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Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked
The best-known educator of the twentieth century was a scammer in cashmere. "The most famous reading teacher in the world," as television hosts introduced her, Evelyn Wood had little classroom experience, no degrees in reading instruction, and a background that included work at the Mormon mission in Germany at the time when the church was cooperating with the Third Reich. Nevertheless, a nation spooked by Sputnik and panicked by paperwork eagerly embraced her promises of a speed-reading revolution. Journalists, lawmakers and two US presidents lent credibility to Wood's claims of turbocharging reading speeds through a method once compared to the miracle at Lourdes. Time magazine reported Woods grads could polish off Dr. Zhivago in one hour; a senator swore that Wood's method had boosted his reading speed to more than ten thousand words per minute.
But science showed that her method taught only skimming, with disastrous effects on comprehension--a fact Wood was aware of from early in her career. Fudging test results, and squelching critics, she founded a company that enrolled one million. The course's popularity endured even as evidence of its shortcomings continued to accumulate. Today, as apps and online courses attempt to spark a speed-reading revival, this engaging look at Wood's rise from mission worker to marketer exposes the pitfalls of embracing a con artist's worthless solution to imaginary problems.
But science showed that her method taught only skimming, with disastrous effects on comprehension--a fact Wood was aware of from early in her career. Fudging test results, and squelching critics, she founded a company that enrolled one million. The course's popularity endured even as evidence of its shortcomings continued to accumulate. Today, as apps and online courses attempt to spark a speed-reading revival, this engaging look at Wood's rise from mission worker to marketer exposes the pitfalls of embracing a con artist's worthless solution to imaginary problems.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2019
12 people are currently reading
1292 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Biederman
11 books42 followersA mystery-writer-turned-biographer, Marcia Biederman is also a journalist who has contributed more than 150 pieces to The New York Times. Her work has also appeared in New York magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 31, 2020
Those of us who grew up in the fifties and sixties will remember Sputnik and the intense fear that permeated the American science and education communities. America could not be permitted to fall behind in the space or arms race and to stay ahead education was to be reformed and supported.
It was the perfect medium for Evelyn Wood and her husband to grow interest and support for her "dynamic" reading program that purported to not only increase reading speed, sometimes up to 25,000 words per minute, but also would increase comprehension and memory they claimed.
It was all bunk. Studies done by NASA in 2000 showed that while speeds supposedly increased comprehension declined. In fact, even an exceptional student whose eye can make four fixations per second, is limited to only 600 wpm and then they have to go back. The Woods' (her husband ran the business part) claimed that the secret was to enlarge the view and increase the number of words per fixation. Sounds good. Unfortunately there was little to it.
They were outstanding at publicity, but they had famous people in their corner, as well. JFK was a big advocate and had even recommended that her course should be required for Congress. (I don't remember any one suggesting it for Supreme Court Justices who do far more reading -- crucial reading -- than anyone else. Then again, JFK didn't write Profiles in Courage, either.)
Even the demonstrations had a catch. Before reading the book, demonstrators were allowed to peruse the cover and the book and take notes before whipping through the novel (rarely was it non-fiction.) Readers were often told to spend twenty minutes or so "previewing" the book before launching in a twenty minute "reading" of the entire book.
There are ways to increase your comprehension but they involve more prosaic tactics like previewing, reading the table of contents, building your vocabulary, reading a lot to increase subject matter, and reading often. It would appear there is a difference between comprehension and retention as well. I can often comprehend and understand the contents of a book, but what is singularly irritating is the inability to retain it all over decades. That's why I started taking notes years ago and writing reviews.
The rights to her "method" were purchased by the Famous Artists Schools in 1967. That organization suffered its own scandal following a Jessica Mitford expose that revealed the famous names associated with each genre had nothing to do with the students and were being paid for the use of their names, but had little other input into the business.
I have never been a particularly fast reader and took a speed reading course in the late seventies. Slowed me down.
Some reviewers have complained about the "digressions" on the Mormon relationship to the Nazi regime and the Woods' experience in Germany leading up to WW II. Both Church and Regime were authoritarian and it does appear that the LDS Church revised its lessons in Germany where there was an active mission and rising number of adherents to be compatible with Nazi doctrine. Superfluous perhaps, but quite interesting, nevertheless.
The Audiobook totally held my interest. The Kindle version is ridiculously overpriced as is typical of University presses. Competently read by Marguerite Gavin.
N.B. The latest reading hype comes from China. Called QSR it proclaims that readers need not even look at the pages as the rifle through a book. See Biederman's blog for more information. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
It was the perfect medium for Evelyn Wood and her husband to grow interest and support for her "dynamic" reading program that purported to not only increase reading speed, sometimes up to 25,000 words per minute, but also would increase comprehension and memory they claimed.
