Hm. I think that there are some people (say 1%) who can read as fast as 600 wpm and with high comprehension. And atypical folks like Kim Peek can definitely read much faster than 400 wpm, more like 1000 wpm. It would be interesting to know how fast various members of LW can read. If speed reading is a learnable skill and not strongly genetically determined like e.g. IQ, learning to read faster would be one of the most promisising ways to become more awesome.
Participants in the Singularity Summit 2011 workshops held on October 17-18 brainstormed a list of cognitive enhancement methods they would like to see tested — some of them for the first time, many of them more thoroughly than has been done so far. Here is that list: