Principle 3:
You must learn to read vertically.
The more adept you become at the various techniques of Mental
Soaring, the more you’ll tend to read down the page rather than across
it.
Also, you’ll find that you use your peripheral vision more effectively:
You’ll comprehend increasing numbers of words in that one-to one-and-
a-half-inch-diameter circle on the page where your eyes focus. This
ability to make better use of peripheral vision will further enhance your
ability to move down the page in groups of words, rather than across the
page, word by word.
What does it feel like to read vertically rather than linearly? As you
looked over this passage using the talk-out-loud technique, your eyes
moved mostly down the page. Otherwise, you never would have made it
through the page in two to four seconds. So just from that exercise,
you’ve gained some idea of the sensation of reading vertically.
Later, you’ll find that you can slow down the pace to about eight to
ten seconds a page, and with a vertical eye movement you’ll actually be
reading every word. Not only that, you’ll comprehend more than when
you read line by line and spend one to two minutes on the same page. At
ten seconds a page, by the way, you’ll be soaring along at approximately
2,000 to 3,000 words per minute.
Also, when you tried the talk-out-loud approach, you were most likely
making greater use of your peripheral vision. Generally speaking, when
we increase our eye speed, we automatically “spread out” our vision to
the maximum in an effort to capture all the images we can.
To understand how this works, stop reading for a moment and look up
at some object in the room. Focus on a particular point on that object.
Even as you bore in on that point, see how many other objects or
movements you can take in out of the corners of your eyes. Without
moving your eyes from the focal point, you’ll find that you can take in
countless other images around you—and that’s part of what peripheral
vision is all about.
Our peripheral vision is so important that in nighttime training in the
military, infantrymen are taught not to look directly at an object if they
want to see it more clearly. Various studies and practical experience
have shown that many images and movements come across more clearly
at night when they are viewed off-center.
As you practice reading with your peripheral vision, you’ll find that
you have a somewhat similar capacity. By allowing images to come in
from all around your central line of vision, you can take in many words
and phrases that are off center from your main focus on the page. And
the more words you can grasp at a glance, the more quickly you’ll move
through any text.
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