Amazon's Tool for Reading, One Word at a Time

Amazon's Tool for Reading, One Word at a Time

Last week Amazon announced Word Runner, a new tool for reading Kindle¹ books.

Word Runner is a software update that shows one word at a time, instead of words, sentences and paragraphs on one page.

Amazon says Word Runner was developed to make reading faster. By seeing one word at a time on the screen, you will not lose your place on the page. Amazon says Word Runner may help you to focus on what you are reading.

You can control your reading speed at a pace of 100 to 900 words per minute. A bar at the bottom of the screen lets you set the speed that works best for you.

You can increase the speed to train yourself to read faster or force yourself to focus on the text. You can slow down the speed for text that is difficult to understand.

You can flip² between Word Runner and seeing all of the words on a page on your screen.

Opinions about Word Runner are mixed. Carmen Blyth, Ph.D., and a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL), says Word Runner is not optimal³ reading.

"Good readers don’t read one word at a time. The brain predicts what is coming next and skips the unnecessary words," she says.

Dividing "information one word at a time doesn’t allow you to retain the info necessary to make sense of what you are reading, as we can only hold four pieces of info in our short-term memory at any one time – in this case it would be four words!"

In the Kindle Forums⁵ at Amazon, a commenter called CB Retriever says, "Thanks, but that absolutely will not work for me as I too do lines and blocks of text at a time - I think the last time I read word by word was back when I was learning to read."

Len Edgerly, business journalist and host of The Kindle Chronicles podcast, had a chance to try out Word Runner. In his podcast, Edgerly said that Word Runner is "a dramatically different way to read." 

"If you want to shake up your mind and your eyes a little, you might do a little word running for a few pages or even for just a few minutes, and then switch back. I love it because it’s one of these innovations that the team at Kindle just keeps throwing at us. “

Word Runner will work on some English language Kindle books in the Kindle app for Android and on Fire tablets.

Here is a video from Edgerly showing how Word Runner works:

Dynamic Pacing

Word Runner uses a feature called "Dynamic Pacing" to adjust the speed around complicated words.

Dynamic Pacing automatically slows the speed of Word Runner for complicated words, punctuation⁶, and paragraph breaks. It makes changes based on the natural rhythm of your reading.

Brake

You can pause Word Runner by tapping the pause button, called Brake.

Brake lets you move words forward and backward. You can go back and re-read words using Brake.

Availability

According to Amazon, Word Runner will be available soon for some English-language books on the Kindle app for Android devices and on Fire tablets.

Word Runner will work with select English language Kindle books from Amazon sites in all countries, says an Amazon representative.

Amazon has not yet said whether Word Runner will be coming to the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad.

You can find out more about Word Runner and watch a video at the Amazon Word Runner page. 

Your Thoughts

What do you think of Word Runner? Do you think it will be a useful tool to help you read faster? Would you like reading one word at a time on your screen? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

Words in This Story

podcast - n. a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format⁴ for automatic download over the Internet

dramatic - adj. sudden and extreme

innovation - n. a new idea, device, or method

dynamic – adj. always active or changing

complicated – adj. hard to understand, explain, or deal with

feature – n. an interesting or important part, quality, ability, etc.

automatic – adj. having controls that allow something to work or happen without being directly controlled by a person

paragraph – n. a part of a piece of writing that usually deals with one subject, that begins on a new line, and that is made up of one or more sentences

brake – n. something used to slow or stop movement or activity

available - adj. easy or possible to get or use

1 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

2 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

3 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。

4 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

5 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

6 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。