My book Scan Artist is featured in the latest edition of Failure Magazine, an online publication dedicated to exploring “humankind’s boldest missteps.” Evelyn Wood’s fraudulent speed-reading method certainly falls into this category, Be sure to check out my Q&A with Failure Mag’s Jason Zasky about the people who propelled Wood to international fame, as well as the debunkers who stalked her from the start but were unable to gain traction.
We also discussed why Americans of the era, including notable political figures, so desperately wanted to believe that Wood could teach anyone to read 2,000 words per minute without losing one iota of comprehension. We also talked about the psychological insecurities of those times, on which the Wood system preyed.
I’m glad to be in good company in Failure, which regularly reviews books and writes features about noble failures as well as scams in sports, business, government, and history. You might also enjoy the review of a memoir, Sounds Like Titanic, by “fake violinist” Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman about a concert tour in which barely-qualified musicians performed with microphones off while music recorded by professionals played — the instrumental equivalent of lip-syncing. It was a low-cost promotional gimmick cooked up by a composer, whom, probably for legal reasons, Hindman declines to name.
In my own bit of self-promotion, allow me to note that the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics, unlike many other scams, became part of the fabric of American life for two decades — facilitated by the uncritical adulation of nearly all major US media outlets, and endorsed by senators and presidents.
