The Best Books on Speed Reading (and What Each One Is Good For)
In this article
The best speed reading book for most people is How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, because it teaches you when to read fast and when to slow down. If you want drills, add a training book like Peter Kump’s Breakthrough Rapid Reading. If you want to remember more, add Make It Stick.
Below is a curated list of real, widely available books, grouped by what you want to get out of them. Each one comes with who it’s for and an honest note on its limits.
Quick picks
- Best overall: How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
- Best step-by-step speed reading program: Breakthrough Rapid Reading, Peter Kump
- Best short, practical course: 10 Days to Faster Reading, Abby Marks Beale
- Best for remembering what you read: Make It Stick, Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel
- Best reality check on speed reading: Language at the Speed of Sight, Mark Seidenberg
Classic speed reading books
These are the books most people mean when they search for a speed reading book. They teach the core techniques: using a pacer, cutting down on re-reading, previewing before you read and adjusting your speed to the material.
1. Breakthrough Rapid Reading (Peter Kump)
Who it’s for: readers who want a structured training plan and like doing exercises.
Kump directed the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics program, and the book reads like a course. It moves through hand pacing, reducing regressions and reading different kinds of material at different speeds, with drills along the way.
Honest take: the drills are useful, but the book is more optimistic about very high speeds than the research supports. Treat the techniques as tools for skimming and focused reading, not as a path to reading a novel in an hour.
2. The Speed Reading Book (Tony Buzan)
Who it’s for: visual learners and people who already like mind maps.
Buzan, best known for popularizing mind maps, combines eye-movement exercises with note-taking and memory techniques. The idea is that reading faster and remembering better should be trained together.
Honest take: some of the claims are enthusiastic. The parts on pacing, posture and reviewing with mind maps hold up better than the promises about speed.
3. 10 Days to Faster Reading (Abby Marks Beale)
Who it’s for: busy professionals who want a short, practical program.
Written by Abby Marks Beale for The Princeton Language Institute, this one is organized as a ten-day plan. It covers concentration, previewing, and reading work documents and email more efficiently.
Honest take: less dramatic than other titles, which is a good thing. It’s a solid choice if most of your reading is for work.
4. Remember Everything You Read (Stanley D. Frank)
Who it’s for: students and readers who want the Evelyn Wood method in a compact form.
The full subtitle presents it as the Evelyn Wood seven-day speed reading and learning program. It combines pacing techniques with study skills like previewing and note-taking.
Honest take: the title oversells it. Nobody remembers everything. The study habits in it are worth more than the speed targets.
5. Speed Reading For Dummies (Richard Sutz with Peter Weverka)
Who it’s for: beginners who want a friendly overview before committing to a program.
The familiar For Dummies format: short chapters, clear steps and exercises you can try right away. Good if you want to understand all the main techniques in one place.
Honest take: broad rather than deep. Use it to find which techniques work for you, then practice those.
6. How to Read Better and Faster (Norman Lewis)
Who it’s for: readers who also want to build vocabulary.
Norman Lewis, also the author of Word Power Made Easy, wrote this older guide with exercises on speed, comprehension and vocabulary. It’s a reminder that one of the most reliable ways to read faster is to know more words.
Honest take: some examples feel dated, but the core idea ages well. Unknown words slow you down more than any eye habit.
Books on reading smarter, not just faster
If you care about understanding and using what you read, these may help you more than any speed drill.
7. How to Read a Book (Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren)
Who it’s for: anyone who reads non-fiction and wants to get more out of it.
The classic on reading. Adler and Van Doren describe four levels of reading: elementary, inspectional, analytical and syntopical. The inspectional level is the most practical form of speed reading there is: systematic skimming to understand a book’s structure and decide whether it deserves a full read.
Honest take: it’s long and sometimes dry. Read the chapters on inspectional and analytical reading first. If you only read one book from this list, make it this one.
8. Make It Stick (Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel)
Who it’s for: anyone who reads to learn, whether for exams, work or self-study.
Not a speed reading book, and that’s the point. It explains, with research from cognitive psychology, why re-reading and highlighting feel productive but don’t work well, and why testing yourself and spacing your review do. Reading faster only matters if you remember.
