future. As studies and classroom practices have shown, helping young children overcome their problems with reading means that they are able to keep up with their classmates, rather than falling farther and farther behind as the years go by.

A school district in Oregon found out how well early intervention works, and their focus on primary school reading-intensive programs has resulted in a remarkable drop in the number of children with reading difficulties in higher grades. They use a system called DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) to evaluate and monitor each student’s level and progress and devote extra time to reading skills during the regular school day, as well as providing summertime help to children who are still having difficulties keeping up. Funding from state and federal sources has helped the school district generate the resources for this intensive, but successful, program.

As the Bethel school district example shows, helping the youngest children get a solid foundation in reading skills will prevent many education-based problems from developing or getting worse later on. Taking the time to teach children in small groups or individually allows instructors to closely observe each child to make sure that the student has the support he or she needs to make steady improvements in reading skills. Although this approach does take time and money to implement, spending those resources on early intervention in literacy will help prevent even more costly intervention for students who are struggling – or even failing – in the higher grades.

Reference: Paglin, C. Practicing Prevention: How One School District Helps Students Avoid Reading Failure. American Educator (Fall 2004)

Memory Problems And Solutions Explained By Mark Beselt At www.Improve-Memory-Skills.com


August 28, 2013

Memory plays a role in our lives from beginning to end. Babies learn to recognize and remember faces and sounds; young children unconsciously memorize words and expressions from conversations around them. Students need a good memory to succeed in school, and every job requires a worker to remember tasks, procedures, and schedules. Having a good memory is part of speed reading training, because it ensures good comprehension and recall of the text you read, even as you increase your reading speed. Working to improve memory at any age is important, so that we don’t lose this crucial function just when we need it most. At Mark Beselt’s website, you can find information on what makes a good memory work, ways to help prevent memory loss, and explanations about some of the reasons people have memory problems.

7S: You provide clear and easy to understand information about memory, brain function, and health issues, as well as memory training techniques. What inspired you to set up this website?

MB: To answer the question in one word: stress…or, more accurately the impact stress had on my life. My second son was born with a very rare and very large arachnoid brain cyst (fluid filled sac not a solid mass or tumor). My wife and I spent most of the first six weeks in the local children’s hospital. When we were finally able to take him home after his brain surgery, he was on oxygen 24 hours a day and required tube feeding through his nose. The feeding actually took between 12 to 14 hours per day because we could not feed him too fast or he would vomit and we would have to start all over again.

Not only were we busy at home, but he was being followed by seven specialty clinics at the hospital, which meant visits at least two to three times per week for the first six months.

To say this time was stressful is an understatement. One of the things I noticed was how poor my memory became. I had always been a bit absent minded, but my memory became really bad. There were days when I couldn’t remember things that I knew or should know…like my own phone number or my postal code (ZIP code). My wife noticed that I was having the same conversation with her multiple times in the same day.

One of the concepts that came up in many of the discussions with my son’s neurologists and neurosurgeons was about brain plasticity. Essentially, the brain has the ability to adapt to being malformed. This concept really gave me hope that my son could be typical but it also got me thinking about the importance of brain training and brain and memory health in general. I would love to be able to build out my site at a faster pace in order to help more people, but with a young family, I do what I can, when I can.

For those who are interested…my son still has some challenges, but he has done far better than my wife and I and his doctors could have ever hoped or imagined.

7S: The memory problems people often experience with age can create difficulties in daily life. How soon should people start working on memory improvement to avoid these problems down the road?

MB: My personal view is that it is never too early to begin memory improvement training. If you learn how to keep your brain sharp early in life, all things being equal, it is easier to carry those gains in to your latter years. I have seen this effect in a close friend’s 95 year old grandmother. I have only known her for a few years, but her family tells me that she is as sharp as she was at 40 or 50. A big part of her secret has been keeping her brain active and challenged. She has done crossword and number puzzles daily and kept up on statistics for the Green Bay Packers football team for the past 40 years.

While I believe it is important to start early, I certainly do not want anyone to think they should give up if they are suffering some of the effects of age related memory loss. Research has shown that your brain is plastic or able to create new neuro-pathways at any age…it just needs to be stimulated and challenged on a regular basis.

7S: You say that it’s normal to have lapses of memory once in a while, but what can someone do if they think they’re having worse-than-normal memory problems?

