How to Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis

Some books are entertaining, some useful, but once in a while once comes across a book that can be classified as “life changing”. How to Read better and Faster by Norman Lewis is one such book. Don’t be deceived by it’s simplistic title. The book is NOT an English lesson book that teaches one to read, but how one can increase one’s reading speed from 200 wpm (words per minute) to 500 wpm to even 1,000 wpm & 2,000 wpm. When I started the book I would crawl at 200 to 250 wpm, which Norman Lewis says is the average reading rate. And now after just a couple of months, I easily cruise at 450 to 500 wpm. That means it takes me now half the time to finish the morning paper, emails, letters, office documents and also the occassional novel!

In the words of a reviewer of this book at Amazon.com, “The basis behind the author’s theory is that speed reading, high concentration and material retention are all linked. You can’t do one without the other very effectively. So, if you start reading fast, you are forced to concentrate and this increases retention. The high concentration that is induced when you try to read faster results in some interesting physiological changes in the brain where the memory of what you are reading gets etched more permanently than the times when you don’t have high concentration. This is not explained in the book, but I came to that conclusion after I became curious about what makes the book’s techniques so effective and researched deeper into the subject. I don’t want to go too much into the book’s techniques because I think they are more effective if you read them directly from the book for the first time.”

I couldn’t put it better myself :-)

Happy reading :-)
Arif

Edit: On popular request, I’ve uploaded here, the image of the Flashmaster card that came with the book.


This entry was posted on July 03rd, 2006 and is filed under Book Reviews, Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

 
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39 Responses to “How to Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis”

  1. sunil
    29. November 2006 at 14:06

    I have been trying to achieve the reading speed to 1000 wpm, and certainly, i feel that i am improving.Thanks for the technique you discovered .

  2. edwin
    13. September 2007 at 20:58

    hi…i just bought this book. but its a very old copy and apparently it originally came with a “flashmaster” card. i dont know what that is and it makes it difficult to proceed. could you describe it to me so i can make one myself? thanx

  3. arif
    14. September 2007 at 01:00

    Hi Edwin,

    Sure thing, give me a day or two and I’ll post the size of the flashmaster card.

    It’s really a wonderful book. I’m considering re-reading a certain areas of the book myself.

  4. Arif
    19. September 2007 at 08:37

    Hi Edwin,

    I’ve emailed you a scanned image of the flasmaster card with it’s dimensions.

    Keep smiling : )
    Arif

  5. Andrew
    21. October 2007 at 18:30

    Hello! I recently came across this book by Norman Lewis but was missing the “flashmeter card.” Would you mind sending me the dimension and the scanned image also?

    Thank you very much,
    Andrew

  6. arif
    23. October 2007 at 05:25

    Hi Andrew,
    I’ve just added the images as links right at the bottom of the post itself.

    Cheerio,
    Arif

  7. Chris
    3. March 2008 at 22:00

    I’m sorry. I cannot access the dimensions of the card. Can you please email me these dimensions? Thanks.

    Chris

  8. Mohammed Ali
    4. March 2008 at 04:08

    Hi Chris,

    Emailed to you. :-)

    Take care & happy speed-reading

  9. linkinrustle
    1. April 2008 at 01:22

    Hi,
    Do you have e copy of word power made easy or how to read better and faster.also,I cannot access the dimensions of the card. Can you please email me these dimensions?
    Thanks in advance

  10. arif
    3. April 2008 at 10:15

    Hello Linkinrustle,

    Unfortunately no, don’t have an e-copy of these books. But if you let me know where you’re staying, let me see if I can send you a copy. The dimensions of these cards will be in your email inbox real shortly.

    Cheers!

  11. Gaurav
    26. April 2008 at 22:23

    Hi Arif,

    I am trying to get this book at the earliest, have asked one of my friend to get this for me, in the meanwhile can you send me the flashmaster card and how to use this also.

    Thanks,
    Gaurav

  12. arif
    27. April 2008 at 09:13

    Hello Gaurav,

    The book’s quite easily available in India. It’s certainly quite easy to get in Bangalore. If you’re in US, I’ve heard of an equally good or better book out there. It’s Breakthrough Rapid Reading by Peter Kump.

    The flashmaster card would not come much in use until you have the book. It can be used specifically with the book only. Will email it to you anyway.

    Cheers!
    Arif

  13. Pramit
    6. May 2008 at 10:54

    Hi!!!!
    can anybody send a copy of the flashmaster cards or the faster reading book please???

    here is my id= pramit_cse@yahoo.co.in

    Take my thanks in advance

  14. Chandra
    18. May 2008 at 01:23

    Hi I am also missing the flashmaster card for the book. Can anybody, please e-mail the image.

    e-mail: chandrasjsu@gmail.com
    Thanks in advance,
    Chandra

  15. Neerav
    23. May 2008 at 02:51

    where can i download the ebook….please tell me ….it will be very beneficial to me??? or someone please mail it to me at neeravb@gmail.com thank you!!

  16. arif
    23. May 2008 at 04:07

    Hi Neerav,

    Not sure where an ebook is available. But if you’re based in India, or have friends here, getting a copy is not very difficult.

    Chandra,
    Will email you the flashmaster card.