It was all bunk. Studies done by NASA in 2000 showed that while speeds supposedly increased comprehension declined. In fact, even an exceptional student whose eye can make four fixations per second, is limited to only 600 wpm and then they have to go back. The Woods' (her husband ran the business part) claimed that the secret was to enlarge the view and increase the number of words per fixation. Sounds good. Unfortunately there was little to it.
They were outstanding at publicity, but they had famous people in their corner, as well. JFK was a big advocate and had even recommended that her course should be required for Congress. (I don't remember any one suggesting it for Supreme Court Justices who do far more reading -- crucial reading -- than anyone else. Then again, JFK didn't write Profiles in Courage, either.)
Even the demonstrations had a catch. Before reading the book, demonstrators were allowed to peruse the cover and the book and take notes before whipping through the novel (rarely was it non-fiction.) Readers were often told to spend twenty minutes or so "previewing" the book before launching in a twenty minute "reading" of the entire book.
There are ways to increase your comprehension but they involve more prosaic tactics like previewing, reading the table of contents, building your vocabulary, reading a lot to increase subject matter, and reading often. It would appear there is a difference between comprehension and retention as well. I can often comprehend and understand the contents of a book, but what is singularly irritating is the inability to retain it all over decades. That's why I started taking notes years ago and writing reviews.
The rights to her "method" were purchased by the Famous Artists Schools in 1967. That organization suffered its own scandal following a Jessica Mitford expose that revealed the famous names associated with each genre had nothing to do with the students and were being paid for the use of their names, but had little other input into the business.
I have never been a particularly fast reader and took a speed reading course in the late seventies. Slowed me down.
Some reviewers have complained about the "digressions" on the Mormon relationship to the Nazi regime and the Woods' experience in Germany leading up to WW II. Both Church and Regime were authoritarian and it does appear that the LDS Church revised its lessons in Germany where there was an active mission and rising number of adherents to be compatible with Nazi doctrine. Superfluous perhaps, but quite interesting, nevertheless.
The Audiobook totally held my interest. The Kindle version is ridiculously overpriced as is typical of University presses. Competently read by Marguerite Gavin.
N.B. The latest reading hype comes from China. Called QSR it proclaims that readers need not even look at the pages as the rifle through a book. See Biederman's blog for more information. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
May 27, 2019
While the subject matter is fascinating, and there are some good stories and information, overall I found the narrative in need of some better editing. There are frequent references to Wood’s Mormon religion, which were not always relevant to the context in which is was given. A running story of Evelyn’s adopted daughter Anna could have used some better consistency in the telling, since it always seems to be shoe-horned in as well, aside from the initial telling of it before the Wood’s time in Germany. I did mention this book to some family members who immediately said the Evelyn Wood method helped them a lot, so it was interesting to read this book through a lens of an author who obviously has low regard for Evelyn Wood. Ultimately I think the author could have better framed the book as a joint biography of the Woods and laid off the digs at the Mormon Church and it could have been stronger overall. It’s interesting and not unreadable, I just found myself getting annoyed wither how it was edited and choices in how the narrative was laid out.
July 26, 2019
Back in the late 1970's my private school in Westchester Cty, NY invited a representative from this company to give a sales pitch. Even as a child, this felt not right. It was unusual for the nuns to allow such a presentation to the students. They must have really believed in the program. I don't remember how many classes his pitch took up but the salesman was there a loooong time. We each got sales packets to take home and give to our parents. The course was expensive. I believe three of the wealthier kids signed up. Scan Artist is a well written, quick and fascinating read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Recommend.
August 29, 2019
Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked by Marcia Biederman is a highly recommended examination of the life of Evelyn Wood and her Reading Dynamics program.
As a fan of Saturday Night Live, I saw the hilarious third season mock commercial on 11/12/77 about the "Evelyn Woodski Slow Reading Course." For anyone who lived through the 60s and 70's', the name Evelyn Wood is closely associated with speed reading through her Reading Dynamics Institutes/classes which were widely advertised and held in many different cities across the country. As many people suspected, her program, advertising that program graduates could read Dr. Zhivago in one hour, were really a scam. She was, as many reading specialists, like George Spache, kept saying, teaching skimming, not reading, and the comprehension of what participants read was lacking. Wood was actually not a trained or veteran teacher, as she claimed.
Biederman presents this biography of Wood following her Mormon background and the missionary work she and her husband undertook with the Third Reich. Once she started her speed reading program, Wood was quick to market her program through those well-known individuals who took it, especially those in government. Many of her claims and connections to fame were exaggerated or misstated. Those who repeatedly tried to unmask Wood and the program were threatened with lawsuits, and labeled as narrow-minded. During the heyday of Reading Dynamics those who were dissatisfied with results from the expensive program were often blamed for their own lack of success and had no real recourse other than the Better Business Bureaus. She also actively suppressed or opposed all the scientific evidence about the lack of comprehension with her program.
