http://www.execuread.com ExecuRead Speed Reading Courses improve reading speed, comprehension & retention. Increase productivity & save time. Public & Private classroom-based speed reading courses with guaranteed results. http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2010-08/article/dumbing-down-america.htm At a time when the US Economy, employment, the housing market and health care are on the ropes and fading fast, there is one area where the good old US of A is excelling beyond all expectations – dumbed-down education! Once the world leader in the percentage of young people with college degrees, the USA has fallen to 12th among 36 developed nations. In the key group of 25- to 34-year-olds with a college degree, the US ranks behind Canada, South Korea, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, ..... Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2010-07/article/ipad-kindle-versus-gutenberg.htm As gizmo-addicts guzzle Kindles and iPads, I’m frequently asked the big question – “What’s better? Tablet e-readers or Gutenberg’s printed books?” Well, for the prolific high-speed reader, e-reader tablets simply cannot cut it. Even at slow speeds, Gutenberg’s printed books have advantages over tablets. In a recent study of reading speeds on tablets versus printed books, Dr Jacob Nielsen found reading speeds on Apple’s iPad to be 6.2% slower ..... Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2010-04/article/lies-damned-lies-experts-the-internet.htm Don't always believe what you read on the Internet where ANYONE can say ANYTHING, truthful or not. Here's an example.  This is what the Wall Street Journal ACTUALLY said in an article by Shivani Vora on July 25, 2006 ... "So, in January, Mr. Arledge took a weekend course at ExecuRead, a Charlotte, N.C., company that teaches professionals how to speed-read." But THIS is what David Aylwin of Reading Transformations has posted on his speedreadingonline website : "Read what ..... Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2010-01/article/collateral-damage.htm The following explanation, received in my junk folder, attempts to justify stopping legitimate mail from reaching an intended recipient : "Your email message carried your return address, so it was either a genuine mail from you, or a sender address was faked and your e-mail address was abused by a third party."  A brilliant but quite obvious observation! "Some balance between losing genuine mail and sending backscatter is sought, but there can be some collateral damage." No ..... Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2009-12/article/speed-reading-for-drunks.htm USA Today reports that almost half of college freshmen spend more time drinking (10.2 hours per week) than studying (8.4 hours per week). Perhaps a reason for the disappointing college freshmen failure-rate. One solution might be to train students to drink faster so they can spend less time in getting plastered. Of course, the other solution may be to train these students to read and study faster so they can get more studying done in the available time between booze-binges. ..... Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2009-12/article/grade-inflation-is-this-good-for-our-kids.htm My very intelligent (but sometimes smart-ass) son comes home with a 4.2GPA. "Any homework to do?" I ask him. "No, it's simple stuff and I did it on the bus" he tells me. "Anyway, I got a 4.2 so stop hassling me." Each year the average GP seems to be on the increase and yet our kids seem to be spending less time on homework. Is this increase in GPA the result of a lowering of the academic bar and resultant grade-inflation? If so, are we not deluding ourselves that our kids are ..... Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2009-09/article/save-grandpa-but-kill-illegal-immigrants.htm So we don't like the 12 million illegals working in this country ... in spite of the fact that most of them are gainfully employed. And we're simultaneously outraged at the idea of illegals getting federal healthcare, and horrified that Grandpa may be past his "sell-by" date and thus doomed to no further medical treatment. So it's save Grandpa but let illegal immigrants die? Nice one! We demand low prices, cheap services and huge bonusses, salaries and benefits. So we ..... Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2009-09/article/education-in-america.htm While American high schools graduate 70 percent of their students in 4 years, American colleges graduate only a third of their students in 4 years and only half of their students in 6 years. Of the 2012 Title IV institutions that enrolled undergraduates with the intention of granting bachelor's degrees, 1796 reported overall graduation rates and 27 graduated not one student within 6 years.   "Graduating college in less than 6 years is like leaving a party ..... Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2009-09/article/changing-what-works-is-not-always-the-smart-thing-to-do.htm For years, we added necessary citations to our work as footnotes, either at the bottom of the page, or at the end of the chapter, or sometimes even at the end of the book. But now the fad is "in-text citations". For goodness sakes, WHY??? Why clutter the text with reams of citations that totally trash the flow of words, thoughts and ideas, with pointless clutter that have absolutely no relevance to the ideas and concepts that the author is attempting to impart? While it is ..... Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.execuread.com/blog/archive/2009-09/article/kindle-retrogressive-technology.htm Here's another really dumb idea. A product that weighs less than a single paperback, but which stores over 1500 books. More than half the US population don't read books, not because they weigh too much, but because it takes up too much time. The only people who need Kindle are the speed-readers who cannot carry the weight of the books they're able to read in a single day or on a long-distance flight. And here's the rub!  Kindle appears to have ignored the ..... Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST