10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks Beale
10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks Beale is a practical guide designed to help readers boost their reading speed and comprehension in just ten days. It offers easy-to-apply techniques that break bad reading habits and introduce smarter strategies. Whether you’re buried in books or need to stay on top of work material, this book helps you read more efficiently and with better focus.
Who May Benefit from the Book
- Professionals overwhelmed with large volumes of reports, emails, and documents
- Students facing heavy reading loads in school or college
- Lifelong learners eager to read more books in less time
- Educators looking to help their students improve reading habits
- Anyone frustrated by slow reading or poor comprehension
Top 3 Key Insights
- Strategic previewing helps extract 40% of a book’s value before deep reading.
- You don’t need to read every word to understand the core message.
- Subvocalization, regression, and passive reading slow you down significantly.
4 More Lessons and Takeaways
- Purpose-driven reading saves time: Knowing why you’re reading a piece of content helps filter what’s essential and what’s not.
- Note-taking increases retention: Highlighting, summarizing, or writing notes helps you recall and reuse information later.
- Active mind-wandering enhances focus: Drawing connections between the text and your experiences improves engagement and memory.
- You can read at work: Reading relevant material during work hours can boost productivity, not hinder it.
The Book in 1 Sentence
Read faster and smarter in just ten days by shedding old habits and using practical strategies to boost speed and comprehension.
The Book Summary in 1 Minute
“10 Days to Faster Reading” by Abby Marks Beale is a practical guide to improving reading speed and comprehension. The book reveals how traditional reading habits—like subvocalization, regression, and reading every word—hold readers back. It teaches how to preview material for faster processing, use purpose-driven reading, and apply simple strategies like using a pacer or focusing on key phrases. It also breaks myths about reading during work and needing to memorize everything. By applying these strategies daily, readers can speed up their reading, improve retention, and feel less overwhelmed by the volume of content they face.
The Book Summary in 10 Minutes
Shift Your Reading Mindset
Reading is a Skill, Not a Gift
Many believe reading speed is fixed. It’s not. Reading is a learned skill, and like any skill, it can be improved with practice. The book begins by challenging the assumption that fast readers are born that way.
Break Free from Outdated Habits
Slow reading is often due to learned behaviors:
- Subvocalization: Saying words in your head slows you down.
- Regression: Rereading the same line repeatedly interrupts flow.
- Reading every word: Not necessary, especially in nonfiction.
The book provides techniques to reduce or eliminate these habits, freeing your mind to read faster and understand better.
Build Awareness of Reading Purpose
Define Why You’re Reading
Ask yourself:
- Why am I reading this?
- What do I hope to learn?
Purpose gives direction. It helps you choose the right reading method—scanning, skimming, or detailed reading.
Focus on What Matters
You don’t need to finish everything. Know what to skip. Apply the 80/20 rule—often 20% of the content gives 80% of the value.
Apply the 40% Previewing Technique
What is Previewing?
Previewing means scanning the structure before diving in. For nonfiction, do the following:
- Read the introduction and conclusion
- Skim the headings, subheadings, and bolded words
- Look for lists, diagrams, or summaries
- Read the first sentence of each paragraph
Why It Works
Previewing gives you a mental roadmap. You understand what to expect and where to focus. It saves time and boosts understanding.
Use a Pacer to Stay Focused
What’s a Pacer?
Use your finger, a pen, or a card to guide your eyes. Move it steadily under each line as you read.
Benefits
- Helps reduce backtracking
- Keeps your eyes moving
- Maintains reading flow
This simple trick can improve speed instantly.
Fight Regression and Distractions
Limit Rereading
Place an index card above the line just read. This physical block discourages looking back. Use it only when necessary.
Turn Passive Daydreaming into Active Engagement
Instead of drifting, relate the content to your own life. For example, reading about brain science? Think about your last concentration struggle. Connecting ideas this way makes them stick.
Curb Subvocalization
Read in Thought, Not in Voice
Saying words in your mind slows you down to speech rate—around 150 words per minute. The brain can process 400+ words per minute.
How to Reduce It
- Chew gum
- Hum quietly
- Focus on reading groups of words rather than one by one
These tricks keep your mind too busy to say every word internally.
Practice with Real Material
Use Everyday Reading
Practice with articles, newspapers, or emails. Don’t wait for ideal content. The more you apply these techniques, the more natural they become.
Track Your Progress
Use a timer. Measure your words per minute (WPM) at the start and after each day. Many see improvement within just three days.
Reading and Work: Rethink the Stigma
Reading is Productive
Many professionals feel guilty reading at work. But keeping up with trends, learning from case studies, or reading reports is essential. It fuels innovation and decision-making.
Build Reading Into Your Routine
Schedule time during the day. Read standing up. Keep books near your desk. Small changes remove guilt and build habits.
Create a Retention System
Don’t Try to Remember Everything
Instead of memorizing, store information smartly. Try:
- Highlighting
- Summarizing
- Digital notes
- Bookmarking key pages
Retrieval Beats Rote Memory
You don’t need to remember it all now. Just know how to find it later. This reduces pressure and enhances learning.
Build a Daily Habit
Ten Days of Practice
Each chapter has daily exercises and goals. You’ll train specific areas like skimming, pacing, or previewing.
Small Wins Add Up
Just 20 minutes a day can improve your speed by 50–100%. The more consistent your practice, the better the results.
About the Author
Abby Marks Beale is an educational consultant, speed-reading expert, and founder of The Corporate Educator. She specializes in productivity and learning enhancement through smarter reading strategies. With over 25 years of experience, she has helped professionals, students, and educators sharpen their reading skills and manage information overload. Her other books include Success Skills: Strategies for Study and Lifelong Learning. Abby’s workshops, online programs, and seminars have made her a leading voice in reading efficiency training.
How to Get the Best of the Book
Treat it like a 10-day course. Read one chapter per day and apply the exercises immediately. Use a timer to track your progress and keep notes to reflect on your improvement.
Conclusion
10 Days to Faster Reading offers simple, science-backed strategies that can improve your reading in just days. It helps break bad habits and replace them with better ones. If you want to read more in less time and retain more of what you read, this book gives you the tools to do it.