Presented in a chronological timeline, Scan Artist covers the life of Evelyn Wood and her rise to fame as a reading teacher. While I thought this was a very interesting biography, Wood doesn't necessarily come across as a dynamic or compelling person. In some ways she was small-minded and downright cold/cruel at times, but she did have a lot of unmerited confidence in herself and speed reading. It was unfathomable that she got away with this scam for so long and managed to have people doubt themselves rather than the effectiveness of the system. Biederman does an excellent job capturing the historical setting and concerns of the decades covered.
I wanted to read this biography because I have always been a prolific reader and, although I haven't a clue what my reading speed is, I get along at a good pace with good comprehension. I know, however, I could never approach the "Dr. Zhivago-in-one-hour" level. I actually read everything I review, but I noticed over the years a few reviewers who seem to be reading dozens of books a day. When questioned, one claimed to be a speed reader. Based on the reviews, which seemed to just summarize the synopsis, I doubted the credibility of this claim. This biography confirmed my doubts.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/0...
As a fan of Saturday Night Live, I saw the hilarious third season mock commercial on 11/12/77 about the "Evelyn Woodski Slow Reading Course." For anyone who lived through the 60s and 70's', the name Evelyn Wood is closely associated with speed reading through her Reading Dynamics Institutes/classes which were widely advertised and held in many different cities across the country. As many people suspected, her program, advertising that program graduates could read Dr. Zhivago in one hour, were really a scam. She was, as many reading specialists, like George Spache, kept saying, teaching skimming, not reading, and the comprehension of what participants read was lacking. Wood was actually not a trained or veteran teacher, as she claimed.
Biederman presents this biography of Wood following her Mormon background and the missionary work she and her husband undertook with the Third Reich. Once she started her speed reading program, Wood was quick to market her program through those well-known individuals who took it, especially those in government. Many of her claims and connections to fame were exaggerated or misstated. Those who repeatedly tried to unmask Wood and the program were threatened with lawsuits, and labeled as narrow-minded. During the heyday of Reading Dynamics those who were dissatisfied with results from the expensive program were often blamed for their own lack of success and had no real recourse other than the Better Business Bureaus. She also actively suppressed or opposed all the scientific evidence about the lack of comprehension with her program.
Presented in a chronological timeline, Scan Artist covers the life of Evelyn Wood and her rise to fame as a reading teacher. While I thought this was a very interesting biography, Wood doesn't necessarily come across as a dynamic or compelling person. In some ways she was small-minded and downright cold/cruel at times, but she did have a lot of unmerited confidence in herself and speed reading. It was unfathomable that she got away with this scam for so long and managed to have people doubt themselves rather than the effectiveness of the system. Biederman does an excellent job capturing the historical setting and concerns of the decades covered.
I wanted to read this biography because I have always been a prolific reader and, although I haven't a clue what my reading speed is, I get along at a good pace with good comprehension. I know, however, I could never approach the "Dr. Zhivago-in-one-hour" level. I actually read everything I review, but I noticed over the years a few reviewers who seem to be reading dozens of books a day. When questioned, one claimed to be a speed reader. Based on the reviews, which seemed to just summarize the synopsis, I doubted the credibility of this claim. This biography confirmed my doubts.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/0...
July 6, 2023
If you are from the the United States, and are on the north side or so of 60, you can remember when the advertising for Evelyn Wood and her "Reading Dynamics" approach to consuming print was omnipresent. I say consuming because the biggest participants in the programs marketed under Wood's name were professional men and middle managers drowning in paper, and who could get their employers to pay the tuition. The author was not one of those people, and by the way Biederman words her dedication she still seems put out that she fell for the false promises of the program!
As for Wood herself, she is an evasive character, much given to personal theatrics and putting the best spin on bad situations. When those situations could not be put in a good light, they were ignored, such as the adopted daughter who was mostly denied once she was no longer required as a nanny. The fact remains that Wood had enough credentials as a para-professional to earn credibility, at a time when remedial reading was an imperative for the masses of new students arriving in the precincts of higher education, and was then able to make contact with the Washington political establishment in such a way as to get positive attention. Wood and her business supporters never looked back from those publicity breakthroughs, and retained some relevance into the 1970s; though the skeptics were always nipping at the heels of the business edifice.
These days digital management of information has largely relegated speed reading to a fad that periodically pops up, and certainly not a "skill" that you have to pay real money to learn, but Biederman sees Wood and her husband as some of the great unrecognized scammers of the 20th century, and precursors of a whole style of business fakery that displays no sign of abating any time soon.
As for Wood herself, she is an evasive character, much given to personal theatrics and putting the best spin on bad situations. When those situations could not be put in a good light, they were ignored, such as the adopted daughter who was mostly denied once she was no longer required as a nanny. The fact remains that Wood had enough credentials as a para-professional to earn credibility, at a time when remedial reading was an imperative for the masses of new students arriving in the precincts of higher education, and was then able to make contact with the Washington political establishment in such a way as to get positive attention. Wood and her business supporters never looked back from those publicity breakthroughs, and retained some relevance into the 1970s; though the skeptics were always nipping at the heels of the business edifice.
