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Whether you’re in a hurry to finish a book or looking to increase your reading speed you should check out Word Runner, a new way to read Kindle books. Due to be launched soon, Word Runner may completely change the way you read.
Word Runner, announced by Amazon last week as an update to reading Kindle books, is a software update for Kindle books that is a new way of displaying text on a page. Instead of seeing every word on a page, you see only one word at a time using a pace that feels comfortable to you.
If you’ve ever wanted to increase your reading speed or have trouble tracking words on a page, Word Runner could be a useful tool for you. By reading one word at a time you won’t lose your place on the page and may be able to focus more on what you’re reading.
You control the speed of Word Runner, you can set the pace of your reading from 100 to 900 words per minute. A slider bar at the bottom of the screen lets you set the speed that works best for you.
You can increase the speed to train yourself to read faster or force yourself to focus on the text. You can slow down the speed for text that is difficult to understand to make sure you are comprehending its meaning.
If you decide you don’t want to use Word Runner any more or you want to take a break from using it for a while, you can tap the screen to go back to the traditional format of all the words on a page being displayed on your screen.
Dynamic Pacing
Not all words are created equal. Some words are more complicated than others and Word Runner takes that fact into account with Dynamic Pacing.
Dynamic Pacing automatically slows the speed of Word Runner for complex words, punctuation, and paragraph breaks. Instead of displaying words at a constant speed, Dynamic Pacing with Word Runner adjusts the speed based on the difficulty of the word and the natural rhythm of your reading.
Brake
You can pause Word Runner by tapping the pause button, known as Brake. Scroll forward or backward while Brake is on so you can go back and re-read a section then go back ahead to where you left off.
Availability
According to Amazon, Word Runner will be available soon for English-language Kindle books on the Kindle app for Android devices and on Fire tablets. Look for Word Runner to appear on Fire tablets in a future update to the Fire operating system (Fire OS) and as an update to the Kindle app for Android in the Google Play store.
No word from Amazon yet on whether Word Runner will be coming to the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad.
You can find out more about Word Runner and watch a video demonstration at the Amazon Word Runner page.
Poll
Will you try Word Runner? Vote in today’s Wonder of Tech poll:
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Word Runner? Do you think it will be a useful tool to increase the speed of your reading? Would you like reading one word at a time on your screen? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Good readers don’t read one word at a time. The brain predicts what is coming next and skips the unnecessary words.
Chunking information one word at a time doesn’t allow you to retain the info necessary to make sense of what you are reading as we can only hold 4 pieces of info in our short term memory at any one time – in this case it would be 4 words!
Read more on this at http://theteacherwhisperer.blogspot.my/2015/05/7-magic-number.html
Hi Carmen, Thank you for your insights about reading skills. I think it might be difficult to get the context of the words when seeing them one at a time but I haven’t tried Word Runner yet as it hasn’t yet been launched. I look forward to trying it to see how fast I read and whether Word Runner affects my comprehension.
I know someone who has difficulty reading because her eyes struggle to track words horizontally. She is looking forward to trying Word Runner to see if it helps her read more effectively.
When Word Runner is launched it will be interesting to see whether it is a hit or a miss for Amazon.
Hi ma’am
It is a good app to increase our reading skills, I think it’s a very unique concept that help us to read faster and enhance our reading speed, but It would be good if this app was available for iOS as well.
Regards,
Mohit
Hi Mohit, Yes, it would be great to have Word Runner come to iPhone and iPad. I don’t know whether Amazon plans to bring it to iOS in the future. Their decision may depend on how widely Word Runner is used on the Android Kindle app.
Hi Carolyn. This looks very interesting. I’m not sure I could handle it, but I’m willing to try. I only have two things against it: I wonder if my ADD could cope with it, and I have a tendency to savor words. There are times I flip back in a book (fiction) just to read the words again. 🙂
However, but business reading, yeah, I would like to read a whole lot faster!
Thanks for give me a heads up about this new technology.
Hi Leslie, Excellent point. How we read for business or studies is different from reading for pleasure. Perhaps Word Runner would be more helpful with reading when we aren’t as engaged in the content.
I look forward to trying Word Runner when it becomes available.
Hi Carolyn
This is a great app and I do believe that it will help readers.
However I don’t think it would fit my reading speed as I would find it difficult to read one word at a time. I
Thanks for sharing
Hi Ikechi, Yes, from the poll it seems that people have mixed views about Word Runner. Some people either would like to use it or are willing to give it a try. Others like you don’t think it would fit their reading style.
The good news is that you don’t have to use Word Runner if you don’t want to. You can switch back and forth if you want to give it a try. If you don’t like it, you never have to use it again. If you like it, then you’ve found a new helpful reading tool!
I read about technology like this years ago. I can’t remember how long ago, but it seems like before apps were the thing. I did a Google search with the date range limited to 2000 – 2008 and found several packages that had “RSVP” mode where they show a single word at a time. And I know there is a company call Spritz that enhances RSVP mode by optimal placement of the work to reduce saccadic movement.
Still, it’s interesting that Amazon decided to incorporate it into their reader. It will be fun to try it out.
Hi Charles, You’re right, though this tech is new to Kindle books, the tech itself isn’t new. I am looking forward to trying out Word Runner when it becomes available to see if I like it. I hope you enjoy using Word Runner, Charles.
Hi Carolyn,
I read this article about an app that’s been around for some time now. Apparently, Amazon was inspired by it and decided to add it themselves to their kindle.
The app is called ReadMe! and the article I read is this http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/09/26/the-readme-app-lets-you-speedily-read-epub-ebooks/