Alphanetics

Etymologically speaking, I have no idea what "alphanetics" means--it appears to be a conjunction of the words "alpha" and "phonetics"--but it becomes immediately clear what the subject of this video really is: speed reading. Owen Skousen, together with teacher "Judy" and a class of a half dozen students, presents the basics of speed reading in an hour-plus course that could have been boiled down to a 15-minute tape. Skousen briefly covers the reasons for our poor reading speeds: regression (going back to read words we've already read), fixation (stopping on one word), convergence (keeping our field of vision too narrow), tension, and the habit of saying the words in our minds. He then pulls out a metronome and gets the students cracking, beginning with 40 beats a minute (one line equaling one beat) and increasing to 120 beats a minute. We do see a lot of footage of students with their fingers racing across the page--we don't know, however, if they've understood a single word. But then again, comprehension, while mentioned, is not the issue. Skousen approaches the subject of speed reading with the philosophy of a Marine drill instructor: catchphrases are constantly repeated ("no pain, no gain;" "keep pushing yourself;" etc.). The instructional section of the tape features the picture and sound of a metronome, and includes a guided relaxation/visualization exercise which is both profoundly simplistic and wholly out of place in this program. As for the production values, they range from fair to poor: Skousen is clearly nervous, "Judy" is falsely bright and bubbly, and the camera people don't have their cues properly set up with the presenters, and even walk the camera right into the frame on one occasion. If you need an Evelyn Wood wanna-be in your collection, there are much better speed reading tapes on the market. This one is not recommended. (Available from most distributors.)