By Mark Channon & Darren Smith

It's pretty much common knowledge that reading is great for your brain. A recent study in the peer-reviewed Neurology journal showed that reading has a marked impact upon stopping the brain's 'cognitive decline'. Reading regularly, whether it's a novel, a newspaper, pieces of poetry... or even just a list of cooking recipes and ingredients – all of this is fantastic for sharpening your mind. The mental processes of associating words with particular things (or ideas, or sensations) are brilliant for forming memory associations, and for strengthening the memory associations we already have.

Audiobooks as 'cheating'

One thing you may not have considered doing, however, is listening to audiobooks. Audiobooks often have a bad rep, when listening to a book rather than physically reading is thought of as 'cheating', or as not really taking it seriously. Perhaps since having stories read aloud is associated with children. 

Extra meaning

What if you could triple your reading speed, double your comprehension AND remember more than you do today, what difference would that make in your career or business?

Read to the end and check out my bonus 1 hour Speed Reading Webinar

Speed reading can be an outstanding strategy to overcome information overload, filter out what is important and save you precious time to do the things that will add value to your life. While the process of reading quickly is core to the process, you would be right to think there is much more to it.

It’s all about choice

If you want to get from London to Brighton, make a few stops along the way and quickly get to your destination, would you choose a car or a bicycle? In this scenario a car would be your best form of transport. If however, it is a sunny day and you want to enjoy the scenery with a group of friends, perhaps a bicycle is more suited. Being able to do both offers you greater choice. You could think of...