Whats your typing and reading speed?

I can type and read fairly well, probably type at 50wpm and read at 500wpm. In school I went for both a typewriting class and a reading course.  Besides some certificates (such as Indian government's "lower" exam) that I don't even know where they are, those courses were practically useless. But, both classes gave me very diverse reading material to learn. The first week at my typing class, my course content involved some interesting thesis connecting gypsies of Romania and Indians. Internet didn't fully come to India at that time, thus such random discoveries of information were precious enough for me stick on to such courses. 

At one point, I set out to read every article in World Book and Encarta (precursors to Wikipedia) but after a few thousand articles felt that I would never be able to finish ever. I consume more than 200-300 pages of information on an average day and listen to 1 hour of audio book courses while driving. Nothing unusual. 

That said, treat information like fat. Both are very useful commodities that make up our survival. They were both very scarce a century ago. Both are very tempting. However, both are equally harmful when not assimilated well. I suffer from both temptations.

In our modern world, how many words can we read is akin to asking how many calories are present in a particular food.  More is not always better especially when the consumed content is not properly handled, categorized, and used effectively. 

While skimming a lot of useless reports is fine, be very careful when you consume serious text. When reading War and Peace, your WPM does not matter. It matters more how much you can connect the different characters in the setting of Napoleon's invasion in Moscow. Even if you read 25 words per minute, you are in for a spectacle. 

See each book as a map. It doesn't matter how well you memorize every point in that map. Value the journey you are going to undertake with that map. That exploration happens in your mind. The book provides various pointers to take that tour within your mind. You don't necessarily need to read more books. Even one book a month is good enough. In that moment, simulate the content in the mind, draw connections to existing points, and savor the journey.

-Balaji Viswanathan