Reading With the Right Brain: Read Faster by Reading Ideas Instead of Just Words (24 page)

An apple by any other name—or no name at all—is still an apple.

Visually imagining ideas as you read, involves using faster and broader information pathways. Complex information processing is the most special of all human talents. As primarily visual animals, visualizing ideas is simply applying our special mental talents to the important task of information processing.

Visualizing is more than just a reading trick. You could consider it the foundation of speed reading. To read faster than speech, you need to switch to reading ideas, whether physical or metaphorical images, or abstract concepts.

Visualizing creates a strong mental conduit between the text and our conscious mind by adapting the information to the type of brain we have—a powerful, visual, pattern recognizing machine. The act of visualizing also forces us to pay more attention to our reading; thinking of the ideas rather than just “listening” to ourselves read the words. Visualizing forces us to form a conceptual idea of the information and ask the important question of, “What does this
mean
to me?”

Visualizing harnesses the full range of the cortical skills of your right brain: the imagery, the conceptualizing, the big-picture and essence of information, and all the instant connections those larger ideas initiate in your mind. This type of massive parallel processing is what allows your mind to move more information at a time. A mental picture truly is worth a thousand mental words.

Practice Exercise #13

Ready for another exercise? Then tip that first domino by focusing your attention on visualizing what you are reading. You can see pictures or simply imagine ideas, but get that right brain involved and forget about the words and sounds. Each phrase has a meaningful idea behind it; look at this idea. Your high-speed right brain will then begin to quickly process information in these larger, unified units of meaning.

And remember that you only want to see the
ideas
. The words are only the silent messengers transferring those ideas to your brain. When you look at a meaningful word-group and see what it means, skip the words and sounds. Quickly imagine the idea and move on.

When you’re ready, begin reading the first thousand words of

Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver’s Travels

My father had
a small estate
in Nottinghamshire:
I was the third
of five sons.
He sent me
to Emanuel College
in Cambridge
at fourteen years old,
where I resided
three years,
and applied myself
close to my studies;
but the charge
of maintaining me,
although
I had a very scanty
allowance,
being too great
for a narrow fortune,
I was bound apprentice
to Mr. James Bates,
an eminent surgeon
in London,
with whom I continued
four years.
My father now and then
sending me small
sums of money,
I laid them out
in learning navigation,
and other parts
of the mathematics,
useful to those who
intend to travel,
as I always believed
it would be,
sometime or other,
my fortune to do.
When I left Mr. Bates,
I went down
to my father:
where,
by the assistance of him
and my uncle John,
and some other relations,
I got forty pounds,
and a promise
of thirty pounds a year
to maintain me at Leyden:
there I studied
physic two years
and seven months,
knowing it would be
useful in long voyages.

Soon after my return
from Leyden,
I was recommended
by my good master,
Mr. Bates,
to be surgeon
to the Swallow,
Captain Abraham Pannel,
commander;
with whom I continued
three years
and a half,
making a voyage or two
into the Levant,
and some other parts.
When I came back
I resolved to settle
in London;
to which Mr. Bates,
my master,
encouraged me,
and by him
I was recommended
to several patients.
I took part
of a small house
in the Old Jewry;
and being advised
to alter my condition,
I married
Mrs. Mary Burton,
second daughter
to Mr. Edmund Burton,
hosier,
in Newgate-street,
with whom I received
four hundred pounds
for a portion.

But my good master Bates
dying in two years after,
and I having few friends,
my business
began to fail;
for my conscience
would not suffer me
to imitate
the bad practice
of too many
among my brethren.
Having therefore
consulted with my wife,
and some of my
acquaintance,
I determined
to go again to sea.
I was surgeon
successively
in two ships,
and made several voyages,
for six years,
to the East
and West Indies,
by which
I got some addition
to my fortune.
My hours of leisure
I spent in reading
the best authors,
ancient
and modern,
being always provided
with a good number
of books;
and when I was ashore,
in observing the manners
and dispositions
of the people,
as well as learning
their language;
wherein I had
a great facility,
by the strength
of my memory.

The last of these voyages
not proving
very fortunate,
I grew weary
of the sea,
and intended
to stay at home
with my wife
and family.
I removed from
the Old Jewry
to Fetter Lane,
and from thence
to Wapping,
hoping to get business
among the sailors;
but it would not turn
to account.
After three years
expectation
that things would mend,
I accepted
an advantageous offer
from
Captain William Prichard,
master of the Antelope,
who was making a voyage
to the South Sea.
We set sail from Bristol,
May 4, 1699,
and our voyage
was at first
very prosperous.

It would not be proper,
for some reasons,
to trouble the reader
with the particulars
of our adventures
in those seas;
let it suffice
to inform him,
that in our passage
from thence
to the East Indies,
we were driven
by a violent storm
to the north-west
of Van Diemen’s Land.
By an observation,
we found ourselves
in the latitude
of 30 degrees
2 minutes south.
Twelve of our crew
were dead
by immoderate labor
and ill food;
the rest were
in a very weak condition.

On the 5th of November,
which was the beginning
of summer in those parts,
the weather being
very hazy,
the seamen spied a rock
within half
a cable’s length
of the ship;
but the wind was
so strong,
that we were driven
directly upon it,
and immediately split.
Six of the crew,
of whom I was one,
having let down the boat
into the sea,
made a shift
to get clear
of the ship
and the rock.
We rowed,
by my computation,
about three leagues,
till we were able
to work no longer,
being already
spent with labor
while we were
in the ship.

We therefore
trusted ourselves
to the mercy
of the waves,
and in about half
an hour the boat
was overset
by a sudden flurry
from the north.
What became
of my companions
in the boat,
as well as
of those who escaped
on the rock,
or were left
in the vessel,
I cannot tell;
but conclude
they were all lost.

For my own part,
I swam
as fortune
directed me,
and was pushed forward
by wind and tide.
I often
let my legs drop,
and could feel
no bottom;
but when I was
almost gone,
and able
to struggle no longer,
I found myself within my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight o’clock in the evening.

I then advanced forward near half a mile, but could not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition, that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was just daylight. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs…

Chapter 14: Conceptualizing

Conceptual Thinking

Not only are words—written or verbal—irrelevant after they are used to communicate, but words can actually interfere with conceptual understanding. Sometimes we mentally replace the real idea with its symbol or name. This is not thinking, but simply memorizing. Memorizing is not conceptualizing, but the more primitive
perceptualizing
—the kind of thinking animals do, and the kind of thinking we do as children. Memorizing is an important skill, but just collecting facts won’t make you any smarter than inanimate objects such as books or computers.

Sometimes it seems like we wouldn’t be able think if it weren’t for words. When we think about thinking, we generally think about self-talk. For this reason, the power of conceptual thinking is often overlooked, and people frequently mistake thinking with speaking. But it is just as possible to think without speaking, as it is to speak without thinking.

The right brain may be silent, but it is actually where the higher order cognitions of conceptualizing and pattern recognition take place. It does not have verbal abilities, so we don’t get to hear what it’s doing, but this also means it is not confused by communication symbols.

As an example of conceptual versus perceptual thinking, here is how I taught my son Jason his numbers. Instead of showing him the symbols 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, I made up flash cards that looked kind of like dominoes, and each number was represented by a distinct pattern of dots like this: