Cheap Steps to Reading Proficiency (Book) (Peter Elias Sotiriou, Anne G. Phillips) Price

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Customer Reviews of Steps to Reading Proficiency

This is one book, I must say, contains the best and most comprehensive collection of text organisational (writing) patterns I have seen so far. In a nut shell, understanding and mastering text organisational (writing) patterns at the onset after your initial preview allow you to navigate the given text at very high speeds.

In total, this book introduces eleven (11) patterns:

- enumeration pattern (listing);
- time sequence;
- example pattern;
- cause & effect pattern;
- problem & solution pattern;
- compare & contrast pattern;
- spatial pattern;
- definition pattern;
- process pattern;
- classification pattern;
- description pattern;

In any kind of reading, a quick preview is imperative. This book also introduces you to a variety of preview techniques, just like any other reading technique books.

Understanding the text organisational (writing) patterns makes your preview much more efficient and effective.

All information has shape. Just take a close look at the word INFORMATION. The root word is FORM. So, if you want to read fast, you must learn to shape or form your understanding quickly. If you can see this FORM at the onset, it becomes much more easier for you to understand how the information in the given text is organised. With this understanding, it become easier and also faster for you to pick out the key ideas or details.

The author has done an excellent job in illustrating all the eleven text organisation (writing) patterns. There are also a lot of reading exercises or practices for you to play, explore and experiment with the patterns. They are really worth the cover price for the book.

I teach kids and teens as well as adults how to read at very high speeds. In other words, I help them to survive...and thrive in...the information overload! From my own personal and professional experiences, the purpose of reading is to GATHER INFORMATION...IDEAS to be more precise. I always advise them ...using Pareto' Law...that 80% of the meaning of any given paragraph are often captured in only 20% of the words...these are the key ideas! (In fact, I have read from somewhere...an empirical study...that 4 to 11 % of any given text contains the key ideas!)

Knowing how to discern text organisational (writing) patterns in the first instance gives you the turbo boost to locate the key ideas very quickly and eventually navigate the reading texts at very high speeds.

If you combine these reading techniques with mindmapping or using graphic organisers and/or other visual tools, your ability to organise and synthesise ideas...and generating insights...from all your reading become very powerful.

So, if you want to be a masterful reader, just like me...this book is a must read!