{"id":"guest:277","sourceProfileId":270,"slug":"howard-berg","name":"Howard Berg","headline":"He Read a 1,500-Page Bill on Live TV in 50 Minutes — Then Trained Special Forces to Think Faster","bio":"Howard Berg holds the Guinness World Record as the world's fastest reader, capable of reading 25,000 words per minute—approximately a page and a half per second. Growing up in the violent housing projects of East New York, Berg found refuge in libraries, where books became his shelter from gang violence and ultimately transformed his life. By age 11, he tested at a 12th-grade reading level, and his extraordinary abilities caught national attention when he famously read Howard Stern's memoir in six minutes and provided a complete synopsis on live television.\n\nBerg's journey from the projects to becoming a learning expert began in college when a dean told him he wasn't smart enough to complete a four-year psychology program in one year while finishing his biology degree. Determined to prove him wrong, Berg developed his revolutionary speed learning methodology by studying how the brain works and applying those principles to learning. He successfully completed the four-year psychology program in one year and scored in the 99th percentile on the graduate record exam after reading 48 biology books in three nights.\n\nAs an educator and learning expert, Berg founded a school where his methods transformed average C students into extraordinary achievers. His 11-year-old students completed college courses in one week, wrote graduate-level research papers in four hours, and some went on to graduate college at 15, earn law degrees, and pass the bar exam by age 18-19. Berg's approach goes beyond speed reading to encompass what he calls 'speed learning'—teaching people how their brains actually work so they can unlock their natural learning abilities.\n\nNow 76 and based in central Florida, Berg continues to teach his methods through live online courses, helping thousands of people double or quadruple their reading speed while improving comprehension. His revolutionary approach transforms learning from a slow, frustrating experience into a visual, movie-like process that taps into the brain's natural capacity for rapid information processing.","originalBio":"Howard Berg holds the Guinness World Record as the world's fastest reader, capable of reading 25,000 words per minute—approximately a page and a half per second. Growing up in the violent housing projects of East New York, Berg found refuge in libraries, where books became his shelter from gang violence and ultimately transformed his life. By age 11, he tested at a 12th-grade reading level, and his extraordinary abilities caught national attention when he famously read Howard Stern's memoir in six minutes and provided a complete synopsis on live television.\n\nBerg's journey from the projects to becoming a learning expert began in college when a dean told him he wasn't smart enough to complete a four-year psychology program in one year while finishing his biology degree. Determined to prove him wrong, Berg developed his revolutionary speed learning methodology by studying how the brain works and applying those principles to learning. He successfully completed the four-year psychology program in one year and scored in the 99th percentile on the graduate record exam after reading 48 biology books in three nights.\n\nAs an educator and learning expert, Berg founded a school where his methods transformed average C students into extraordinary achievers. His 11-year-old students completed college courses in one week, wrote graduate-level research papers in four hours, and some went on to graduate college at 15, earn law degrees, and pass the bar exam by age 18-19. Berg's approach goes beyond speed reading to encompass what he calls 'speed learning'—teaching people how their brains actually work so they can unlock their natural learning abilities.\n\nNow 76 and based in central Florida, Berg continues to teach his methods through live online courses, helping thousands of people double or quadruple their reading speed while improving comprehension. His revolutionary approach transforms learning from a slow, frustrating experience into a visual, movie-like process that taps into the brain's natural capacity for rapid information processing.","portrait":"https://app.conversationos.live/api/public/guest-photo/howard-berg.jpg","originalHeadshot":"https://app.conversationos.live/api/public/guest-photo/howard-berg.jpg","topics":["Center Stage","Speed Reading","Learning Acceleration","Comprehension Strategies","Educational Psychology","Memory Techniques","Brain-Based Learning","Academic Performance","Cognitive Enhancement","Study Methods","Information Processing"],"expertise":[],"product":"center-stage","socialLinks":{},"sameAs":[],"appearances":[{"showName":"Mornings in the Lab","segment":"Center Stage","date":"2026-04-24","sourceUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LRSyIFWtk","videoId":"93LRSyIFWtk"}],"primaryVideoId":"93LRSyIFWtk","primaryTitle":"","episodeNumber":"","authoritySegment":"","clips":[{"videoId":"93LRSyIFWtk","title":"VISUAL LEARNING","quote":"In a car it's a movie. In a book it's like someone is in your head talking one word at time.","description":"Why traditional reading is so inefficient compared to how our brains naturally process visual information.","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/93LRSyIFWtk/hqdefault.jpg"},{"videoId":"93LRSyIFWtk","title":"THE CHALLENGE","quote":"You're not smart enough. And that's when I learned to do this.","description":"The moment a college dean's dismissal became the catalyst for developing revolutionary learning