2009-11-03 19:06:44 - With 1.3 million pages to read, Mr Karadzic has a lot of information to wade through. Henry Hopking, the World's 3rd fastest reader, examines the situation. How long would this take to read? Would speed reading help and by how much?

Someone needs to learn some serious speed reading techniques. Let’s have a tongue in cheek look at what could be achieved…

From BBC News:
“Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has insisted he needs more time to prepare his defence, during his first appearance at his war crimes trial.
He told a procedural hearing in The Hague he could not join the proceedings until

he had gone through more than 1.3m pages of court documents.”

Let’s work though a few calculations here of what he is requesting…
1,300,000 pages to read
@ 500 words per page (wpp)
= 650,000,000 words to be read

If, like most untrained readers, these documents are read at 250 words per minute (wpm) it will take:

2,600,000 minutes or
43,333 hours

However, if taking the average increase in reading speed people make after attending a speed reading course with Henry Hopking, and importantly retaining a high level of comprehension, thus achieving a speed of 750 wpm, then it will take:

866,666 minutes or
14,444 hours

So what difference does this make?

Well at the moment it is going to take an untrained reader 5,416 days (based on an eight hour day) or nearly 15 years of reading to wade through all these documents.

A reader who has attended our speed reading course would be able to cut that time by 2/3 and complete it in 1,805 days or just under five years. So a saving of ten years of time is possible.

…but is anyone really going to spend eight hours a day, seven days a week, for five years reading all these documents?…

Henry Hopking has been ranked as the 3rd fastest reader in the world. He teaches speed reading and other mental skills through The Brain Training Company.

Henry Hopking: www.thebraintrainingcompany.com/information/henry-hopking/
The Brain Training Company: www.thebraintrainingcompany.com/
Speed Reading: www.thebraintrainingcompany.com/training/mind-maximizer/