How fast can you read?

I was sitting in the "Preschool Exploration Center" i.e. playroom at the library the other day, reading through a children's book to decide whether or not to check it out for the boys. I've learned the hard way not to check out a book that you haven't read all the way through first, no matter what, even if you remember it from your childhood and thought it was a great book. This book, as it turns out, was excellent, as were a couple of others by the same author, Marjorie Flack.

Anyway, my point was, I realized that I was reading as fast as I could turn the pages. This made me wonder how fast I can read, so I did a google search and found this test:

How Fast Can You Read?

As I suspected, I am a pretty fast reader, between 500 and 600 words per minute. However, I have trouble staying focused, so my mind wanders and I find myself having to re-read the same paragraph twice. I also have trouble remembering some details like place names and names of characters. I wonder if there's a way to maintain my reading speed while improving my focus and memory? Perhaps I just need more practice--practice, that is, without a million distractions in the background. :)

Speaking of reading, I just read this book:

Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
...and I loved it. Fantastic book--food politics has always been an interest of mine. The author discusses the sad state of our farming and food industries, and describes her family's attempt to eat nothing but locally and sustainably produced food for an entire year. It's a great story, marred only by the author's dismissive attitude towards those who believe in creation. Her attitude actually didn't bother me much, because her story made clear the bounty of God's creation and the blessing of His abundant provision for us, whether she intended it that way or not; and she was modeling good stewardship of that bounty. Very inspiring.

Anyway, reading the book motivated me to visit our winter farmer's market this weekend--while I attend our fabulous outdoor market weekly through the summer months, I've never been to the indoors winter market. Maybe I can even scrounge up the money for some more of that delicious raw clover honey raised right here in Bloomington...mmmm...

The children are napping, so I should take this chance to do some work.