These days digital management of information has largely relegated speed reading to a fad that periodically pops up, and certainly not a "skill" that you have to pay real money to learn, but Biederman sees Wood and her husband as some of the great unrecognized scammers of the 20th century, and precursors of a whole style of business fakery that displays no sign of abating any time soon.
February 10, 2020
This would have made a great longform article. As a book, though, it really struggles to keep momentum even for 250 pages. Evelyn Woods is an interesting figure, but she's a bit of a cipher, and we don't really get a look inside her head. Is she a dedicated scammer, or a true believer in speed reading who's willing to discount conflicting evidence because she "knows" it works? Is she fundamentally dishonest, or just a bad mother? We don't know. She seemed to have lived too privately for a really in-depth biography. And because the story can't hang on Woods herself, the minutiae of Reading Dynamics (the company rather than the method) and how it changed hands over the years end up taking up a lot of the narrative, and that just isn't that interesting.
The book isn't bad -- it's competently written, and I think the author did as well as anybody could have stretching the subject matter to book length. There just isn't enough *there* there.
The book isn't bad -- it's competently written, and I think the author did as well as anybody could have stretching the subject matter to book length. There just isn't enough *there* there.
September 16, 2020
This book has some merits as a reconstruction of a now largely defunct business, that of speed-reading. (I say "largely" defunct, because a quick search showed me that there are plenty of youtube videos claiming to teach speed reading, so the idea still has its attractions.) And I was genuinely interested to learn how an ambitious and energetic woman could make her way in the world, even in what I imagine was a not very woman-friendly environment, that of the Mormon community of the 40s and 50s, and eventually the larger American culture.
But I feel that the book is a missed opportunity. The author seems really down on Evelyn Wood, imputing the worst types of motives, calling her a bully etcetera, and making much of the fact that Evelyn Wood allowed the myth that she, or her method, had contributed to John F Kennedy's prodigious ability to absorb written information, to persist. There seems to be an almost personal dislike, and as it seems to me that the Woods never really made much money off their "business empire", I wonder where this came from. It seems nothing Evelyn Wood did could find favor in the author's eyes. For instance, at some point one of her teenage collaborators reveals his homosexuality to her and explains that he was entertaining a one night stand in his hotel room during one of their trips. Evelyn calmly accepts this news and tells him never to change. We're talking early 60s, pre-Stonewall, and so one would think that this was a sign of broadmindedness and acceptance in a middle-aged woman who grew up in the LSD church. Yet the author can't help but throw in a casual remark that Evelyn was thereby condoning a criminal act in a hotel room she had paid for. This is isn't to say that there isn't plenty to dislike in the Woods household, especially their neglect of their adopted daughter, who seems to have been more of an unpaid domestic servant. And at some point the Woods were in charge of a Mormon mission in Germany in 1939, where they seem to have been at best indifferent to the local political situation and the deteriorating circumstances of the Jews.
But where I was disappointed was in the absence of any discussion about reading methods, fast or slow. The Evelyn Wood method was never explained, except to say that it had to do with using the hand as a pacer. We hear of the critiques that established reading experts had written, but we can't make of them because they are discussed nearly exclusively in terms of the Woods' indignant rebuttals. I would have liked to learn more about "reading" vs. "scanning" vs. "searching". The author also hints strongly that the impressive demonstrations of speed-reading that were Evelyn Wood's preferred marketing tool, were somehow tricked. I would have liked to read a more detailed investigation of what the people who participated in those demonstrations actually thought and did.
Towards the end the narrative becomes more like a business book, following the various business transactions that the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics schools went through. I am not a business person, but it seems that this was never much of a business empire, and that the Reading Dynamics franchises were a bit like a hot potato, passed from company to company, with only moderate gains for the Woods.
In short, I started the book because I'm a reader, a reasonably fast reader, and I am intrigued by the idea of speed-reading. My hopes for this book were not realized because it was a bit of a hatchet job.
Oh, and by the way, a goiter is an abnormal growth of the thyroid gland, but it's not malignancy. This is an irritating error that is repeated a couple of times.
But I feel that the book is a missed opportunity. The author seems really down on Evelyn Wood, imputing the worst types of motives, calling her a bully etcetera, and making much of the fact that Evelyn Wood allowed the myth that she, or her method, had contributed to John F Kennedy's prodigious ability to absorb written information, to persist. There seems to be an almost personal dislike, and as it seems to me that the Woods never really made much money off their "business empire", I wonder where this came from. It seems nothing Evelyn Wood did could find favor in the author's eyes. For instance, at some point one of her teenage collaborators reveals his homosexuality to her and explains that he was entertaining a one night stand in his hotel room during one of their trips. Evelyn calmly accepts this news and tells him never to change. We're talking early 60s, pre-Stonewall, and so one would think that this was a sign of broadmindedness and acceptance in a middle-aged woman who grew up in the LSD church. Yet the author can't help but throw in a casual remark that Evelyn was thereby condoning a criminal act in a hotel room she had paid for. This is isn't to say that there isn't plenty to dislike in the Woods household, especially their neglect of their adopted daughter, who seems to have been more of an unpaid domestic servant. And at some point the Woods were in charge of a Mormon mission in Germany in 1939, where they seem to have been at best indifferent to the local political situation and the deteriorating circumstances of the Jews.
