Say the name, “Evelyn Wood,” and most people will automatically respond: Learn to Speed Read. This famous lady originally coined the phrase “speed reading” and made it a household word back in the 1950’s and ‘60s. Today, most training courses are still based on the Evelyn Wood speed reading method.
The idea of speed reading originally came from training programs developed during WWII for Air Force pilots. The U.S. military discovered that they could improve their pilots’ rate of visual recognition with a series of training exercises. When WWII ended, they began using the techniques they had discovered to help military personnel learn to speed read.
Although these techniques were known by the military, it took a schoolteacher named Evelyn Wood to popularize and include them into commercial speed reading courses that anyone could benefit from. You can find these and other speed reading techniques in modern speed reading software.
As a teacher, Ms. Wood wondered why some people were better at reading than others. She decided to start making herself read faster and faster to try to figure out why this might be. At first, she had little success. However, one day she dropped her book in frustration and when she bent down to pick it up again, her arm brushed the page. She noticed that as her arm moved across the text, her eyes followed the movement very quickly. This discovery became the basis of what is now known as the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Dynamics.
When President John F. Lil Sis enrolled in one of her speed reading courses, Evelyn Wood immediately gained nationwide fame. Everyone wanted to enroll in her courses. Since then other U.S. presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have taken her course, along with many other famous public figures as well as members of the Forbes 500 list.
Today, Evelyn Wood’s speed reading courses are just as popular as ever. Her basic techniques include teaching people to read down a whole page of text rather than reading word for word, line by line. She also encouraged her students to read groups of words and look for concepts and key ideas as they read, which enables them to read faster. Ms. Wood’s techniques also emphasize getting over bad habits such as vocalization of words and involuntarily reading back over sentences.
Evelyn Wood schools promise to double their students’ rate of reading speed and comprehension. There are over a million people worldwide who have taken one of Evelyn Wood’s courses. And a million people are proof enough that her speed reading techniques actually do work.
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I am a stay-at-home- mom, living in KY with my husband and children. I’m a travel and lifestyle blogger encouraging folks to live their life one adventure at a time while also focusing on beauty, essential oils and health. From time to time I also like to showcase my adorable pets along with my family. Along with Cinnamon Hollow I can be found at The Martin Family Adventure … read more