methods.","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/93LRSyIFWtk/hqdefault.jpg"},{"videoId":"93LRSyIFWtk","title":"SCHEMA SECRET","quote":"I haven't given you any context, so it doesn't mean anything.","description":"How context and framing dramatically improve comprehension and understanding.","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/93LRSyIFWtk/hqdefault.jpg"}],"insights":[{"eyebrow":"VISUAL LEARNING BREAKTHROUGH","quote":"When you're in a car and you're driving, see, 70 miles an hour, you're reading the road front, back, left, and right, and you're bored. You turn on the radio, you're on your phone, you're talking to people in the car, and then you read a book. The average speed's about 200 words a minute. So why can you read in four directions at 70 miles an hour in a car and only read about 200 words a minute in a book and retain about 10%. The difference is in a car it's a movie. You're seeing all that information visually and making decisions. In a book it's like someone is in your head talking one word at time.","context":"Berg explains the fundamental difference between how our brains naturally process visual information versus how we've been taught to read, revealing why traditional reading methods are so inefficient.","topic":"Learning Methodology","timestamp":null},{"eyebrow":"FROM SURVIVAL TO SUCCESS","quote":"I was in high school. I was a home monitor. I asked for a pass, pulled a knife out with a blade like this, put it against my throat. I said, 'This is my pass. What are you going to do about it?' I said, 'I'm going to hold the door and you can go anywhere you want. I think this is a very good pass.' And I'm fine with that. Was high school. It was a very violent neighborhood. There were a lot of kids killed. There were gangs that had 1500 kids in them. And I don't know if you could tell, but I'm not much of a gang kid.","context":"Berg describes the dangerous environment of his youth in East New York housing projects, where libraries became his sanctuary and books his escape route from violence.","topic":"Personal Background","timestamp":null},{"eyebrow":"PROVING THE DOUBTERS WRONG","quote":"I had no psyches and the dean said, 'You have to do a four-year psych program in one year. All of it.' Ed finished the bio program at the same time and I had three jobs. I was working 18 hours a week. He said, 'You're not smart enough.' And that's when I learned to do this. And I did the four-year psych program in one year. And I took the graduate record exam in biology and I read 48 books in three nights like biochemistry, cell physiology, genetics. I got three questions wrong. I was in the 99th percentile in the world.","context":"This pivotal moment when a college dean dismissed his abilities became the catalyst for Berg developing his revolutionary learning methods, ultimately proving his approach works at the highest academic levels.","topic":"Method Development","timestamp":null},{"eyebrow":"TRANSFORMING C STUDENTS","quote":"My 11 year olds were doing college classes in one week and passing them on KIPP exams. They wrote 28 page MLA cited reports at 11 at the graduate school level in four hours. And that's what excited me. Having 15, 16 year olds graduating college with 4.0's, law degrees, and passing the bar at 18, 19 years old going to medical school.","context":"Berg demonstrates the real-world impact of his methods by showing how he transformed average students into exceptional achievers, proving that his techniques work for everyone, not just naturally gifted learners.","topic":"Educational Results","timestamp":null},{"eyebrow":"THE FIVE PILLARS OF COMPREHENSION","quote":"There's only five things you need to learn. The new words, which is the vocabulary, that's about 80% of a topic you don't know anything about. The names, who's in the book, and what did they do? Third, any number, date, statistical formula, something numerical. Four the five big concepts or takeaways in each section. What's the big thing here? What am I getting that I didn't know before? Five of them. You don't want to do less than five. You could do more, but five is the the cut off. And lastly, are there any questions and can I answer them?","context":"Berg breaks down his systematic approach to true comprehension, showing that understanding isn't about reading every word but identifying and mastering the key elements that actually matter.","topic":"Comprehension Strategy","timestamp":null},{"eyebrow":"FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS","quote":"Good grades don't necessarily mean you're intelligent. It means you're good at taking tests and reading books. What people should be asking is what makes me smart. Maybe I'm good at art. Maybe I'm a good musician like Paul McCartney. He's not a quantum physicist. It isn't about being good at everything. It's being good at something. And if people spent more time looking at their core competency, and what they do well instead of worry about all the things they can't do but excel at something as you have and you could be a success in life.","context":"Berg emphasizes that intelligence comes in many forms and that focusing on your natural strengths rather than trying to fix weaknesses is the path to success and fulfillment.","topic":"Success Philosophy","timestamp":null},{"eyebrow":"THE SCHEMA SECRET","quote":"There's a concept in psychology called schema. I'm going to read a passage with no schema and watch how confusing this is. This is an easy thing to do. If possible, you could do it at home, but you could always go someplace else if it's necessary. Beware of overdoing it. This is a major mistake. It may cost you quite a bit of money. I haven't given you any context, so it doesn't mean anything. I'm going to read it second time with a title that has schema and watch how