Learning for a Lifetime

Educator Howard Stephen Berg helps children and adults maximize their ability to learn and live a more satisfying life.

by Shawn Cohen

According to a recent study by Xerox, the average person needs to read over a million words a week to keep up with the exploding information surge of the twenty-first century. That means the average American reader would have to spend almost 70 hours a week simply reading informational outlets in print and on the web! Although it would be impossible for anyone to keep abreast of today’s flood of information, Howard Stephen Berg is helping thousands across the globe increase their reading speed and information retention so that they are better informed and more influential members of society.

 

World's Fastest Reader

Berg, who was recognized as the world’s fastest reader by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1990, is passionate about helping people attain their knowledge potential by maximizing their ability to take in information at an accelerated rate and remember it. In a telephone interview, I asked Berg to explain how the Guinness Book panel judged that he was the fastest reader in the world. “I had to submit evidence,” he said. “I did five different newspaper interviews and was on five different TV shows that proved that I could read between 80 and 90 pages a minute. Guinness record holders are generally substantiated by a single interview,” he said.

 

 

From Reader to Mentor

While Berg’s Guinness record was validated almost two decade ago, he now focuses on helping other people get the most out of their education—and life in general. “The record was more of a means to an end,” he noted. “I figured kids would be more receptive to talking with a Guinness record holder than with a professor.”

Years ago, after becoming frustrated with the public schools he taught at in New York because they wouldn’t allow him to integrate accelerated learning techniques into the traditional curriculum, Berg struck out on his own and entered a master’s program in psychobiology, a scientific discipline that shows the interrelatedness of a person’s nervous system and his or her behavior. He now travels about thirty weekends a year, presenting his speed reading and memory courses at venues around the country.

 

Psychobiology in Action

On an educational level, Berg has found that psychobiology has a lot to do with learning and it forms part of the foundation for his Maximum Speed Reading course. In the course, he encourages readers to run their hand across the page as they read so as to speed up the rate their eye scans the text. Psychobiology also integrates with memory techniques and the three different types of learners—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

As an example, it’s probably noticeable how we often look up when trying to think of something to say or remember a bit of information. In order to better recall information, according to Berg, auditory learners should look up to the left and visual learners should look up to the right but kinesthetic learners should look down to the right. By doing so, the brain works more efficiently with the specific type of learner to bring the information to the person’s mind.

 

 

Learning How to Learn

Really, Berg is most interested in getting people to learn, regardless of the subject matter they are studying—whether algebra, a foreign language, or ballroom dancing (a pastime Berg himself has just taken up). “Try to challenge yourself to do things outside your core area [of expertise],” he advised. “Force your brain to build neuroconnections,” which will enable a person’s thinking to be sharper and more capable of retaining important information.

Although Berg is not a born again Christian, he sees value in teaching children biblical principles as a motivation for learning. “It gives them a sense of responsibility,” he said. “In traditional education there is no morality—people are taught to blame others for their problems.” He sees that religious instruction can motivate children to learn because it helps them understand their importance in today’s society.

Incidentally, Berg has found that students who get anxious while taking a test can meditate on the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6 as a way to dispel their anxiety. He advises potentially tense or uneasy students to quote the passage to themselves many times before taking the test and, as an extension of psychobiology, to gently touch their thumb each time they quote it to themselves. This exercise “will bring the student back to the feeling they had when initially saying the prayer” in the days and weeks before taking the exam, he said. “It becomes a conditioned response so that in the middle of the exam, they feel relaxed.”

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