How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens

The media could not be loaded. “The treasure at the end of this rainbow is not necessarily ‘brilliance.’ Brilliance is a fine aspiration, and Godspeed to those who have the genes, drive, luck, and connections to win that lottery. But shooting for a goal so vague puts a person at risk of worshipping an ideal—and missing the target. No, this book is about something that is, at once, more humble and more grand: How to integrate the exotica of new subjects into daily life, in a way that makes them seep under our skin. How to make learning more a part of living and less an isolated chore. We will mine the latest science to unearth the tools necessary to pull this off, and to do so without feeling buried or oppressed. And we will show that some of what we’ve been taught to think of as our worst enemies—laziness, ignorance, distraction— can also work in our favor.”~ Benedict Carey from How We LearnBenedict Carey is a science writer for The New York Times.This book is his exploration of what the latest research says about, you guessed it, How We Learn.I read it as part of my preparation for Learning 101. Check out our Notes on Make It Stick (written by a story teller + two leading cognitive scientists focused on the science of learning) and A Mind for Numbers (written by a math teacher who taught one of the most popular classes in history) for more learning goodness.I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas:1. Distributed Learning - Think: Watering your lawn.2. Enemy #1 for Learning - =Fluency illusion.3. Can You Teach It? - Powerful way to learn.4. Mix It Up - To strengthen the learning.5. Sleep + Naps - = Learning with your eyes closed.Here’s to optimizing how we learn as we actualize our potential!More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our ​*OPTIMIZE*​ membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.

Having been a teacher in one way or another for over 40 years, I am still teaching and still learning. I must say that the information in this book has made a change in the way I am teaching. Intuitively, I have known for years from the way I learn that review is important, but I never realized how important. I am now building into my teaching 1 or 2 sections of review in each teaching session. It was a great glimpse into the brain and how it operates. Mr. Carey has authored a very readable book with valuable concepts backed up by credible experiments and studies.

Not necessarily a book for the casual reader, but this book is a wonderful tome of information on the latest research and findings in learning theory and cognitive psychology. In concert with Scott Barry Kaufman's book, "Ungifted," students of teaching and learning will have a great foundation of knowledge to improve their practice. This is the easier of the two books to read, in my opinion. So I would start with this book. But I think a good companion book would be the aforementioned "Ungifted." This is the kind of book educators and all those who claim to care about education (re: Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, Jeb Bush, Arne Duncan, et al.) should be reading and using as a basis of their reform agenda. Would they, we would not be talking about standardized testing, Teach For America, and Common Core State Standards and curricula. Rather, we would be talking about meaningful teacher preparation and ongoing professional training. We would be improving schools from within the profession (ignoring all the pretend experts who propose big, expensive, one size fits all solutions) with teacher experts sharing their insights, knowledge and new paradigms for teaching and learning. Hopefully this book will be required reading in teacher preparation classes, and in schools that are searching for research-based ideas for how to improve learning in classrooms. Well done, Mr. Carey. Hopefully a much needed revolution is on the way, and you are part of the reason.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. The book has a very pleasant to read style, and there is absolutely no filler material. The book was interesting from the first to the last page. The writer discusses several topics related to learning performance, by guiding you through the research done on these topics. Starting from 1900, the advances in learning science are discussed, including a lot of the difficulties scientist had with their reasearch.Other books I've read regarding learning cover mostly general information, and with a little common sense you would have reached the same conclusions. This book disputes some of these 'known methods', and actually provides the research instead of making empty claims. But the writer also has a good feeling for the limitations of the research, and doens't draw incorrect conclusions from it.All in all I think this is a great book if you are interested in the way we learn. This books isn't about the quick tips your teacher gave you in high school, but gives you a deeper understanding about the mechanism behind learning, which will ultimately, in my opinion, be of much greater value.

Otimo

A rich, contemporary, reasonably short, and 'non-academic' ride into the learning process. Proof that your grades do not determine your success--yes, grades matter! This book embraces modern research and offers some counter-intuitive guidance to help educators to exercise greater command over the increasingly fluid and complex learning environments they must face.

ho preferito comprare il libro in lingua inglese perchè spesso con la traduzione molti concetti tendono a perdersi, il libro è ben fatto, ci sono molti esempi di apprendimento, di conseguenza da molti spunti, forse per chi ha letto già tanti libri du questo tipo di argomento può risultare ripetitivo, ma se comprato a poco prezzo può risultare comunque una buona lettura. Lo consiglio.

Great book, well written ( with the exception of "beg the question"- please! It's " raise the question") and packed with thought-provoking ideas backed up by accounts of facinating studies. I've been using some of the ideas presented here both as a teacher and student and I have to say Mr. Carey is on to something. In a nutshell, buy this book if you're at all interested in learning how to learn.

I found this book extremely interesting, not just because of the science the author summarizes for us, but also for the practical advice it provides the reader with. I could relate to a lot of what the author said about how what we are taught about learning is wrong. I've been applying his suggestions when studying Russian, and when reading all kinds of material in general, and this knowledge is making a huge difference in the way I assimilate new content. I highly recommend it to anyone who feels they aren't good at learning, and want to improve.