instantly it makes sense. Laundry.","context":"Berg demonstrates how context and framing dramatically improve comprehension, showing that the brain needs organizational frameworks to make sense of information quickly and effectively.","topic":"Comprehension Psychology","timestamp":null}],"quotes":["Vision is analog. It takes everything in instantly. And hearing is digital, one bite at a time. Most people are reading digitally and I teach them how to read analytically.","We don't teach learning in school. Tell him to learn. You don't learn, it's your fault. You go back and do the same thing harder and you still don't learn.","I'm seeing a movie. So, if you look at all the books behind me, you see them all. But if I had to read the title on the spine of every single book, one at a time, we'd be here all day.","What changed? He learned how to learn. This is for normal people, people who aren't geniuses, it changes how their mind works so they can become geniuses.","I know in five minutes this book isn't going to satisfy my needs. I need a different book and I'm not wasting my time on a book that doesn't provide me with information I could actually use."],"faqs":[{"question":"How fast can Howard Berg actually read?","answer":"Berg can read at speeds of up to 25,000 words per minute at peak performance, which translates to about a page and a half per second. He holds the Guinness World Record as the world's fastest reader and has demonstrated this ability publicly, including reading a 1,500-page congressional bill on live television in 50 minutes."},{"question":"Can Berg's speed reading methods work for average people?","answer":"Yes, Berg's methods have been proven to work for ordinary students. He conducted standardized testing with 100 random people using the Nelson Denny test, and everyone in the group doubled to quadrupled their reading speed while maintaining or improving comprehension. His students, who started as C students, were able to complete college courses in one week and achieve extraordinary academic success."},{"question":"What's the difference between Berg's approach and traditional speed reading?","answer":"Berg teaches 'speed learning' rather than just speed reading. His method focuses on making reading visual like watching a movie, rather than the traditional word-by-word internal voice approach. He emphasizes that reading faster without comprehension is useless, so his system teaches both speed and understanding through specific techniques for identifying key information elements."},{"question":"How did Berg develop his revolutionary reading methods?","answer":"Berg developed his methods out of necessity when a college dean told him he wasn't smart enough to complete a four-year psychology program in one year. He studied how the brain works and applied those principles to learning, successfully completing the program and scoring in the 99th percentile on standardized exams. His background in studying brain function gave him unique insights into optimizing learning processes."},{"question":"What are the core principles of Berg's comprehension system?","answer":"Berg's comprehension system focuses on five key elements: learning new vocabulary (about 80% of unfamiliar topics), identifying names and what people did, noting numbers and statistical information, extracting the five big concepts from each section, and ensuring you can answer questions about the material. This systematic approach ensures true understanding rather than just speed."},{"question":"How does Berg's background influence his teaching philosophy?","answer":"Growing up in violent East New York housing projects where libraries were his only safe haven, Berg understands the transformative power of learning. His experience being dismissed by educators drives his passion for proving that anyone can achieve extraordinary results. He focuses on helping people discover and develop their natural strengths rather than trying to fix perceived weaknesses."}],"transcript":"A famous guy named Howard spent five\nyears writing his memoir. One man read\nthe whole book in six minutes and gave a\nfull synopsis on live television.\nStern's response was, \"It took me 5\nyears to write that book.\nYou read it in 6 minutes, you fat\nbastard.\" We've got the fastest reader\nin the world here today. He grew up in\nthe housing projects of East New York,\nand he hid in the library to stay safe\nfrom the gangs outside. Books were\nshelter first, then they became\nsomething else entirely. By age 11, he\ntested at a 12th grade reading level.\nHis seventh grade teacher caught him\nfinishing Call of the Wild in 90 seconds\nand didn't believe it. The Guinness Book\nof World Records did. 25,000 words per\nminute, 80 pages per minute. He read a\n1,500page congressional bill live on Fox\nBusiness in 50 minutes, then explained\nthe contents. Today he has a complete\nlearning system covering reading,\nwriting, memory, and creativity.\n>> Howard, what a life. Welcome to the big\nshow. Let's have some fun today.\n>> Johnny apparent.\n>> Did I hear 2500 words a minute?\n>> And did I also hear that Howard Stern\nsaid, \"You read my bit my you read my\nbook in six minutes, you fat bastard.\"\nSo Sophia Grant calling out our guest.\nLet's bring him up. Howard Steven Berg,\ngood morning.\n>> Hi. It was 25,000 words a minute.\n>> Okay. So perfect. So let here's the\nquestion then, brother. How the [ __ ] do\nyou turn the pages that fact?\n>> That's the first lesson.\n>> I was gonna say, I mean, literally, you\nmust just be like [ __ ] doing this.\n>> Pretty much. It's a page and a half a\nsecond,\n>> dude. Are you [ __ ] kidding me?