MB: If you think you are having memory problems that are bad enough to affect your daily life, I would probably start with my family doctor. There are a number of conditions that can affect your memory which can be ruled out by simple tests. While your doctor is going to rule out the “long-shots”, he is likely going to focus on 4 basic life-style factors that affect memory. Those are sleep, diet, the amount of exercise you are getting and the amount of stress you are under. When my son’s health challenges were most acute, I failed at managing each of these factors. I did not sleep more than a couple of hours per night; I ate a horrible diet mostly potato chips and fast food; I did not exercise at all and I was under a horrendous amount of stress. As a consequence, my memory really suffered.

While my situation was an extreme example of the impact of health mismanagement over a relatively short period, people who fail to manage these lifestyle factors have often done so for years. The memory impact from prolonged mismanagement is often harder to see because it may be gradual. The good news is changing these lifestyle factors, will help your memory. Improvement may also be gradual, so persistence is necessary.

Whether you are dealing with the impact of lifestyle factors or a more serious health challenge, the fifth area you can work on is brain training. My research into brain plasticity indicates that by challenging your brain, you can see improvements in your memory and overall cognition as well as reflexes and muscle control.

7S: People are used to hearing the phrase “eat right and exercise” related to weight loss, not memory gain. Why is this good advice for memory improvement as well?

MB: I think people often forget (no pun intended) that our bodies function as a complex interdependent system. Eating more calories than we are burning will cause us to gain weight but the increase in insulin required to store excess calories as fat is hard on our brains. We also need to be sure we are eating foods that still have the nutrients intact. Most processed foods are devoid or low in nutrients and naturally occurring vitamins. Our bodies and brains need these nutrients and vitamins to function properly.

As you mentioned exercise is important because it releases a number of helpful hormones and neurotransmitters in addition to reducing the impact stress has on our brains. My research for my own life and my website has shown that we need to eat right and exercise but we also need to reduce our stress and get enough sleep.

7S: Can people get all the nutrition they need for a healthy brain through their daily diet?

MB: Yes, I think it is technically possible to get all the nutrition you need for a healthy brain from your diet but it is practically difficult…not impossible…just difficult. One of the main challenges is that people are very busy. The people who market food know this, so they sell food designed for convenience and shelf-life with nutrition being secondary. Our fruits and vegetables are not much better. Most of what we see in the grocery store are grown on factory farms and are sprayed with loads of synthetic pesticides, herbicides then packaged with fungicides. I even read that farmers are spraying growth hormones on crops to shorten growing seasons and increase crop yields.

The state of our food supply is part of the reason my wife and I made the decision to grow as much of our own food as we can and only buy organic fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy when possible. It takes work and costs a bit more but I have a good idea of what our kids are eating.

If you don’t have space for a garden and can’t afford organic, you can still get a lot of the vitamins and nutrients you need from high quality vitamins. I personally only take vitamins where the active ingredient is naturally occurring. You can get synthetic vitamins where they recreate the target vitamin in a lab, but there is research to suggest that they are not easily absorbed or as bioactive, so choose wisely.

Libraries Are Resources For More Than Books


August 26, 2013

Public libraries are valuable community resources, providing access to literature and research documents, magazines and newspapers, internet connections and computer workstations, as well as CDs, videos, and DVDs. Since the way to become a faster speed reader is to read a lot, your library can be the first place you go for new reading material. Many libraries have other resources that you might not know about unless you ask, so check with your library information desk to find out everything that they offer. Here are some examples of what you might discover:

In Indiana, the Clinton Public Library lets you check out paintings for three months at a time. You can decorate your house and look for books about that artist or style – and then change the decoration and learn more about another artist.

The Pima County Library in Arizona has a “seed library” – when you check out the seeds, you don’t have to return them, of course, since you’ll be planting them in your garden, but the library encourages people to save seeds and contribute them back to the library.

During New Zealand Music Month in May, libraries in Christchurch and around the country offer free concerts.

Knitting clubs at the Leith Library in Edinburgh and the Paisley Central Library stitch together fun and conversation. Check out knitting-themed books while you’re there, like Knitting: A Novel by Anne Bartlett or Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik.

What interesting items or events have you found at your local public library?

3 Eye Health Tips For Avid Readers


August 21, 2013

When you love reading, you take your books and e-readers everywhere: to the beach, to the pool, to the park. You’ve got books in your bedroom because the last thing you do before sleeping is read, and if you’re alone you keep reading over coffee the next morning at the kitchen table. All that reading is good for your brain, but your reading habits might not be good for your eyes. Make sure that you keep your eyes healthy by following these three important rules:

Make sure you’ve got enough light, but not too much. The glare of the sunlight on the page makes you squint your eyes to read at noon when you’re having a picnic at the beach. Too little light in a dark bedroom makes it hard to see when you’re reading at night. Be sure that you find the right light level so that you don’t have to strain your eyes to read. Forcing your eyes to read in too-bright light or to make out letters in dim light makes unnecessary extra work for the ciliary muscles that help you focus your eyes.