But where I was disappointed was in the absence of any discussion about reading methods, fast or slow. The Evelyn Wood method was never explained, except to say that it had to do with using the hand as a pacer. We hear of the critiques that established reading experts had written, but we can't make of them because they are discussed nearly exclusively in terms of the Woods' indignant rebuttals. I would have liked to learn more about "reading" vs. "scanning" vs. "searching". The author also hints strongly that the impressive demonstrations of speed-reading that were Evelyn Wood's preferred marketing tool, were somehow tricked. I would have liked to read a more detailed investigation of what the people who participated in those demonstrations actually thought and did.
Towards the end the narrative becomes more like a business book, following the various business transactions that the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics schools went through. I am not a business person, but it seems that this was never much of a business empire, and that the Reading Dynamics franchises were a bit like a hot potato, passed from company to company, with only moderate gains for the Woods.
In short, I started the book because I'm a reader, a reasonably fast reader, and I am intrigued by the idea of speed-reading. My hopes for this book were not realized because it was a bit of a hatchet job.
Oh, and by the way, a goiter is an abnormal growth of the thyroid gland, but it's not malignancy. This is an irritating error that is repeated a couple of times.
October 9, 2019
Boring and disorganized.
Ironically, there are so many parts of this book I ended up skimming- and others I had to read a few times, because the information was presented in such a disorganized way that I had trouble processing it all. Probably because there was a ton of irrelevant information thrown into the stuff that actually mattered.
Ironically, there are so many parts of this book I ended up skimming- and others I had to read a few times, because the information was presented in such a disorganized way that I had trouble processing it all. Probably because there was a ton of irrelevant information thrown into the stuff that actually mattered.
June 8, 2019
Adequate information about Evelyn Wood, especially the part where she stayed in Europe as part of a missionary endeavor. Reading this book felt like the author was trying to make Evelyn Wood seem more interesting than she already is. A lot of the info seems repetitive.
Thanks to the publisher for access to review copy.
Thanks to the publisher for access to review copy.
December 16, 2019
I could not get into this book. The style of writing was off-putting. Maybe I read thirty pages before I called it quits. Too bad as I was really looking forward to reading it.
May 31, 2021
I remember Evelyn Wood and the concept of speed reading only as a cultural touchpoint. I didn't know anything about her back story or even how the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics system worked. I didn't know that she had such high-profile enthusiasts (including senators and presidents) or how relentlessly she kept her business afloat through the barrage of criticism that eventually swamped her and the ill health that put an end to her glory days.
Of course, we all wish we could speed read, especially when we're in college and tasked with reading mountains of material. So, Evelyn Wood particularly targeted that market. She hired clean-cut young people to demonstrate the method that she said could increase your reading speed up to thousands of words a minute, hiding the fact that it was a Barnum & Bailey sideshow not based in reality. But after exhaustive research, reading experts who examined the program concluded that hers was simply a method of skimming that did not aid, and in fact obliterated, comprehension.
I've read plenty of books about male scammers -- Charles Ponzi, for example -- but this is the first time I've encountered a female scammer, aside from fortune tellers and spiritualists who claim they can communicate with the dead. Hers is a fascinating life -- because of her Mormon faith, she spent time on a mission in Germany as the Nazis rose to power. It's disheartening to hear how her husband and the other leaders of the Mormon church accommodated and excused them.
Evelyn "craved more glory from this world than motherhood and entertaining could offer," Ms. Biederman writes. That craving has been the undoing of many a longing soul. Even as her star dimmed, though, Evelyn suffered no real consequences for her deception. It's satisfying to learn that she didn't get rich from it. The person most hurt by Evelyn was probably Anna, the young girl the Woods adopted and cold-heartedly exploited as a servant. To me, that was the saddest aspect of this account of Evelyn's life. Apparently, her life of scamming started in the home.
Of course, we all wish we could speed read, especially when we're in college and tasked with reading mountains of material. So, Evelyn Wood particularly targeted that market. She hired clean-cut young people to demonstrate the method that she said could increase your reading speed up to thousands of words a minute, hiding the fact that it was a Barnum & Bailey sideshow not based in reality. But after exhaustive research, reading experts who examined the program concluded that hers was simply a method of skimming that did not aid, and in fact obliterated, comprehension.