\nDoes there so in the books I read\nthere's lots of pictures. I'm assuming\nthere are no pictures in your video in\nyour books\n>> but depends on the subject books that\nhave pictures but I could give you some\nstrategies on how to do it today and so\nit's not just a mystery but something\nyou could begin putting to practical use\nin your own life.\n>> I'm brother I'm very very you're so\nadvanced on this. It's for someone not\nto listen to what you have to say would\njust be ridiculous. Yeah.\n>> I wanted to just say something on your\nother topic. I'm 76. So a hot night is\nyou forgot to put the air conditioning\non.\n>> How what did you how old are you? I\nmissed it.\n>> He's 76.\n>> Are you really? Good for you, brother.\n>> Well, it's better than not. You know,\nI have a lot of friends who are and\nthey're not doing so well.\n>> He says Yeah, that's that's true.\nHoward, where where are you joining us\nfrom this morning?\n>> I'm in central Florida. I'm between\nOkala and the Villages.\n>> Okay. Okay. We pride ourselves on\nfinding interesting people. Keith and\nJohn love to find interesting people\nthat, you know, if you took a group of\n10, there'd be one person who's\nextremely interesting. and you struck me\nas an interesting person because of your\nstory. You Let's get into Let's get into\nthe 1500page bill on live TV. Let's get\nreal quick before we get\ngoing right for the [ __ ] We gota You\ngot to listen.\n>> Take me to a [ __ ] movie or dinner\nbefore you go to the room on this one,\nyou know? It's like\n>> Yeah, that's fair. Okay. So, going back\nto the 25,000 words per minute. Excuse\nme. A page in a second and a half,\nright?\n>> A page and a half a second.\n>> Page and a half a second. Jesus Christ.\nOkay. So, God, that makes it even So,\nexplain how you look at a whole page of\ntext\n>> and in less than a second you've\ngathered that. I mean, do you literally\ngo line by line or do you have some\n[ __ ] weird just extraction thing that\nthe rest of us don't have?\n>> Actually, you do have it. I'll explain\nhow. When you're in a car and you're\ndriving, see, 70 miles an hour, you're\nreading the road front, back, left, and\nright, and you're bored. You turn on the\nradio, you're on your phone, you're\ntalking to people in the car, and then\nyou read a book. The average speed's\nabout 200 words a minute. So why can you\nread in four directions at 70 miles an\nhour in a car and only read about 200\nwords a minute in a book and retain\nabout 10%. The difference is in a car\nit's a movie. You're seeing all that\ninformation visually and making\ndecisions. In a book it's like someone\nis in your head talking one word at\ntime. Most people read as fast as they\ncan talk. I'm seeing a movie. So, if you\nlook at all the books behind me, you see\nthem all. These are real. That's not a\nbacks stop. You see all the books. But\nif I had to read the title on the spine\nof every single book, one at a time,\nwe'd be here all day just reading the\nnames on the titles of the book. So,\nvision is analog. It takes everything in\ninstantly.\nAnd hearing is digital, one bite at a\ntime. Most people are reading digitally\nand I teach them how to read anal\nanalytically. So they're taking in\nlarger chunks more visually. You end up\nseeing two I see a half a page to a page\nbut a normal person could see two or\nthree four lines simultaneously\nand take it in visually and they begin\nto see the information instead of\nlistening to it and that's what makes it\neasier to go quicker. Wow.\n>> I'm I'm like the one or two words guy,\nnot the one or two lines guy.\n>> You could be president.\n>> Where where do you What What's the\nWhat's the first tip? Where do you start\nwith going from the average guy one or\ntwo lines to old [ __ ] page?\n>> I actually just gave you the first tip,\nbut I'll give you the second one now.\n>> Well, okay. Well, if you gave me the\nfirst tip, forgive me.\n>> Be more visual, see it more\nanalytically. What I'll show you now is\na practical way for doing that instead\nof telling you what it is you need to\ndo, how it could be done. So when the\nshow is over, pick a book that you\nunderstand. Want to make sure the only\nthing that can confuse you is the speed,\nnot because you're reading quantum\nphysics and don't know anything about\nit.\n>> Gotcha.\n>> Then everything's confusing. So you read\nat your normal rate with a timer. When\nthe timer goes off, put a little line in\nthe margin. That's how far you go. Now,\nnow the magic. Go back. Take your hand\nand go from the left to the right\nmargin. And your eye is following your\nhand as fast as you could comprehend.\nSo, as long as you know what you're\nreading, go quicker and quicker and\nquicker until you reach a point where\nit's too fast, you don't know what\nyou're reading. That's where you hit\nyour cut off point. Go down just a\nlittle in your speed so you're at the\npeak speed that you could still\nunderstand. And for five minutes, one\nline at a time, eyes following your\nhand. Now go back to the first page\nwhere you tested yourself for a minute.\nThis time, time yourself for a minute\nusing the hand to move your eye and\nyou'll go 20 to 40% further just with\nthat one step. And you could see it.\nIt's something you can experience.\n>> It's just a practice thing. You just\nkeep practicing and it just gets faster\nand faster.\nThere's more to it. We'll go over that\nbecause comprehension is more important\nthan speed. And most people, the reason\nspeed reading doesn't work is reading\ndoesn't work. You could read a calculus\nbook slowly, memorize all the formula\nand get an F because you don't know how\nto use them. You have no idea how to\nsolve a problem, which is not a reading\nproblem. You read all the information.\nSo what I do is I also teach\ncomprehension and understanding which I\ncould explain on the air and I think\nit's more important than speed.