    Arif

  17. S M
    28. May 2008 at 19:18

    Arif,

    Can you please send me a copy of the flash meter card?

    nimdhar at gmail dot com

    Thanks

  18. shivam
    3. June 2008 at 07:47

    i too need flash meter
    cud u send it to me plz
    at
    shivam07usit@gmail.com

  19. arif
    7. June 2008 at 00:53

    Hi Shivam,

    I’ve sent you the mail. Also, I’ve fixed the link so that others can download the flashmaster card directly.

    Happy reading,
    Arif

  20. Javier Jimenez
    8. June 2008 at 22:05

    How can I obtain the flashmeter card. I have bought the book HOW TO READ BETTER AND FASTER throw amazon.com, but it doesn´t bring the card. could you email me an image of that to use it during my exercises?

  21. Raghu
    9. June 2008 at 00:00

    Hi Arif,
    I am also missing the flashmaster card from the book. Can you please e-mail the image.

    email:raghu4ever@gmail.com

    Thanks in advance,
    Raghu.

  22. rahul
    9. June 2008 at 08:47

    Hi Arif,
    I do not have the flashmaster card from the book as I had bougt a second hand copy. Can you please e-mail the image.

    email: qattention@gmail.com

    thanks in advance,

    rahul.

  23. rahul
    9. June 2008 at 08:49

    Hi Arif,
    I do not have the flashmaster card from the book as I had bougt a second hand copy. Can you please e-mail the image.

    email: qattention@gmail.com

    thanks in advance,

    rahul.
    (needed to paste it the second time to enable the notification option, via email. no offence meant.)

  24. arif
    9. June 2008 at 09:05

    Rahul,

    I’ve emailed the link to you, but you (and anybody else can access the image from here

    Arif

  25. Anup
    18. June 2008 at 04:32

    Probably, this is the book I was looking for in my unconcious mind.Really, it’s better than I can even dreamed of! Thanks Norman for producing such a nice gift for us. Throughout my life Many books have changed my ideas about things around me and may be this book is one of them.

    Anup Kumar Halder
    Dhaka,Bangladesh.

  26. arif
    18. June 2008 at 04:38

    Hello Anup!

    Glad you’re able to find this book. I know what you mean, once you get the hang of the speed reading, you then begin speed thinking and speed listening too. It’s amazing!

    Wow, pleased to see your from Dhaka Bangladesh. :-) Hope all’s well.

    Arif

  27. arif
    18. June 2008 at 04:54

    By the way Anup, I heard this really good book review by the celebrated Robert Adams on the Book Brick Lane, which I think you may enjoy. It’s about a Bangladeshi family, a daughter who followed her fate and went to London and other who fought it and remained in Dhaka. You can watch it by clicking here.

  28. sriram
    24. June 2008 at 03:19

    Please send How To Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis eBook
    and flash card master from ebook to
    sriram_thallam@yahoo.co.in

    Thanks in advance,
    sriram.

  29. Darshan
    7. July 2008 at 02:40

    Please send How To Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis eBook
    and flash card master from ebook to
    pvdarshan@gmail.com

    I am very eager to read this book.

    Thanks in advance,
    Darshan.

  30. sameer
    9. July 2008 at 13:30

    Please send How To Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis eBook
    to sameermunot@yahoo.com

  31. Rahul
    15. July 2008 at 14:15

    Hi Arif,

    I couldn’t understand how to use a fixation card..
    I am stuck on Page 57 b’cos of that…..
    Could you please explain me how to use it…
    The instruction given aren’t so clear to me….

  32. Rahul
    18. July 2008 at 14:31

    hello is anybody replying on this blog or not???

  33. arif
    19. July 2008 at 02:01

    - Sameer, you can download the flashmaster card from here

    - Rahul, sorry for the late reply. I need to locate the book and see precisely what’s on page 57 that you’re referring to. Give me a couple of days and I’ll post the clarification here.

  34. Arif
    20. July 2008 at 03:28

    Hi Rahul,

    I got the book in front of me now. I feel that there’s a slight misprint. What I did is that I had the “phrase arrow just above the first word inthe starting on page 57″ as the book suggests. But instead of having the “Word Arrow squarely meet the arrow on the page”, I think Norman meant the “Fixate here arrow on the card to squarely meet the arrow on the page.”

    If read that way the instructions seem to make perfect sense. The rest of the instructions seem quite straight-forward.

    Hope that helped.
    Arif

  35. Nathan Iyer
    28. July 2008 at 12:15

    Hi Arif,
    I agree with you. It is truly a great book.
    I wrote a small windows based program in an attempt to duplicate the function of the flashmeter card.
    You can download it from here
    http://www.nathaniyer.com

    regards,
    Nathan

  36. Shyam
    30. July 2008 at 08:10

    Hi,
    Please send me the ebook of How To Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis. Thanks

  37. arif
    30. July 2008 at 09:09

    Hello Shyam,

    I don’t have extra copies of the book to send across, however it’s really quite easily available in India in most bookstores.

    Arif

  38. sachin
    31. July 2008 at 10:10

    Can you please mail me the flashcard?

    Thanks for your help,
    Sachin Jain

  39. arif
    31. July 2008 at 10:25

    Hi everybody,

    Due to over-popular request, I’ve replaced the link of the flashcard here and am temporarily closing comments to this post.

    Cheerio,
    Arif