Track My Order
Help Centre
1300 187 187
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Scan Artist : How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked - Marcia Biederman

Scan Artist

How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked

Author: Marcia Biederman

Read by: Marguerite Gavin

At a Glance

Published: 3rd December 2019

Audio CD

$54.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $13.69 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

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 a collaboration 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. A royal-born Wood grad said she'd polished off Moby Dick in three hours; a senator swore he finished one book per lunchtime. Fudging test results and squelching critics, Wood's popularity endured even as science proved that her system taught only skimming, with disastrous effects on comprehension. As apps and online courses attempt to spark a speed-reading revival, this engaging look at Wood's rise from missionary to marketer exposes the pitfalls of wishful thinking.

You Can Find This Audio CD In

Non-FictionBiographies & True Stories BiographiesLanguage & LinguisticsLinguistics

More in Biographies

This product is categorised by