I've read plenty of books about male scammers -- Charles Ponzi, for example -- but this is the first time I've encountered a female scammer, aside from fortune tellers and spiritualists who claim they can communicate with the dead. Hers is a fascinating life -- because of her Mormon faith, she spent time on a mission in Germany as the Nazis rose to power. It's disheartening to hear how her husband and the other leaders of the Mormon church accommodated and excused them.
Evelyn "craved more glory from this world than motherhood and entertaining could offer," Ms. Biederman writes. That craving has been the undoing of many a longing soul. Even as her star dimmed, though, Evelyn suffered no real consequences for her deception. It's satisfying to learn that she didn't get rich from it. The person most hurt by Evelyn was probably Anna, the young girl the Woods adopted and cold-heartedly exploited as a servant. To me, that was the saddest aspect of this account of Evelyn's life. Apparently, her life of scamming started in the home.
August 18, 2021
A real page turner right from the start. In an era in which most women were locked out of the business world and there was no social media to be hijacked in the service of scams, unassuming little Evelyn Wood achieved international fame by selling a useless service through invented stories shored up by endorsements from young students and government leaders alike. Biederman has a knack for taut writing and an eye for the key points along a story line. We see Wood adopt a daughter as a way to get free labor, adapt her brand to appeal to nazis, and fight off growing real news about her courses with growing fake news and a refusal to participate in valid studies—plenty to chew on for a reader wondering whether Wood was a con artist or an innocent believer in her own product. If only a few things had been different, some of us might be shelling out our money for an Evelyn Wood course still today.
October 21, 2019
I read this book as it wanted to be read, though ironically it's very skimable. Lots of padding, nothing too substantial. It goes pretty hard on Evelyn, about whom I learned the most, like that she was a lousy mother and not homophobic in the sixties, even though it was illegal not to be homophobic in the sixties. There is some vagueish stuff to debunk speed-reading, too, but it focuses mostly on exaggerating in advertising (which is just so un-American).
Fine, don't speed-read. Even the girl on Johnny Carson in that YouTube video could say nothing more damning than "it's only useful on some types of material".
Fine, don't speed-read. Even the girl on Johnny Carson in that YouTube video could say nothing more damning than "it's only useful on some types of material".
December 19, 2019
I thought/hoped the book would use Ms. Wood's story to springboard into a larger discussion of how scammers scam. And why people get scammed.
Instead, it was a fairly straightforward biography. The first few chapters were more interesting, as the author recounted Ms. Wood's time spent in Nazi Germany doing missionary work for the Mormon Church. But most of the later chapters seemed to focus more on the minutia of her business's growth and decline.
Instead, it was a fairly straightforward biography. The first few chapters were more interesting, as the author recounted Ms. Wood's time spent in Nazi Germany doing missionary work for the Mormon Church. But most of the later chapters seemed to focus more on the minutia of her business's growth and decline.
March 17, 2020
Trying to read more biographies but this was a bit of a struggle. If only there was a way to get through it faster...heh. The premise is good but the delivery is a bit dull. Could have been shorter, or taken in a different direction. It was really hard to tell if Evelyn was actually con artist or just buying into her own bull. In fact, it was hard to get a read on much of the people involved. I picked it up hoping for so much more. Read an article on the subject and move on. Not recommended.
March 28, 2020
Having worked at a Britannica Learning Center that was just starting to teach the Evelyn Wood method in the late 1980s, I was interested in reading how this method came into being. I found the book much longer than it needed to be and, ironically, I found myself skimming large parts of it. The author seemed to be trying to make Mrs. Wood more interesting than she was, and there were so many people in the story, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who.
Read
December 6, 2019Read it in 2 minutes...well, maybe scanned -- anyway send me $19.99 and I'll tell you more!
January 5, 2021
Fascinating subject, extremely well-researched.
November 30, 2025
This is at heart a gossip book and though I do not seek out gossip books I was eating this up for a while. The book would like to be about the speed reading era in general (more on that later) but it starts with all the LDS gossip of the era because the social striving Wood family rubbed shoulders with many of the LDS movers and shakers. Resulting in the Wood husband being assigned as a mission president in Nazi Germany leading up to the war, thus the book documenting Nazi complicity and mixed feelings among various LDS leaders there at the time, and then the massaging of recent events (not even yet history!) that was quickly accomplished, with the Woods’ help!, as that complicity quickly became unpopular.
There is also the matter of the Woods’ family slave, told with references from the unfortunate girl’s grandchildren.
Now, about speed reading. The book would like to frame it into the many distasteful adventures of the Woods family, and thus a “scam,” and in their hands in many ways it was a scam. However the book also provides the framing of the time: in post-war America the move from rural work and social structures to urban ones was a dramatic displacement. People who had never expected reading to be a big part of their life, even if they were in politics or business, were faced with the rise of the administrative state and administrative business that required vast amounts of reading. There was little to guide adults on how to read or provide them structured reading practice. Thus, my conclusion (as well as the conclusion that these courses were effective, just not AS effective as they claimed) is these speed reading courses did have a place in that time and were useful, but they were mainly simply lessons on reading for adults. Something that is notably STILL absent in our society despite the continuing need for this kind of instruction. It isn’t even meaningfully part of college, a discussion that has come up continually since that time with various levels of urgency and meaningfulness.
