Speed-reading is the idea that there is a learned process that helps people to read faster than at a normal rate.  There are courses that are sold all over the world to teach people how to speed-read.  The idea is that speed-reading increases reading comprehension efficiency and gives the speed-reader more time to work on other things.
Some speed reading courses promise to help their students increase the rate of reading to beyond 1000 words per minute with full comprehension.  There is much debate about which formats are best for speed reading.  Some argue that larger materials like novels are ideal for speed reading, while others think that speed reading should be used for workplace memos or emails.

The main concern of speed reading is making sure that the speed reader is able to comprehend everything they read.  If they are only able to skim the documents and do not have a grasp on what they just read, it is not speed reading.  Since there is the debate about what makes a “speed reader” able to comprehend the material, there have been studies on the speed reading courses.  While it is a good idea that speed reading courses can totally change how a person reads, there is substantial evidence that in order to grasp speed reading, the user or student must already have a solid base of reading comprehension. 

The speed reading techniques focus on the idea that about 90% of content in any given material is not worth reading.  They contest that everything a reader needs to know can be found in only a small portion of the material and the rest is filler that should be completely ignored. 

There are many different methods to learning speed reading.  Some of these methods include getting into a Zen-like state while focusing on diaphragm breathing, sitting upright, reading backwards and even reading in time with a metronome.  The whole goal is to spend less time reading and more time doing other things.  While this may be great for businesses that have a lot of paperwork, or even for professions like attorneys who have to read many books to find what they are looking for, speed reading does have one downside – it takes away from the relaxation of curling up with a good book.