The science of effective reading.

The six ideas.

I. Effective Words Per Minute (eWPM).

The only honest reading metric.

Most reading apps tell you how fast you read. Volumes tells you how fast you read and how much you took in, combined into a single number.

Read at 400 WPM but only understand half? Your eWPM is 200. Read at 220 WPM and understand everything? Your eWPM is 220. The slower reader is the better reader.

The good news: this number improves with practice.

II. Word-by-Word (RSVP mode).

In Volumes, RSVP is called Word-by-Word. Words appear one at a time, in the same place, with a coloured anchor letter to guide your eye. Your eyes don't move beyond deliberate micro-adjustments. The technique has been studied for decades in assistive reading research.

Word-by-Word is one of three reading modes in Volumes, never the only one. It's brilliant for speed, but it won't help you understand a difficult passage. That's what the comprehension checks are for.

III. The optimal recognition point (ORP).

Researchers have found that every word has a sweet spot, a single character your eye naturally lands on first, usually just left of centre. In Word-by-Word mode, Volumes aligns each word at that point so your eye doesn't have to hunt for it. That's what the coloured anchor letter is doing.

You can turn it off if you find it distracting.

IV. Active reading time, not clock time.

A 20-minute session with five minutes of actual focus is a 5-minute session. Volumes only counts the time your eyes are on the words. Pause, look up, take a phone call: the timer stops. The number you see at the end is real.

V. Spaced retention checks.

A short quiz the moment you finish a passage. A single re-check 24 hours later. Another at 7 days for longer texts. A final one 30 days after the reading. Light touches, usefully spaced, are enough for most adult readers to keep most of what they read.

The approach is based on decades of spaced repetition and learning research. Whether you're reading for pleasure or studying for an exam, the same principle applies: a little recall at the right moment goes a long way.

VI. Tell it what you want to learn.

When you start a text, Volumes asks what you're hoping to get from it. A specific concept, a general understanding, or just reading for pleasure. The comprehension questions adapt to match your goals, so you're tested on what actually matters to you.

Studying contract law for an exam? The questions focus on legal principles. Reading Marcus Aurelius out of curiosity? They focus on the ideas that struck you. Same text, different reader, different questions.

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Put the six together and you have Volumes. None of the parts are new. The combination, and the discipline of refusing everything else, is the design.