I, too, have wondered what makes a reader a fast reader. Like… what is their secret? But I’ve come to find a few reasons as to how they read so fast:
- They’re reading multiple books at once.
Some people have said that they’ll read multiple books which can give them a higher chance at finishing many at the same time. You can be listening to an audiobook on your commute to work and the same one while doing chores, while also reading a physical book during other moments of your day (on your lunch break, at home, etc.) I’ve tried to do this because of work (read a book on Libby or Hoopla for at-work reading and reading a physical book at home) and while it can work, it depends on how fast of a reader you are and how long you read for during each session. If I wasn’t distracted at work, I could get through a book in maybe a week or so.
- They’re heavily reliant on audiobooks.
I’m a slow reader naturally, but if I use an audiobook, it cuts my time in half. Roughly. Most books are roughly 8-10 hours long. If you use the audiobook during commutes, chores, etc. you can read for an easy 3-4 hours a day, and basically get the book finished within a day or so. Not to mention, many who use audiobooks also listen to it at faster speeds which cuts the finishing time even more.
- They don’t watch a lot of TV or play on social media all that much.
If you want to read more, the basic piece of advice anyone can give is to drop other hobbies. Limit your social media and TV time and use what time you’d put into that with reading. Another part of this is sacrificing your sleep. I know of many who will stay up super late reading or wake up early to read as well. Or get like a couple hours of sleep. But once you start sacrificing these things, you can read a lot more. When I used to work the graveyard shift, I would have 3-4 hours of free time… which I would try to spend reading, but I often found myself engrossed in TikTok and I’d spend 3-4 hours scrolling through videos… and it would feel like ten minutes to me. If I spent less time on TikTok, I could’ve read many more books.
- They skimmed.
And finally, many fast readers skim through the page. Scientifically speaking, you can do this to read faster and still understand what’s going on, but you only catch like 70% of the information. You tend to miss 30% or so in details and depending on how much you miss and what you miss, you can run pass the important stuff and have to reread it or move on without knowing it.
There’s a bonus answer, too: They read for a living.
Many of the famous BookTubers get paid enough through sponsors, Patreon, their blogs, YouTube, etc. that they do read for a living and therefore, do nothing but read. This only happens to a select few, however, but it can happen. And heck, if you find a job that is very quiet and doesn’t have a lot going on work wise, you can also read a lot.
the speed at which you read something isn’t a reliable indication of whether you enjoyed it or fully absorbed it. If anything, I read faster when I’m into a book.