Take breaks from reading. It’s one thing to take “just a few minutes more!” to finish an exciting chapter, but reading for hours at a time will make your eyes tired, and can be mentally exhausting as well. If you’re reading for school or a project at work and are under a deadline, you might have to spend all day reading, but you can pause frequently to rest your eyes and get your body moving. Keeping your circulation going helps get oxygen to your eyes and brain, which helps both function better. Make sure you schedule at least 15 minutes of non-reading activity out of every hour.

Stay ahead of vision problems. Because many vision problems come about fairly slowly – for example, as we age and lose near or far vision – you might not realize that you’ve been gradually holding your book closer and closer to your face as you read. Getting your eyes checked regularly means that you’ll be fitted for glasses or contact lenses when you need them, not years after you’ve been straining your eyes to read without help.

Robert and Jeanne Segal At Helpguide.org Help Keep You Balanced


August 19, 2013

Memory, emotion, learning, thought, and even unconscious dreams and desires all combine to create the ongoing mental activity and functioning that takes place in our brains, and which forms the basis for how we act in and interact with the world around us. In order to be at your best, it’s important that you know as much as possible about the way your mind works, and to be able to focus on issues that are keeping you from achieving your goals, including learning how to speed read. Physical health, emotional stability, and mental acuity are the three aspects of the mind that need to be in top form for optimal cognitive functions, and the way to keep functioning at your peak, you need to be able to recognize when something is out of balance. Jeanne and Robert Segal’s website, Helpguide.org, provides the tools you need to create and keep this balance, to identify and solve problems, and to focus your efforts on doing and being your best. We interviewed the Segals to find out more about the information the website provides.

UM: You started this website to provide a mental health resource that focused on issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress, but today the site also links to information on a wide range of topics, from weight loss to what it’s like being a grandparent, explanations about dementia, and even how to stop snoring! What led to the growth of the website into so many areas relating to physical, emotional, and mental health and well-being?

JS/RS: Helpguide’s wide range of topics are interrelated in that all intend help people reduce stress and foster wellbeing. Some form of stress is at the root of the imbalance in most people’s lives and stress is something you can usually take steps to relieve. Also, many people don’t realize the impact of seemingly unrelated subjects such as making good food choices, and improving relationships with loved ones can have on their mental, emotional, and cognitive well-being.

UM: One thing we really like about your website is that it emphasizes the relationship between the mind and body and emotions, and how problems in one area can affect the others. Where is a good place to start if a person feels like something is out of balance in their life?

JS/RS: This question of what you do when life throws you a curve ball gets to the heart of most people’s problems. The best place to start is to find someone who’s interested in you that you can talk to face-to-face. Many people today do their communicating via a screen; this doesn’t work for reducing stress. You need a real face to look at, sometimes even your pet’s face helps. In addition, Helpguide provides a number of skills for better stress management.

UM: The association you have with the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Health Publications provide an important source of information that people can trust on topics like addiction, stress, and diet. Do you collaborate with any other professional groups?

JS/RS: We’re open to other collaborations, but the collaboration needs to provide a strong value added to our international audience. Harvard has a well-deserved international reputation for medical excellence.

UM: Although a good memory is important at any age, it’s especially important for people who are in their 50s and older to keep watch for any problems with their memory, especially since memory difficulties can be a signal that there might be other cognitive issues due to age or disease. What’s a good resource for people who are worried about age-related memory loss?

JS/RS: The best to start is taking advantage of the MCI / Alzheimer’s questionnaire that is in our Age-Related Memory Loss article. This tool helps assess the severity of a memory problem. If there is a problem, the article is a good starting point for taking action and getting help.

UM: You’ve got a place on your site for people to provide and publish feedback and commentary on the resources you offer. If there’s a particular issue that people would like more information on, can they request that it be added to the site?

JS/RS: Yes, we personally read all comments and suggestions. Many of our site updates have been initiated by these comments and suggestions.

Your Favorite Authors’ Favorite Books


August 16, 2013

The term “butcher’s cut” is another name for a hanger steak (onglet) because this small but extremely delicious cut of beef is the one that butchers would often set aside for themselves, rather than selling it to customers. Butchers know good meat, and authors know good books – but in this case, they’re willing to share! Here are some of today’s best writers, and the books they’ve enjoyed recently. If you’re looking for something new to read, you can’t go wrong with these tips from the experts.