\n>> Yeah.\n>> So Howard, how do So\nhow do I I guess so you mentioned\ncomprehension. I'm I'm trying to trying\nto I'm trying to gather my question for\nyou here. I guess what I'm trying to say\nis you see a page of words. How do Keith\nand John know that you've read the page\nand you understand the comprehension and\nyou can explain it to us? Like how do\nyou know like how do you know the\nresults? I guess that's what I'm trying\nto say. It's like okay,\n>> very good. Good. That's a great\nquestion. I appreciate that. I'll give\nyou two answers. One, I did a when I was\nin college, my last year of college, I\nwas majoring in biology and I decided I\nwanted to be a psychobiologist, not a\npsychotic biologist. That's\nFrankenstein. Psychobiology is the\nbiology of behavior.\n>> Okay. So, I had no psyches and the dean\nsaid, \"You have to do a four-year psych\nprogram in one year. All of it.\" Ed\nfinished the bio program at the same\ntime and I had three jobs. I was working\n18 hours a week. He said, \"You're not\nsmart enough.\" And that's when I learned\nto do this. And I did the four-year\npsych program in one year. And I took\nthe graduate record exam in biology and\nI read 48 books in three nights like\nbiochemistry, cell physiology, genetics.\nI got three questions wrong. I was in\nthe 99th percentile in the world. So\nthat's one way you could tell. Of\ncourse.\n>> So real quick, real quick. When you\nsaid, \"Okay, [ __ ] this Dean. I'm gonna\ndo this.\" Right.\n>> I didn't actually say that, but that was\nthe context of\n>> that was the Yeah, that was the idea\nbehind it, you know? That was the\ndriver. So So I guess the question is,\ndid you have somebody teach you how to\ndo this or did you figure out how to do\nthis on your own? He's taking all these\ngreat courses on how the brain works.\nI'm like, why don't they use any of this\nto learn?\n>> So, you actually very smart rats and\nmonkeys and\n>> this is your methodology that you\ncreated this.\n>> Yeah. I looked at that makes it even put\nit together. It works.\n>> That makes it like a thousand times\nbetter. You've you actually engineered\nthis method which\n>> the man who owned\n>> the man who owned Evelyn Woods hired me\nto train his son and said you've gone\npast speed readading the speed learning\nand he actually wanted to buy my rights.\nI didn't sell them to him but he owned\nEvelyn Woods. He was the CEO. So that\ngives you an idea. Another thing you\nasked me how could you tell? There's a\ntest called the Nelson Denny. It's a\nstandardized test for speed and for\ncomprehension. And they took a hundred\nrandom people. 50 of them did the A and\nthen the B. And 50 did the B and then\nthe A to see if what happened after they\ntook the program. Everyone in the 100\nperson group doubled to quadrupled. Most\ndoubled and they had the same or better\ncomprehension. So that's a standardized\nexam that's proving that the results are\nvalid. Not just for me, me doing it,\nit's like a a a sideeshow. You doing it,\nthat's a breakthrough that could help a\nlot of people succeed in an\ninformationrich world. And we proved\nthat that's what happens.\n>> Okay. So, here's the million-dollar\nquestion, brother. Right. You can read.\nYou said 25,000 words a minute. Is that\nright? At\n>> peak. Yeah.\n>> Okay.\nCan you actually do this\nwhen you're speaking out loud? No, I I'm\nknew the answer to that. There's no\npossibility, but it's\n>> No, it sound like a fax machine. I was\ngonna say yes.\nI don't Your mouse can't follow your\nbrain on that one.\n>> No, I actually met the world's fastest\nreader. I did the 4G launch in Australia\nfor their phone company and they had me\nand the world's fastest speaker and the\nfastest rapper and the fastest texter.\nAnd he's very fast. He did like the\nsilic from Hamlet in like six seconds\nwhich is quite remarkable but you\ncouldn't understand anything if you\nslowed it down with a tape you could\nhear it but\n>> no [ __ ]\n>> you couldn't hear the words because he\nwas going so fast but he was saying them\n>> Howard Steven Berg hanging out with\nKeith and John this morning Johnny I'm\njust I'm just taking this all in man I'm\nreally trying to wrap my head around\n>> because this whole when it comes down\nthis whole bill thing that's like the\nheadline great people want to know\nwhat's behind it. Yeah. Well, and let's\nget further behind it, Johnny. So, get\nthis. The library saved Howard Steven.\nAnd you said literally, you said the\nlibrary in the Brooklyn projects was the\nsafest place in your neighborhood.\nHoward, walk us back. What was that\nversion of Howard Berg's life when you\nwere running from what you from when you\nwent to read? You were running. You're\nrunning. It sounds like maybe you had\nsome challenges growing up, but the\nlibrary was your was your place of\ncomfort. Talk about that, Howard. I'll\ngive you a little context. We moved when\nthey raped an 88-y old man. That was the\nneighborhood. But I was mund\n>> the gangs to keep in the neighborhood.\n>> Jesus Murphy.\n>> Yeah. I was in high school. I was a home\nmonitor. I asked for a pass, pulled a\nknife out with a blade like this, put it\nagainst my throat. I said, \"This is my\npass. What are you going to do about\nit?\" I said, \"I'm going to hold the door\nand you can go anywhere you want. I\nthink this is a very good pass.