What is Speed Reading? ‘Speed Reading’ is the process where instead of identifying individual words, the reader will rapidly process and recognise phrases on a page all at once. The technique is nothing new, as speed reading has been touted as a genuine skill since the 1950s when Evelyn Nielsen Wood first coined the phrase. In more recent times, there’s been a number of cheap apps and web browsing extensions that train you in the art of speed reading. Some of the most popular include: