Speed reading app lets you read novels in an hour

By Mariam Digges

Speed reading app lets you read novels in an hour

Wish you had more time to read? Has your current book been taking months too long to finish? A new speed-reading app can help you.

Spritz, a Boston-based start-up, is using text streaming technology that was launched at last month’s Mobile World Congress, which reported that “the eye seeks a certain point within the word, which we call the optimal recognition point, or ORP. After your eyes find the ORP, your brain starts to process the meaning of the word that you’re viewing”.

According to the Boston team, “when reading, only around 20% of your time is spent processing content. The remaining 80% is spent physically moving your eyes from word to word and scanning for the next ORP”.

So, how does it work?

The Spritz app give you the text one word at a time, highlighting the “Optimal Recognition Point” or ORP of the word in red, and delivers the text at the point on the screen where you’re already focused, so you can read without having to move your eyes. So depending on your own comfort level, this can help you read at speeds of up to 1,000 words a minute. Test it here.

Spritz is hoping to unveil the new technology on the Samsung Gear 2 and Galaxy S5 and claims its use extends further than just books, to emails, online articles, social media streams, e-books, and virtually any web or mobile based content.

This isn’t the first speed-reading technology on the market; apps like Velocity for iOS and Spreeder are already available, however Spritz believes its advantage over these other companies is in its text alignment, and the fact that the ORP is in red. This, according to the Boston company, “triggers the brain to recognise the word and process its meaning.”

Skeptics are dubious as to just how much of the text is absorbed when reading at such speeds, especially when the subject matter of the content we are ingesting is unfamiliar, and requires connection with other texts we have read and time for absorption. When speed-reading, depth will be compromised, according to experts.

But, if we were only to speed up our reading time moderately, imagine the possibilities; you could finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy in under a day!

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