By Finlo Rohrer BBC News Magazine The Man Booker prize judges' task of reading a hundred novels in a hundred days sounds an arduous one, but can we learn to do it with ease? And in this age of information overload do we all have to learn to read a little bit quicker?
By Finlo Rohrer BBC News Magazine The Man Booker prize judges' task of reading a hundred novels in a hundred days sounds an arduous one, but can we learn to do it with ease? And in this age of information overload do we all have to learn to read a little bit quicker?
So how long did it take you to get to the end of this sentence?
So how long did it take you to get to the end of this sentence?
A second? Half a second? And if you'd known this was a test, would you have done anything differently? Might you have taken a deep breath beforehand, concentrated hard and fixed your gaze? Would you have read it aloud, or not? Would you have run a finger along the line?
A second? Half a second? And if you'd known this was a test, would you have done anything differently? Might you have taken a deep breath beforehand, concentrated hard and fixed your gaze? Would you have read it aloud, or not? Would you have run a finger along the line?
And never mind one line, how long did it take to read the last novel you tackled? Many of us have read a novel in a day. Maybe a Marian Keyes or a Michael Crichton on a long journey. But it's hard for most people to wrap their heads around tackling one tome on a Tuesday and then wading through another whopper on a Wednesday.
And never mind one line, how long did it take to read the last novel you tackled? Many of us have read a novel in a day. Maybe a Marian Keyes or a Michael Crichton on a long journey. But it's hard for most people to wrap their heads around tackling one tome on a Tuesday and then wading through another whopper on a Wednesday.
TONY BUZAN'S TIPS Silently read the lineFollow the line with a fingerDon't 'backskip'Understand peripheral visionDon't try and focus eye on every word
TONY BUZAN'S TIPS Silently read the lineFollow the line with a fingerDon't 'backskip'Understand peripheral visionDon't try and focus eye on every word
But that's the task the Booker prize judges face. From a period beginning at about the end of March/beginning of April, the five judges have to batter their way through 110 books in not much more than four months. It works out as a little less than a book a day.
But that's the task the Booker prize judges face. From a period beginning at about the end of March/beginning of April, the five judges have to batter their way through 110 books in not much more than four months. It works out as a little less than a book a day.
And it isn't just about finding whether it was the butler in the pantry with the candlestick. They must consider, analyse and ruminate on the entrants in order to find their way to the best non-American literature in the English language.
And it isn't just about finding whether it was the butler in the pantry with the candlestick. They must consider, analyse and ruminate on the entrants in order to find their way to the best non-American literature in the English language.
Crowding danger
Crowding danger
Professor John Sutherland was head of the judges panel in 2005 and is heartily bored of the regularity with which he is asked whether he read all of the 120 entrants that were eventually whittled down to John Banville's the Sea.
Professor John Sutherland was head of the judges panel in 2005 and is heartily bored of the regularity with which he is asked whether he read all of the 120 entrants that were eventually whittled down to John Banville's The Sea.
Of course he did.
Of course he did.
"I kept notes on every novel. The notes are deposited with the unofficial Booker historian.
"I kept notes on every novel. The notes are deposited with the unofficial Booker historian.
Peripheral vision is good, but looking at the book probably helps
Peripheral vision is good, but looking at the book probably helps
"It isn't just reading, but giving the novel space in your mind. If you watched five films in the same day, my thought is the fifth film wouldn't get the same treatment. If you read too many they crowd each other out."
"It isn't just reading, but giving the novel space in your mind. If you watched five films in the same day, my thought is the fifth film wouldn't get the same treatment. If you read too many they crowd each other out."
But he understands those members of the reading public who are filled with baffled wonder when they think of the kind of busy high-powered career people who often fill the jury.
But he understands those members of the reading public who are filled with baffled wonder when they think of the kind of busy high-powered career people who often fill the jury.
Those who feel swamped might sympathise with this year's chairman of the Booker judges, Sir Howard Davies. As well as being a long-standing reviewer of books, he's the former deputy governor at the Bank of England, the current director of the London Schools of Economics, a trustee of the Tate, and a member of the Royal Academy of Music's governing body. He also reads novels in French.
Those who feel swamped might sympathise with this year's chairman of the Booker judges, Sir Howard Davies. As well as being a long-standing reviewer of books, he's the former deputy governor at the Bank of England, the current director of the London Schools of Economics, a trustee of the Tate, and a member of the Royal Academy of Music's governing body. He also reads novels in French.
"Multiply 110 novels of 270 pages, two minutes a page and see how much time the director of the CBI or the director of the LSE has. If they put their hand up and say they have then you must believe them," Prof Sutherland says.