I stopped reading at about the 50% mark. I had picked the book as a “location” book to read while I was visiting Logan, Utah, and I have long moved on and the gossip of the book has become boring.
There is also the matter of the Woods’ family slave, told with references from the unfortunate girl’s grandchildren.
Now, about speed reading. The book would like to frame it into the many distasteful adventures of the Woods family, and thus a “scam,” and in their hands in many ways it was a scam. However the book also provides the framing of the time: in post-war America the move from rural work and social structures to urban ones was a dramatic displacement. People who had never expected reading to be a big part of their life, even if they were in politics or business, were faced with the rise of the administrative state and administrative business that required vast amounts of reading. There was little to guide adults on how to read or provide them structured reading practice. Thus, my conclusion (as well as the conclusion that these courses were effective, just not AS effective as they claimed) is these speed reading courses did have a place in that time and were useful, but they were mainly simply lessons on reading for adults. Something that is notably STILL absent in our society despite the continuing need for this kind of instruction. It isn’t even meaningfully part of college, a discussion that has come up continually since that time with various levels of urgency and meaningfulness.
I stopped reading at about the 50% mark. I had picked the book as a “location” book to read while I was visiting Logan, Utah, and I have long moved on and the gossip of the book has become boring.
January 17, 2022
The book itself is fine. It does tend to drag in places. There is several times that the chapter seems to end on a "gotcha" moment where it seems like a storm is brewing due to some new Evelyn Wood detracter only for the beginning of the next chapter to basically explain that actually it wasn't really that big of a deal and the company kept moving. The book frames itself as a biography of Evelyn, but definitely spends more time on her company. A book just about Evelyn could have condensed several chapters by just explaining "During this time she was a consultant" and just focusing on the drama with the Utah Franchise owned by Evelyn and Doug or wrapping up a few of the detractors and their criticisms (often similar or the same such as the studies that showed comprehension being lower). The author also seems very offended on behalf of JFK that Evelyn used JFK for promotional material. It seemed odd to give it the same outrage space as Doug refusing to help a Jewish person flee Germany while on mission service or the outright parentification and neglect of Anna (which the book never defines as abusive even when critical of Anna's treatment). It's not a bad or offensive book, but it's not great either. You'd have to have a real interest in Evelyn or the topic to get something out of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2025
I know the Evelyn Wood speed reading method. Around 2010, I had to validate it for a study skills curriculum, but couldn’t find any credible research to support it. This book was vindication. Wood was a showwoman with no credentials in reading instruction who sold skimming as science in the 1950s. The biography goes into franchising (maybe too much, hence the low reviews) but it’s a story of charisma and commercialism that made it all the way to the White House and The Tonight Show. If anything, speed reading proves Americans love their hacks.
“Her reading theories weren’t the stuff of scintillating conversation. People could stand just so much talk about fixations, regressions, and subvocalizations—the jargon of the field. Reading rates, expressed in wpm (words per minute), left some people cold…. Reading Dynamics had to be seen in action. It needed the drama that only demonstrations could provide.”
“If two million people had taken the course, as the obituaries claimed, then hundreds of millions of dollars had been wasted. Even Evelyn’s harshest critics conceded that the course taught a skimming technique that could be useful to some, but it came wrongly labeled and at an exorbitant price.”
“She proudly remained the company’s symbol and spokeswoman, unapologetic for the wild claims she’d made for her method, even as the consumer movement forced a retreat from them.”
“Her reading theories weren’t the stuff of scintillating conversation. People could stand just so much talk about fixations, regressions, and subvocalizations—the jargon of the field. Reading rates, expressed in wpm (words per minute), left some people cold…. Reading Dynamics had to be seen in action. It needed the drama that only demonstrations could provide.”
“If two million people had taken the course, as the obituaries claimed, then hundreds of millions of dollars had been wasted. Even Evelyn’s harshest critics conceded that the course taught a skimming technique that could be useful to some, but it came wrongly labeled and at an exorbitant price.”
“She proudly remained the company’s symbol and spokeswoman, unapologetic for the wild claims she’d made for her method, even as the consumer movement forced a retreat from them.”
September 30, 2022
These days books are my favorite form of entertainment! So to read about them getting slagged…jus ain’t right!
I took the EW course in 1990 and it really helped with my reading, comprehension and study skills. At the time I was failing college.
Im not sure the program was a scam. I wish the author had gone into and discuss other scams. There’s everyday products that are oversold and underperform, so many we don’t notice, but that doesn’t mean scam. I suppose they’ll always people who buy exercise equipment then never use it and fail to get in shape.
