The Reader's Edge Reviewer's Comments

Experience the cutting edge in speed reading software, with “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” winning product—The Reader’s Edge. Whether you read for business, pleasure or both, the speed–reading techniques from the Reader’s Edge will train you to read books, magazines, newspapers and business documents in half the time for $79.95.

The Reader’s Edge, created by The Literacy Company provides speed–reading training for children and adults at all reading levels from beginner to expert readers. The program will establish a base reading rate for multiple users and a reading coach guides each reader through the program. The coach will suggest the types of exercises to take, when to take tests and what your reading level should be based on your progress.

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Features Set:  

The Reader’s Edge offers excellent features such as reading exercises, eye warm-up exercises, speed and timed tests. The Literacy Company understands that speed–reading is useless if readers don’t comprehend what they read, so The Reader’s Edge uses reading comprehension tests. Additionally, you can print detailed progress reports.

The Reader’s Edge supports up to three different users. The program will track your speed–reading progress and guide you through exercises and tests. This is a useful feature because you won’t lose track of their progress and retake the same exercises and tests during their next session.

When you begin, the program recommends that you take a speed–reading test to establish your words per minute (WPM) reading rate. The program will use this information to set the WPM speed for future exercises and tests. If you prefer, you can manually set the speed.

The Reader’s Edge includes hundreds of texts for speed reading exercises and tests or you can import your own documents. Users can customize reading exercises to flash one word at a time, groups of words or the full text. For comprehension tests, you can choose to type your answers or click on multiple choices.

There are five different education levels: 1–3, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12 and 13+. Some texts are particularly advanced such as “What Does Effective Math Instruction Look Like?” at a 16.2 level and “The United States Bill of Rights” at a 20.6 level. A few of the texts didn’t correspond with the selected reading level (the reading level was higher) so you should check the level before beginning an exercise or test.

Ease of Use:  

The Reader’s Edge is extremely easy to use. The program has a visually pleasant interface that doesn’t interfere with readers’ concentration and a permanent menu window prevents users from getting lost in the program.

Ease of Installation/Setup:  

You can download The Reader’s Edge directly from The Literacy Company’s website or have it mailed to you within 3–5 days. The program works with Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP and Vista.

Help/Support:  

The Help menu from The Reader’s Edge contains a user guide. You can contact The Literacy Company through telephone or email, and they will get back to you within 24 hours. They also have FAQs and great live chat on their website.

Summary:  

The Reader’s Edge is an excellent speed–reading program with a pleasant user–interface, hundreds of included texts and a variety of useful reading exercises and tests. The program is easy to install and The Literacy Company has excellent customer support.