Honest take: it will change how you study more than how you read. That’s a good trade. For a practical version of these ideas, see my guide on how to retain information while reading.
9. Moonwalking with Einstein (Joshua Foer)
Who it’s for: readers who want a fun way into memory techniques.
A journalist’s account of training for the USA Memory Championship. It’s a story first and a manual second, but you finish it understanding memory palaces and why vivid images stick.
Honest take: entertaining, not a method. Pair it with Make It Stick if you want something you can apply.
10. Deep Work (Cal Newport)
Who it’s for: readers who start a page and end up on their phone.
A lot of what feels like slow reading is really distracted reading. Newport’s book is about building the ability to focus for long periods, which is the foundation for reading faster with comprehension.
Honest take: it’s about work in general, not reading. Still, the advice on protecting focused time applies directly to your reading sessions.
11. Limitless (Jim Kwik)
Who it’s for: readers who want motivation and a broad view of learning.
Kwik covers focus, memory, habits and speed reading in one energetic package. It works well as a starting push.
Honest take: the tone is very upbeat and some claims go further than the evidence. Use it for motivation and the basic techniques, then look to the books above for depth.
The science behind reading speed
12. Language at the Speed of Sight (Mark Seidenberg)
Who it’s for: curious readers who want to know how reading actually works in the brain.
Seidenberg is a cognitive scientist who studies reading. The book explains how skilled reading develops and why some popular ideas about reading don’t match the evidence. It’s the best antidote to hype on this list.
Honest take: it won’t give you drills. It will give you realistic expectations, which saves time and money. If you enjoy this angle, Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid is another readable book on the reading brain.
What speed reading can and can’t do
Speed reading has real benefits, but it’s easy to expect too much from it.
What the research says. A major review published in 2016 by Keith Rayner and colleagues looked at the science of reading and speed reading. Its main conclusion: there is a trade-off between speed and accuracy. When people push well past their normal pace, comprehension drops. The eyes are not the main bottleneck; understanding language is.
What actually works:
- Skimming with a purpose. Previewing headings, first sentences and summaries is a real skill, and it’s what Adler calls inspectional reading.
- Cutting unnecessary re-reading. Many readers go back over lines out of habit, not need. A pacer helps.
- Better focus. Fewer interruptions means fewer lost pages.
- A bigger vocabulary and more background knowledge. The more you know about a topic, the faster you read about it.
What doesn’t hold up: claims of reading thousands of words per minute with full comprehension, or “photo reading” a page at a glance. If a book promises that, read it for the drills and ignore the numbers. I go deeper into this in speed reading benefits: what’s real and what’s hype.
How to choose the right book
- You want more from non-fiction: start with How to Read a Book.
- You want exercises and a plan: Breakthrough Rapid Reading or 10 Days to Faster Reading.
- You forget what you read: Make It Stick, then Moonwalking with Einstein for fun.
- You can’t focus: Deep Work.
- You’re skeptical and want the science: Language at the Speed of Sight.
Whatever you pick, apply one book for two weeks before starting another. Measure your baseline first, in words per minute and with a quick comprehension check, so you can see real progress. Then practice on books you actually want to read, not only on drills.
For the techniques in one place, read my guide on how to speed read with comprehension. If you’d rather practice with an app or a course, see the best speed reading apps and the best speed reading courses. And if you want a short daily routine, the Smart Reading Challenge is a guided plan of a few minutes a day.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best book on speed reading?
For most readers, How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, because it teaches you to match your speed to your goal. If you want a pure training program, Breakthrough Rapid Reading by Peter Kump is a classic.
Do speed reading books really work?
They work for removing bad habits, skimming better and reading with more focus. They don’t make it possible to read thousands of words per minute with full comprehension, which research does not support.
What should I read first if I’m a beginner?
Start with Speed Reading For Dummies or 10 Days to Faster Reading for the basic techniques. Then read How to Read a Book to learn when to slow down.
Are there books on speed reading and memory together?
Yes. Tony Buzan’s The Speed Reading Book combines both, and Make It Stick explains the research on remembering what you study.
How long does it take to read faster after reading one of these books?
It depends on how much you practice. Most people notice smoother, more focused reading within a few weeks of daily practice, especially once they stop re-reading out of habit.
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