{"product_id":"scan-artist-how-evelyn-wood-convinced-the-world-that-speed-reading-worked-9781641601627","title":"Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked","description":"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. \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e magazine reported Woods grads could polish off \u003ci\u003eDr. Zhivago\u003c\/i\u003e in one hour; a senator swore that Wood's method had boosted his reading speed to more than ten thousand words per minute. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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 half a 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Chicago Review Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/03\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781641601627\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2019 pg. 84\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Marcia Biederman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43067717746869,"sku":"9781641601627","price":22.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_6b11d80c-868a-4177-862d-2d3e561279b0.jpg?v=1690863873","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/scan-artist-how-evelyn-wood-convinced-the-world-that-speed-reading-worked-9781641601627","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}