When choosing the right software package for our computer needs, it is often difficult to know which is the best one to go for. Sometimes we are influenced by the price, or simply by how the package is presented to us. We might make a choice based on the style of the graphics, if they are nice to look at, and easy on the eye. What we should really be looking at of course is the actual content. Is the package we think looks nice actually going to provide the things we want from it?

Looks can be deceptive, and often we make choices based purely on image alone. That is the whole point of image after all. It is seductive. Alluring.

In the case of speed-reading software reviews, you might be hard-pressed to make a decision as the main programs on offer are all fairly similar, and each have their supporters.

One famous speed-reader, Steve Moidel, who could read up to 1,200 words per minute, was so ensconced with the practice that he set up his own study center in California to assist business executives, and students, as well as ordinary working Joes, and to teach them how to make their most of their reading potential. According to Moidel most professionals find themselves reading up to open million words a week, which at a normal rate would require 66 hours. This is cut to a modest 16 hours when the techniques of speed-reading are applied.

For Moidel, everyone has the potential to manage a reading speed of 750 words a minute, which, when compared to the average of 250, is well over double, and would make a significant dent into the time we spend reading our daily diet of news, texts, emails, work documentation, and other material too numerous to mention. The mere thought of reading faster is quite exciting when one thinks of the time that could be saved, and the more things we could read.

But not everyone has the time to attend a study center like Steve Moidel’s, and in fact most now are investing in study-at-home computer software. As practice is the main requirement when learning to speed-read it is imperative that anyone considering the various software products on the Internet look for the packages that offer the best coverage of the subject – namely the ones that focus on subvocalization, regression, and comprehension. These are the three keywords to look out for.

Subvocalization is the habit we picked up at school of saying the words to ourselves as we read which in effect slows our reading down. Regression is the habit we sometimes develop that involves us going back over sentences we have just read, or indeed whole passages. Both these habits are deemed “bad” in the speed-reading circles because they restrict our reading. Comprehension is key too because there is no point whatsoever in learning to read faster at the detriment to understanding what it is we are whizzing through.

So, when reviewing the various types of software on display on the shelves of the online shops, look out for packages such as 7 Speed Reading that feature all these keywords, and a whole lot more.

Not only does this program offer the full kit and kaboodle, but it looks damned good too.