By Leah Myers
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

Reading is either a pleasure or struggle, depending on who you talk to, and is time-consuming yet vital for college careers, so why not read better and faster?

Iris Reading was founded in 2005 by Paul Nowak and is mainly based in Chicago.

Iris Reading is a nationally acclaimed speed-reading program that trains individuals how to read and comprehend text faster. Hundreds of prestigious companies such as NASA, Disney and Google hire instructors to increase the pace of their employees’ reading and work ethic. There have also been programs implemented into schools and universities all around the world.

Paul Nowak was born in Chicago but was raised in a Polish community. He started to learn English at five years old and had a hard time catching up to the average reading level. Fast-forward to college—Paul tried his hardest to read in his limited free time everyday.

When he worked on speed-reading techniques with his professor twice a week for several weeks, he noticed a significant improvement in his reading and comprehension, and was able to be more productive and enjoy his readings faster. Paul developed a love for teaching after taking his professor’s lessons, and was inspired to start Iris.

The four main tasks that progress during the course are on reading, memory, productivity, and focus, which help with comprehension and speed. The introductory class they offer for free online explains basic tips and techniques to use speed-reading as an effective everyday tool. One of the tips they provide in their webinar, a web-seminar, is the use of AccelaReader.com, which flashes a few words at a time from a body of text pasted on to the screen at the desired rate per minute. Some webinars are broadcasted with Paul Nowak as the instructor.

Sessions, both free and with fees, are available online as webinars and can be viewed live or e-mailed to the user. They are also available for live seminars and courses in many areas across America and in many international locations, including India, China and Europe. Preparation classes for standardized tests are also accessible.

E-mailing [email protected] or calling 312-857-4747 can help you answer any questions and get you start improving your reading.