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_posts/19216101-in-newest-speed-reading-scam-popular-in-china-no-need-to-look-at-the-p
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