\" And I'm\nfine with that. Was high school. It was\na very violent neighborhood. There were\na lot of kids killed. There were gangs\nthat had 1500 kids in them. And I don't\nknow if you could tell, but I'm not much\nof a gang kid. And\nwhen I got out of high school at 17, I\nhad two choices. I could go to Brooklyn\nCollege and get a new car, or\nBingington, which is a top college where\nit's minus 40 windchill, but no car. And\nI went to Bingington because I wanted\nout of Brooklyn. I wanted bad enough\nthat I was willing to not have a car at\n17\n>> to get out of that environment. My dad\nwas pistol whipped. My sister was\nattacked. It was just part\nwhen you're going to be [ __ ] scared\nfor your [ __ ] life every day.\n>> Yeah.\n>> And they'll steal it anyway. So what's\nthe point?\n>> Yeah. No [ __ ] How long am I going to\nhave it?\n>> Yeah. So, I was more interested in\nchanging my life, which I did. And I'm\nreally pleased that I did. It was a good\nschool. I got a good education. But now,\nmy my focus is on other people. I had a\nschool. If you ask me, how do I know it\nworks? I owned a school. My 11 year olds\nwere doing college classes in one week\nand passing them on KIPP exams. They\nwrote 28 page MLA cited reports at 11 at\nthe graduate school level in four hours.\nAnd that's what excited me. Having 15,\n16 year olds graduating college with\n4.0's,\nlaw degrees, and passing the bar at 18,\n19 years old going to medical school.\n>> You were surrounded by like [ __ ]\ngenius minds.\n>> No, I taught them. They were C students.\n>> Oh, you\n>> started off as C stu this kid 11 year\nold\n>> 11 year old C student. He finished high\nschool at 15. He had a high school,\ntwo-year degree at 17, bachelor's at 19,\nmasters at 21, English professor at 22.\nHe was a C student at 11. What changed?\nHe learned how to learn. We don't teach\nlearning in school.\n>> No, you're right.\n>> Tell him to learn. You don't learn, it's\nyour fault. You go back and do the same\nthing harder and you still don't learn.\nSo, you give up and you drop out. I'm\nteaching how to brain work so you can\nactually learn. And this is for normal\npeople. people who aren't geniuses, it\nchanges how their mind works so they can\nbecome geniuses.\n>> Howard Berg, the speed reader with\nmyself and John Anderson this morning on\nMornings and Live with Keith John and\nfriends. Coming up in the second hour,\nDr. John Petelli, the [ __ ]\nprofessor. And Howard Petro's got a\nquestion for you and I want to put it on\nhere. He says, \"At a page and a half a\nsecond, that's 90 pages a minute. Most\n300page books are in the range of 9,000\nto 11,000 words. How do you calculate\n25,000 words? approximately two books a\nminute.\n>> It's more about this the number of words\nthat it takes me a page and a a page and\na half a second. So if there's more\nwords, I read faster. There's less. It's\nthe turning the page that slows me down.\nCan can I tell people if they want to\ntake the course live online with me, you\ngo to how are you reading.live\nhow are you reading.live live. I do a\nlive class every month and in four hours\nthey will at least double where I don't\ncharge them. They will at least double\ntheir reading speed with good\ncomprehension. How\n>> Howard, I'll tell you man, our brother\nJohn Petella here who hangs out every\nFriday. He'll be in here in a few\nminutes. He actually only reads half of\nhis books. So I'm\n>> put put that in context, dude. Jesus\nChrist.\n>> Let me finish. Let me finish. So maybe\nyou could help him read all of them,\nman. He he buys books. He's a pet. He's\nand and he's if it's interesting, he'll\nread the whole thing. If it's not\ninteresting, he'll he'll cut it off\nhalfway through. But he's not wrong. One\nof the things\n>> I was going to say, our man here is\ngoing to [ __ ] totally agree with Pro.\n>> I tell him to speedread the book in five\nminutes to see if it's worth learning.\n>> Just like you said, a lot of it's wasted\ninformation. If it's not, go to another\nbook. But if it is, then I teach them\nthe strategy for learning, not just\nreading faster. And that like I did a\ngraduate course in educational\npsychology, not a fivemonth course. I\ndid it in seven hours and then I took\nthe AP test which was six hours and 50\nminutes and got a B+. I only needed a C\nminus for what I was doing. So I still I\ndidn't do it in five minutes, but I did\nfive months of graduate study in seven\nhours. So I still feel it was a good a\ngood use. I as you sit here and listen\nto you talk, I realize in your position\nlike when I when I sit here and think\nabout books I want to read, it's because\nI've heard so many people talk like\npeople that I literally literally value\ntheir opinions and their I respect them\nabout a book that I need to read. Your\nyour position is there's all these\n[ __ ] books. How do I find one that's\nworth my [ __ ] five minutes? Because\nyou know it's it's like now you're he's\nsuch the opposite side of this. It's a\ntotally different my okay I got all this\nlist of books I want to [ __ ] read but\nthey take me a month a piece if I\n[ __ ] sometimes more than that\n>> you know you're like okay how do I dig\nthrough this sea of [ __ ] to find the\nones that I should actually invest my\ntime in\n>> that's your first step\n>> because a lot of books don't give you\nwhat you thought they would give you and\nyou don't that for hours or weeks later\nI know in five minutes this book isn't\ngoing to satisfy my needs needs. I need\na different book and I'm not wasting my\ntime on a book that doesn't provide me\nwith information I could actually use.\n>> Well, you know, brother, crazy enough,\nlike I find I read books multiple times.\nAnd I swear to God, every time I read\nit, it's like I [ __ ] learned so much\nmore. I mean, I I I have yet to read a a\ngood book like an additional time and\nthink, \"Okay, I'm done reading that.\"\nI'm like, \"Fuck, I learned so much more\nthis time than I did the last time.\"\n>> Johnny,\n>> give me a strategy to to get more out of\nit on the first read. Would that help\nyou?\n>> [ __ ] yeah. Are you kidding me?