So You Can Now Read a Novel in 90 Minutes. Who Would Want To?

An article over on a site called Elite Daily titled “This Insane New App Will Allow You to Read Novels in Under 90 Minutes” heralds a speed-reading app called Spritz, which is “about to go public with Samsung’s new line of wearable technology.” Taken without context, the app sounds great. It aligns words with the eye’s natural motion of reading, allowing the reader to “process information instantaneously rather than spending time decoding each word.” Give it a try. You can (kind of) read 500 words per minute without any practice. But it’s awfully intense. As far as reading goes, this is a white-knuckle experience that is likely not compatible with leisure reading. And while I can only imagine that flashing one word at a time on your Internet watch reduces pinching and scrolling, I can’t imagine anyone sustaining attention on it for very long. So where would this be useful? Sound off with any situations in the comments.