Evelyn Wood

Speed reading inventor

Evelyn Nielsen Wood (January 8, 1909 – August 26, 1995) was an American educator and businessperson, widely known for popularizing speed reading, although she preferred the phrase "dynamic reading".

She created and marketed a system said to increase a reader's speed (over the average reading rate of 250 to 300 words a minute)by a factor of three to ten times or more, while preserving and even improving comprehension.

The system was taught in rented offices dubbed "institutes" as Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics, a business Wood co-founded with her husband, Doug Wood.

It eventually had 150 outlets in the US, 30 in Canada, and others worldwide.