\n>> There's only five things you need to\nlearn. The new words, which is the\nvocabulary, that's about 80% of a topic\nyou don't know anything about. The\nnames, who's in the book, and what did\nthey do? Third, any number, date,\nstatistical formula, something\nnumerical.\nfour the five big concepts or takeaways\nin each section. What's the big thing\nhere? What am I getting that I didn't\nknow before? Five of them. You don't\nwant to do less than five. You could do\nmore, but five is the the cut off. And\nlastly, are there any questions and can\nI answer them? So if you know every word\nand what it means, every person what\nthey did, every number and how it's\nused, the main ideas in every part of\nthe book and you understand them and can\nanswer any questions the book is asking\nyou, you're done.\nAnd that's that's what I was teaching\nthese youngsters to do to get their\ncollege courses in a week.\n>> I'm speechless. John, how many books you\nguys think he's read in his whole\nlifetime? just he's read more books in a\n[ __ ] weekend than I've read my whole\nlife.\n>> You and me both. Just [ __ ] numbers.\n>> I've got I got a literally just so a\nheads up, brother. So, I I got a degree\nfrom University of Portland, small\nCatholic school up in the Northwest, and\nI got a major in theology. I'm one one\ncredit shy of a minor philosophy. Didn't\nread a single book.\nSee, my my I my comprehension was so low\nthat I was like, I'm I'm never going to\nbe able to keep up with this. So, I went\nto each professor. I because I was I was\nchallenged learning, I was forced to\nkind of develop other ways of getting\nby. I became a very good problem solver.\nThat was really one of my biggest\nblessings. And so, I went to each\nprofessor and I was like, \"Okay, which\nyou know, small school you can actually\ngo knock on their [ __ ] door and see\nthem. Big school you can't even get near\nthese guys.\" But I said, \"Hey, look, I\nhow does the how does the the the you\nknow the midterm and the final break\ndown in percentage of information? What\npercentage is the lecture? What's in the\nbook?\" And if they told me 20% or less\nin the book, I didn't [ __ ] worry\nabout it. I just went to the lectures,\nmade sure I stayed awake, and took good\n[ __ ] notes. And that got me by most\nof the classes. Some of them they're\nlike 6040 which meant I had to find\nsomebody that knew what was in the book\nand I had to have conversations with\nthem to get that information out. So me\nbeing not been able to read worth a [ __ ]\nreally turned me get created my problem\nsolving skill set which then allowed me\nto become a good entrepreneur.\n>> You raised a very important point. Good\ngrades don't necessarily mean you're\nintelligent. It means you're good at\ntaking tests and reading books. See\nyou're on a show. You have talent.\nYou're funny. You're you're\nconversational. What people should be\nasking is what makes me smart. Maybe I'm\ngood at art. Maybe I'm a good musician\nlike Paul McCartney. He's not a quantum\nphysicist. It isn't about being good at\neverything. It's being good at\nsomething. And if people spent more time\nlooking at their core competency, Yeah.\nand what they do well\n>> instead of worry about all the things\nthey can't do\n>> but excel at something as you have and\nyou could be a success in life. What\nhappens with many people is because they\ndon't do some things well they feel it\nreflects poorly on everything and it\ndemeanes them in their own mind and then\nthey don't achieve anything because they\ndon't believe they're capable of it.\nwhere if they just focused on that thing\nthat makes them special and developed it\nas far as they could take it, they'd\nhave a more productive life.\n>> I you said something in there that hooks\nup what one of my favorite sayings is I\nall the time, brother, I say, look, and\nI say this and I really own this so that\nit will help other people. I was just\ndumb enough to believe I could do it.\nAnd what I love and what and what I love\nas a host is when when a segue happens\nwhen you don't even see it or know it's\ncoming because Howard, you're talking\nabout John's skills and where John's\nreally good at and what he's\nexceptionally good at. Jimmy, let's run\nthis committed. Howard, I like to I like\nto put something on the screen here\noften where John teaches me something\nand I got I got something. So John's a\nstrong man, professional strong man. And\nthis this guy's an expert in this. So\nJohn I I love watching John break these\nthings down because he can teach me\nstuff. So you talk about committed,\nright? So Johnny, this guy's picking the\nstones. He's he's picking up like\nyesterday. Like look how like talk to us\nabout this. What's he doing here?\n>> Well, he's very very small set of stones\nin the beginning. Now he's starting to\nlap them. So he's got to pull them up to\nhis lap. The big Well, the big one is\nwhere we'll see if he's\n>> Oh yeah.\n>> So now he's getting challenged here. So\nhe's going to lap it. He should be\nprobably putting his hands over the top\nto change his leverage points.\n>> Oh yeah.\n>> Didn't do too much, but he did a little\nbit. Oh, here we go. There's another\none. So the bigger it gets, the more\nhe's got to use leverage. So, he's going\nto lap it. Then what he should do is\nregrip it, meaning grabbing over the top\nof the stone, which will change his\nleverage points. Then up.\n>> When you say lap it, what do you mean by\nJohn? Lap it. Look. What?\n>> See how he's stopping in his lap?\n>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.\n>> Yeah. The little ones, he went straight\nup. Wasn't even touching his body.