Stuck on a chapter of that literary classic you’ve always wanted to read? A Kindle feature you’re probably not using could help you finish that challenging book. word runner has been available on kindle e-readers since 2015 and is a lifesaver when it comes to reading difficult books.
word runner works through a rapid serial visual presentation, which is a fancy way of saying that it displays one word at a time in the center of your kindle screen as you “read” the text. You can set Word Runner to speeds from 100 to 900 words per minute, but the Kindle feature uses dynamic pacing to slow down difficult words, commas, periods, and other punctuation.
You are reading: Speed reading kindle books
Now, it’s worth mentioning that even though it sounds like Word Runner will make you a speed reader, you shouldn’t plan on reading that 40,000-word novel in 45 minutes. you could, but you probably wouldn’t understand much about what happened in the story, simply because speed reading isn’t really possible. you can’t double your top reading speed and expect to fully understand every word of a text.
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That’s true even if you’re a speed reader to begin with. For example, I can read most text at about 750 words per minute with 80 percent comprehension, but not all writing. I have to slow down when I’m working on a difficult text, and I naturally slow down when I’m distracted by noise or other factors.
still, word runner can help you solve a difficult or boring text. About 10 percent of your reading time is spent moving your eyes back and forth along a line, and when the passage you’re reading is difficult, or when you’ve been reading for a long time, that little bit of time saved can help you get through the last 20 percent of your gargantuan Russian novel. Although the jury is still out on whether or not Word Runner and similar apps can reduce eyestrain, I can tell you that in my experience, this Kindle feature allows me to read more of the book and for longer periods of time. time without taking a break.
Rapid serial display also reduces something called subvocalization: the internal narrations you make while reading a text in your head. it’s pretty hard to avoid subvocalization, but I’ve found that by setting the word runner speed to something higher than your normal reading speed for a particular text, again, more difficult texts = slower reading, I can overcome subvocalization and allow text to wash me. As with eye strain, there’s no real consensus on the critical role subvocalizations play in slowing down reading, but my experience with word runner tells me it works.
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paul kingsnorth wake, $8.98, amazon
let me give you a concrete example of how much word runner can help you get through a challenging book. A few years ago, I heard about Paul Kingsnorth’s novel The Wake, which is written in a made-up approximation of Old English. it’s a spectacular book, but it’s challenging to read a text that looks different enough to be unfamiliar. you can read a long excerpt from the wake here, but I’ve included a short snippet for you below. take a look:
As I said, the wake is a difficult book. About halfway through, my eyes began to tire and I found myself reading the same lines over and over again, trying to understand what kingsnorth’s narrator, buccmaster, had to say. that’s when i fired up word runner and it changed everything.
although i had trouble navigating a text where “deofuls in the heofen” means “devils in the skies”, reading through a quick serial visual made me realize i had read enough of the wake to know the “rules” of how the language worked invented by kingsnorth. I just needed word runner to reduce my subvocalization and make my eyes less tired. if you’re struggling with a difficult book, it’s definitely worth a try.
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