Phonetic Reader/Writer
The genesis for this project as well as all of my other projects was a personal frustration. I want to read more!... and I read rather slowly, at least for the amount of ground I would like to cover. I have looked at speed reading courses and even downloaded a number of computer based speed reading systems. I think the whole system of the way we read and write needs an overhaul!
What started out as
"There has Got to be a better Way!" to "Read" has
expanded into a full blown inquiry into the whole way we communicate or more
frequently "miscommunicate"! We are in a critical era where the
keyboard and the book must give way to better methods! I believe we must
abandon the current paradigms in favor of ones that do not carry
yesterdays limitations into tomorrow!
My investigation leads me to believe that if we made a
serious revamp of Reading and Writing and
certain aspects of spoken communication style, the following are likely
outcomes:
1) The keyboard would disappear except for
museums
2) Average reading speed would be in excess of 1,200
wpm not the current 300-400 wpm.
3) Electronic media would replace paper books as the
preferred medium and trees would be saved and books would be available at far
lower cost.
I am not the only one to champion the phonetic system. George
Bernard Shaw the English playwright attempted and failed to promote it for
general consumption. So, why then am I even trying? First and
foremost because it makes sense to me! And there are numerous things that
have happened in the intervening years as well as lots of present day problems
this new system will solve.
There are over 560 ways to represent the forty four "sounds"
that we can make to create words. It's a wonder children learn to read and
write!
The primary thing that slows down reading is eye movement and
fixation. In this system the eye is stationary.