Some speed-reading apps make big claims. But how fast can humans actually read?

Some speed-reading advocates claim that with proper training (outlined in many popular books and YouTube videos) or the use of special apps, it’s possible to increase your reading rate to 1,000 words per minute or more. Such books, videos and apps generally assume our reading speed is constrained because we are inefficient at extracting information from the printed page. But is this the case? To assess these claims, let’s first see what the science says about our reading capacities. A 2019…