Author’s Name: Gillian Flynn
Works They Wrote: Gone Girl (2012), Sharp Objects (2006)
Book They Recommend: “Bring Up the Bodies” by Hilary Mantel

Author’s Name: Cheryl Strayed
Works They Wrote: Torch (2007), Tiny Beautiful Things (2012)
Book They Recommend: “Contents May Have Shifted” by Pam Houston

Get more book recommendations here.

Author’s Name: Diana Athill
Works They Wrote: Stet: An Editor’s Life (2002), Midsummer Night in the Workhouse (2011)
Book They Recommend: “Sightlines” by Kathleen Jamie

Author’s Name: Sue Townsend
Works They Wrote: The Adrian Mole Diaries (1997), The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year (2012)
Book They Recommend: “Canada” by Richard Ford

Get more book recommendations here.

Author’s Name: Philippa Gregory
Works They Wrote: The Other Queen (2009), The White Princess (2013)
Book They Recommend: “Lottery” by Patricia Wood

Author’s Name: Jodi Picoult
Works They Wrote: House Rules (2010), The Storyteller (2013)
Book They Recommend: “Nine Horses” by Billy Collins

Get more book recommendations here.

Author’s Name: Ayana Mathis
Works They Wrote: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (2012)
Book They Recommend: “Magic City” by Yusef Komunyakaa

Author’s Name: Anne Lamott
Works They Wrote: Help, Thanks, Wow (2012), Imperfect Birds (2011)
Book They Recommend: “Middlemarch” by George Eliot

Get more book recommendations here.

Speed Reading Explained by Eddie van Aken at SpeedReadCourses.com


August 14, 2013

If you’ve ever wondered what speed reading involves, and where you might go to find some of the best resources for learning how to speed read, then you’ll find Eddie van Aken’s website helpful. We asked him to explain some of the information he’s found out about speed reading techniques.

7S: What got you interested in speed reading in the first place?

EA: I always have been reading a lot, but found out it can be very time consuming. After reading more about speed reading I decided that could help me safe a lot of time.

7S: Why do you compare speed reading to running a marathon?

EA: Speed reading is not something you can learn overnight. It takes time and practice. Taking it step by step will get you where you want to be.

7S: How does taking an online speed reading course help?

EA: By reading free information you might be able to improve your reading speed, but like any other skill you want to learn it is better to follow a specialized course.

This will give you the best result.

7S: What do you think is the best way to eliminate subvocalization?

EA: I found that counting in my head while reading took care of most of my subvocalizing. It is not the easiest part of a speed read course, but it is the most effective part in my opinion. Eliminating subvocalizing can provide you with a huge step forward in you reading speed.

7S: Why should someone measure their current reading speed before starting speed reading training?

EA: If you don’t know what your current reading speed is it is hard to see how much progress you are making. Keeping up with you progress is a great motivator.

Helping Kids See Themselves In Books


August 9, 2013

According to a recent statistic published by the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of the non-white population of the country continues to grow, with four states now being called “majority minority” (California, Texas, Hawai’i, and New Mexico) where the non-white population is over 50%. Across the country, nearly 50% of children 5 and younger are non-white, according to the 2012 census. Yet when we look at the statistics for book publication in the United States, of the approximately 3,600 children’s books published in 2012 (as tracked by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center in Madison, Wisconsin), only 271 were mainly about non-white characters or themes – that’s less than 8% of the total. If almost half of the nation’s children have less than one-tenth of the reading resources that feature people they can identify with, that may make them less interested in reading. Children like to imagine themselves in the same situations as the characters in a book, and that’s easier to do if they can recognize that character by looking in the mirror.

This isn’t a new situation in the United States, unfortunately. A 1965 issue of the magazine Saturday Review featured an article titled “The All-White World of Children’s Books” that starts out with a child’s question: “Why are they always white children?” While many of the movies, television shows, cartoons, and even apps and games being produced today have a definite multicultural element, children’s books seem to be lagging behind.

Fortunately, most librarians, whether at public libraries or in schools, are strong champions of multicultural literature. If you can’t find books you’d like your kids to read in the bookstore, check with the library. If they don’t have a book, they’ll probably have a good recommendation for where to find it. What’s more, since publishers judge how popular a book is by its sales – and because more sales in a category will encourage publishers to release more books like that – you can also encourage libraries, community centers, and bookstores to buy and offer the books you want your family to be reading.

It’s just as important for children to read and learn about other people, cultures, and lifestyles as it is for children to connect with stories that they relate to personally. By encouraging your child to read books about people that they might think are “different,” they’ll learn to see that in many ways, people are all the same. They’ll get a better understanding of other ways of living, and learn to appreciate the differences as well as the similarities in other peoples’ lives.

Recent Stories

Topics