How your brain thirsts for comprehension

Getting into the Flow of Reading Fast

Your brain’s ability to seamlessly follow along with a text is essential for you to be able to understand what you’re reading. “Brain to eyes. Brain to eyes. Do you read me eyes? Read!” Your brain gives your eyes this order and prepares to receive information.

“Far down in the forest – down – the forest – in – where the warm sun – where – sun – warm …” The eyes respond dutifully.

“Wait, wait!” interrupts the brain, “What’s going on over there? I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”

“… and the fresh air – fresh – made …” they eyes continue to stammer.

“Stop! What are you doing? You’re jumping all over the place! I can’t make sense of that mess!”

As the eyes prepare to soldier on, the brain makes an executive decision. It starts to ignore the messages it’s receiving from the eyes and finds another, more tractable problem to work on: for example, the question of which workout program to use to get ready in time for bathing suit season … resulting in mind wandering instead of reading comprehension!

It’s amazing how much of a mess our lack of ability to read fluidly can make of even the most beautiful pieces of literature. Hans Christian Andersen put so much work into crafting this beautiful story – and we turn it into a meaningless jumble of words just by letting our eyes jump back to what we’ve already read. This bad habit is called making regressions.

Speed reading effortlessly

It’s a shame, isn’t it? But don’t worry, with some practice, you can train your eyes not to do this. Reading without regressions help you to follow along with the author, to effortlessly understand the meaning of the text – and to really enjoy what you’re reading.

Why do Swedish people learn this effortlessly and why are Swedes better readers? Find out in my new book BrainRead and learn how you can become a world champion speed reader yourself!