\n>> Now he's got to use his body. He's got\nto get his hips out of this. You can't\nreally see from from this angle, but\nwhen he regrip, there's the lap. Get it\nin there, baby. Now, he regrips it. He\nhe regripped it. Now he's changing his\nleverage point so he can actually put\nhis hips under it.\n>> Is that timed, Johnny? Is that is that a\ntimed event?\n>> 100%.\n>> Oh, I see. I see.\n>> See those little ones or like those are\nthe chickstones. Normally they don't\nmake the dudes do those.\n>> I put that up there, Howard, because in\nmany ways what you guys both do is\nextremely relatable. Like like Howard,\nJohn walks up to that situation and he\ncan see it in his mind and he can solve\nit. You walk up to a book with a\nthousand words and you guys are actually\nthe same thing. You you follow my\nanalogy Howard?\n>> That's what I was saying. Find what\nyou're good at.\n>> Yeah.\n>> He doesn't have to be the world's\nfastest reader to be great at something\nthat he does. Yes. He does well. This\nguy probably does a reode. I could be\nhonest. I don't think I could lift that\nbig stone. I know you're probably\nshocked. Even if I put it in my lap and\nI used my hips really really well, I I\ndon't think I could have gotten it on\ntop of the barrel. Johnny, we might have\na show coming up with John teaching\nHoward to lift, Howard teaching John to\nread. There could be a segment there for\nus to do on the show.\n>> Hey, I want I actually have a little bit\nof a I'm I'm kind of I have this thing\nto where\nwith my really really lack of reading\nskills and comprehension is probably\nmore of what the lack is. I can read out\nloud and with most books if the words\nare normal. I just have no [ __ ] clue\nwhat I'm reading. You want the the\nsecret to comprehension? I could give it\nto you quickly.\n>> Okay.\n>> There's a concept in psychology called\nschema. Rather than go into technical,\nI'll I'll demonstrate it. I'm going to\nread a passage with no schema and watch\nhow confusing this is. This is an easy\nthing to do. If possible, you could do\nit at home, but you could always go\nsomeplace else if it's necessary. Beware\nof overdoing it. This is a major\nmistake. It may cost you quite a bit of\nmoney. I haven't given you any context,\nso it doesn't mean anything. I'm going\nto read it second time with a title that\nhas schema and watch how instantly it\nmakes sense. Laundry. Laundry. This is\nan easy thing to do. If possible, you\ncould do it at home, but you could\nalways go someplace else if it's\nnecessary. Beware of overdoing it. This\nis a major mistake and may cost you\nquite a bit of money. I'm training\npeople on where these clues are. So even\nthough they're going very quickly, these\nclues unlock the meaning of the bigger\nchunk of text.\n>> So even though it was confusing before,\nyou don't have the key\n>> and I'm showing you where the keys are\nand how to unlock the confusion using\nthose keys. So even though you're going\nquicker, the comprehension's quite good.\nSo, it's almost like giving yourself\nframing the information before you start\nsucking it down.\n>> Yeah,\n>> that's I haven't heard it described that\nway, but yes, suck it down.\nI need","conversationTopics":[],"images":[{"url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morningsinthelab/mitl-cdn/main/guest-headshots/howard-berg.jpg","label":"authority_portrait","description":"","type":"authority_portrait"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/announcement-cards/1781345158704-2cf3a5649b59-howard-berg-announcement-de502edc.png","label":"Announcement card","description":"Pre-show shareable graphic generated by the Authority Page Builder.","type":"announcement_card"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/story-plates/1781345163450-22591459bdee-howard-berg-plate-1-be401537.png","label":"VISUAL LEARNING BREAKTHROUGH","description":"","type":"story"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/story-plates/1781345209145-d6ca7a4426fc-howard-berg-plate-3-aa919a5e.png","label":"PROVING THE DOUBTERS WRONG","description":"","type":"story"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/story-plates/1781345231611-3acbc251a844-howard-berg-plate-4-f7f21a80.png","label":"TRANSFORMING C STUDENTS","description":"","type":"story"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/story-plates/1781345253530-9e2b0af64596-howard-berg-plate-5-f07df6f5.png","label":"THE FIVE PILLARS OF COMPREHENSION","description":"","type":"story"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/story-plates/1781345273793-919280cc855d-howard-berg-plate-6-ac8ffd97.png","label":"FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS","description":"","type":"story"},{"url":"https://pub-176ab0b7668b46259a6c72d4ad146d40.r2.dev/story-plates/1781345294160-531f01abca71-howard-berg-plate-7-1d43c7e9.png","label":"THE SCHEMA SECRET","description":"","type":"story"}],"livingPortrait":"","heroVideo":"","heroPoster":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/93LRSyIFWtk/maxresdefault.jpg","storyVideo":"","mediaKit":"","sourceUrl":"https://guestengine.live/profile/howard-berg","publishedAt":"2026-04-25T13:35:38.560Z","publicationStatus":"published","canonicalUrl":"https://mornings.network/shows/center-stage/guests/howard-berg","verifiedVideos":[{"status":"available","videoId":"93LRSyIFWtk","title":"Howard Stephen Berg: He Read a 1,500-Page Bill in 50 Minutes — Then Trained Special Forces","channel":"Mornings in the Lab with Keith, Jon & Friends LIVE","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/@MorningsintheLab","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/93LRSyIFWtk/hqdefault.jpg","verifiedAt":"2026-10-04T00:40:23.764563+00:00","evidence":"https://www.youtube.com/oembed?format=json&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LRSyIFWtk"}]}