I’m new to reading, started in 2013 and the worst part of the hobby is that one book leads to 5 others. Or more, if don’t correctly. It becomes an impossible task to get to it ask.
These days I listen mostly to audiobooks, sped up a bit of course. 🙂But I still like to zip thru conventional and digital books, when I can…at no more than 2-3x normal rate. It really makes the whole reading experience more rewarding, and the fact is most authors fail to produce “paragraphic ballet”, so there’s little word play to be savored.
It’s sad that while there’s more to learn and read than ever these days and more books to sell, buyers and sellers encourage, even embrace “slow reading”.
I took the EW course in 1990 and it really helped with my reading, comprehension and study skills. At the time I was failing college.
Im not sure the program was a scam. I wish the author had gone into and discuss other scams. There’s everyday products that are oversold and underperform, so many we don’t notice, but that doesn’t mean scam. I suppose they’ll always people who buy exercise equipment then never use it and fail to get in shape.
I’m new to reading, started in 2013 and the worst part of the hobby is that one book leads to 5 others. Or more, if don’t correctly. It becomes an impossible task to get to it ask.
These days I listen mostly to audiobooks, sped up a bit of course. 🙂But I still like to zip thru conventional and digital books, when I can…at no more than 2-3x normal rate. It really makes the whole reading experience more rewarding, and the fact is most authors fail to produce “paragraphic ballet”, so there’s little word play to be savored.
It’s sad that while there’s more to learn and read than ever these days and more books to sell, buyers and sellers encourage, even embrace “slow reading”.
October 26, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Scan Artist by Maria Biederman. Scan Artist tells the story of Evelyn Wood and her speed reading course. Wood captured the country’s attention by successfully promoting a speed reading method that didn’t work. Wood mastered branding well-before it became a part of our common parlance. I love history and was thrilled to have had the opportunity to read about an important person from the past, especially a woman, whose story was never told.
Biederman’s book is well-researched, insightful, and compelling. The author documents Wood’s influence in Utah, pre-war Nazi Germany, Congress, the White House, corporations, the military and throughout mid-century America. She has a talent for finding these gems, reseraching their lives, and telling their story. I’m looking forward to reading her new book, Dr. Elizabeth Hays and Her War for Public Health.
Biederman’s book is well-researched, insightful, and compelling. The author documents Wood’s influence in Utah, pre-war Nazi Germany, Congress, the White House, corporations, the military and throughout mid-century America. She has a talent for finding these gems, reseraching their lives, and telling their story. I’m looking forward to reading her new book, Dr. Elizabeth Hays and Her War for Public Health.
October 6, 2019
I grew up reading ads for Evelyn Wood speed reading courses. I always wanted to go to one. I loved reading then as much as I do now. Who wouldn't want to be able to read even more books?
It turns out that speed reading is a myth. What Wood essentially taught was skimming, though she rejected that word. The author reveals that Wood (aided by her husband) knew how to create -- and defend -- a brand. Ignoring critics as "unbelievers" she was able to float for years on the idea that JFK had actually invited her to the White House to teach her methods.
Excellent book and a great job by the writer.
It turns out that speed reading is a myth. What Wood essentially taught was skimming, though she rejected that word. The author reveals that Wood (aided by her husband) knew how to create -- and defend -- a brand. Ignoring critics as "unbelievers" she was able to float for years on the idea that JFK had actually invited her to the White House to teach her methods.
Excellent book and a great job by the writer.
November 4, 2020
The writing could've been better, but I did find it fascinating to read. I appreciate the history and context but it could've gone even further in its social analysis. It would be interesting to see a larger section on the implications of schemes such as this, as they continue to proliferate in much the same way and Utah is an historic and current hotspot for this sort of thing. These ideas were briefly mentioned but the text could've been expanded. Straightforward biography with a touch of history and social theory.
March 16, 2020
Maybe closer to 2.5/2.75 but I still liked it. The author pulls no punches in depicting Wood's flaws, but while she does show several positive sides of Evelyn Wood, and correctly questions Evelyn Wood's motivations throughout her life, especially during her time in Nazi Germany, it ultimately paints an incomplete picture.
December 31, 2020
This book could serve as evidence for the power of American Capitalism. The product didn't work. The stories used to sell it weren't true. The founders had little business-sense. And yet the product was profitably sold for half a century and only died out because the world passed it by. That is remarkable.
November 2, 2019
This book was very well researched and very easy to read. What bothered me, however, is the author’s strong bias against Woods is very clear. Certainly Woods overhyped herself and her reading method, but she surely had some redeeming features that could’ve been mentioned.
December 2, 2019
I thought it would be just about the scam that is speed reading, but there is a lot of social commentary as well.
December 8, 2019
A little light, perhaps, for a book— I might prefer to see a piece of longform journalism on the subject— but I love a scam story.
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