"Multiply 110 novels of 270 pages, two minutes a page and see how much time the director of the CBI or the director of the LSE has. If they put their hand up and say they have then you must believe them," Prof Sutherland says.
"[But] there's reading and there's reading. I read the newspaper today but I wouldn't want to be examined on it."
"[But] there's reading and there's reading. I read the newspaper today but I wouldn't want to be examined on it."
Seven stages
Seven stages
That figure of two minutes a page is the key. The memory and reading guru Tony Buzan, who wrote the Speed Reading Book for the BBC, believes people can do much better than that.
That figure of two minutes a page is the key. The memory and reading guru Tony Buzan, who wrote the Speed Reading Book for the BBC, believes people can do much better than that.
"Most people are not good readers at all. After university the average graduate reads one book a year. Even good readers are reading at half the speed they could be.
"Most people are not good readers at all. After university the average graduate reads one book a year. Even good readers are reading at half the speed they could be.
"A speed of a thousand words a minute is comfortably achievable on an appropriate text."
"A speed of a thousand words a minute is comfortably achievable on an appropriate text."
Read standing up in a bookshop, that way you will do it quickly and efficiently Prof John SutherlandFormer Booker judge
Read standing up in a bookshop, that way you will do it quickly and efficiently Prof John SutherlandFormer Booker judge
Buzan breaks the art of speed reading into seven stages: recognition, assimilation, comprehension, understanding, retention, recall and use.
Buzan breaks the art of speed reading into seven stages: recognition, assimilation, comprehension, understanding, retention, recall and use.
Deliberately reading slower than you normally would to increase comprehension is out, as it actually reduces comprehension, Buzan says.
Deliberately reading slower than you normally would to increase comprehension is out, as it actually reduces comprehension, Buzan says.
But habits that most readers have beaten out of them, like subvocalising - or silently reading to oneself - and following the line with a ruler or finger help you be quicker Buzan says.
But habits that most readers have beaten out of them, like subvocalising - or silently reading to oneself - and following the line with a ruler or finger help you be quicker Buzan says.
Readers must learn how their eyes and brain work. They read not just the word being focused on, but also words either side. The page is not read in one continuous side-to-side motion. Instead the eyes skip about. Research suggests they even move at different speeds and cross over occasionally.
Readers must learn how their eyes and brain work. They read not just the word being focused on, but also words either side. The page is not read in one continuous side-to-side motion. Instead the eyes skip about. Research suggests they even move at different speeds and cross over occasionally.
Information overload
Information overload
Buzan is messianic about one particularly heinous vice. Backskipping, or rereading passages you think you haven't understood, is totally out for speed readers.
Buzan is messianic about one particularly heinous vice. Backskipping, or rereading passages you think you haven't understood, is totally out for speed readers.
The concept of speed reading has its critics. Some say rates of comprehension are not as high as its champions suggest and that it's no better than "skimming" a book by the untrained.
The concept of speed reading has its critics. Some say rates of comprehension are not as high as its champions suggest and that it's no better than the efforts the untrained might muster if instructed to "skim" a book.
A peaceful setting may aid concentration
A peaceful setting may aid concentration
But the idea of reading faster has a certain resonance in today's era of information overload. The shelves of the bookshops groan with new fiction, and the internet offers a biblical inundation of text - blogs, essays, user-generated material of all kinds.
But the idea of reading faster has a certain resonance in today's era of information overload. The shelves of the bookshops groan with new fiction, and the internet offers a biblical inundation of text - blogs, essays, user-generated material of all kinds.
"We are living in a period where there is more stuff to read than ever. Most periods of cultural history have been marked by shortage rather than glut," Prof Sutherland says.
"We are living in a period where there is more stuff to read than ever. Most periods of cultural history have been marked by shortage rather than glut," Prof Sutherland says.
"People want a thinning out of the field. It is a dual responsibility to the reading public. Money used to be the restricting factor, now it's time."
"People want a thinning out of the field. It is a dual responsibility to the reading public. Money used to be the restricting factor, now it's time."
This year there has been much discussion over the brevity of the shortlisted On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. But previous winners like Possession or The Blind Assassin have been the kind of hefty volumes you might reach for as a weapon if you heard a noise in the night.
This year there has been much discussion over the brevity of the shortlisted On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. But previous winners like Possession or The Blind Assassin have been the kind of hefty volumes you might reach for as a weapon if you heard a noise in the night.
Having passed the 100 books in a 100 days test, Prof Sutherland must have some advice for the would-be marathon reader.
Having passed the 100 books in a 100 days test, Prof Sutherland must have some advice for the would-be marathon reader.
"Read standing up in a bookshop, that way you will do it quickly and efficiently," he jokes.
"Read standing up in a bookshop, that way you will do it quickly and efficiently," he jokes.
