Remember Everything You Read: The Evelyn Wood 7-Day Speed Reading \& Learning Program pdfdrive com

ACTION DIGEST
1.
For the fastest reading speeds, you must observe the four basic
principles of layered reading.
• See and accept words and phrases out of their normal order.
• Accept visual reassurance as you read.
• Read vertically.
• Understand the gestalt.
2.
Know the five steps in layered reading, or the Multiple Reading
Process: overview, preview, reading, postview, review.

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5
How to Fly with Your Hands
One of the major identifying marks of the Evelyn Wood approach to
reading has been the use of hand motions. Upon seeing a person’s hand
or finger sweeping back and forth, up and down on a page in strange or
exotic movements, a typical first response may be: “That’s an Evelyn
Wood student.”
As you already know, Evelyn discovered the hand-motion concept as
she was brushing dirt off a book that she had tossed down on the
ground. In cleaning off each page, she began to read simultaneously at
supersonic speeds—and thus the Wood hand-motion concept was born.
Over the years, this technique has been refined so that now there are
many possible hand movements for every step of studying and reading.
Also, when a student becomes adept at using several of the standard
motions, he may want to experiment with his own personal variations. A
number of our students have even formulated completely new
techniques that are more appropriate to special tastes or needs.
Why use hand motions at all? They serve three basic functions:
• They help establish the fastest possible pace or rhythm for eye
movements during the study of written material.
• They enhance concentration. Remember, if you’re not paying attention
to the words when you use this technique, you’ll just be wiggling your
hand on the page—and few people will allow themselves to do that for
very long.
• They prevent regression, or going back over material you’ve already
read.

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Now let’s consider how the major hand motions work. Many of the
following explanations, beginning with the underlining motion which
you’ve already learned, are accompanied by illustrative diagrams. The
darkened path on each of these diagrams indicates the route your hand
should follow in executing the motions.