On March 21st, a new speed-reading app could help you read 1000 words/minute. Spritz allows your eyes to stay stationary, while the words stream one at a time, just slightly left of center. The sample app in an online article took me from reading 100 words a minute (slower than I normally read) to 500 words a minute in just a few seconds, with remarkable comprehension. Spritz has significant science about how we read behind the technology, but let’s talk about this from the reader and author perspective.
Readers: The trouble with being human is having one pair of eyes and too many books. When I add in research for historical novels, my pleasure reading drops considerably. I love paper books. I have a Kindle. I read online. The words are more important than the vehicle. If this new vehicle can help me read War & Peace (over 300,000 words) in about 5 hours, I say is buckle up and let’s go.
Authors: Does this add extra burden to authors to produce books at a faster rate, if readers can plow through them at a faster rate? Perhaps. If readers can tell in the first 50 pages whether a novel is good or not, they’ll decide to soldier on through War and Peace in fewer than 10 seconds. Do I wish there was a write-faster app? Youbetchya. But for now, authors be strong. This app isn’t permission to produce quantity over quality. Story trumps speed, and soon readers will learn that faster than ever before.