I was honored to be a featured speaker at a recent Zoom meeting of the German Society for Speed-Reading. The group’s chair, Peter Rösler, knows my book, Scan Artist, and was well aware that I don’t believe that speed-reading is possible without a sharp drop in comprehension. Nevertheless, he felt that his group and I share enough common interests to have a productive discussion. As it turned out, we did.
The group was particularly interested in hearing about my two trips to view the Evelyn Nielsen Wood Papers at the Utah Historical Society in Salt Lake City, where Wood spent most of her life. I described the many boxes of personal and business documents that are archived there. I was particularly gratified that one member of the society—a woman—had been interested in my account of Evelyn’s life. Whatever you think about speed-reading, the biographical portion of my book is the story of a woman who overcame gender barriers to make a huge impact on popular culture and business history.
The German society includes members from other European countries, including Poland. They were surprised to learn that speed-reading had become such a craze in the US. Asked about this, I discussed the “influencer” factor. Unpaid and (sometimes) unsolicited endorsements from prominent politicians and celebrities were tremendously important in promoting the Evelyn Wood method.
Above all, though, Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Inc. exploited the insecurities of the moment. Economic prosperity and the explosion of white-collar job were sending legions of first-generation (mostly white) students to college, where they felt unprepared for the reading load. At the same time, the Cold War was on, and a slew of articles appeared with titles like, “Why Johnny Can’t Read, and Ivan Can.”
I thank the German Society for Speed-Reading for their broadmindedness in inviting me. As I told them, I doubt that an equivalent American society would do the same.
And we’re still exchanging research materials!