Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

 
 

More often than not, I have discovered that a book finds its reader as opposed to vise versa. Make it Stick certainly falls into that category. Learning is a life long endeavor and whether you are on the path to a GED, a PhD, or an apprenticeship, learning is something no one can escape. Perhaps, the way many of us have been taught to go about learning is wrong. If not wrong then perhaps less effective and thus consuming of our precious time. Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel did not generate a self-help book, rather a perspective and challenge to the way traditional learning takes place.

Too often the the end of the semester final, the midterm exam or the annual check ride rides shotgun on our daily learning journey. As a passenger the test before you brings with it anxiety, stress, apprehension and the consumption of time. At the end of the experience, many have passed with varying degrees of success and some have failed, regardless of the time put into preparation. Are these topics so difficult that only a chosen few can excel or are we simply preparing ourselves wrong. Moreover, in six months or a years time, how many can remember the content for which they studied do diligently? If time was spent and the knowledge that important, where did it all go? These topics and more are discussed in this simple yet profound text.

Whether you are preparing for the MCATs, studying for the BAR, preparing for an aviation maintenance certification of just wanting to learn a new language, how we study and how we learn are vital to prolonged success.

Leaders: Myth and Reality

 
 

Stanley McCrystal, Jeff Eggers and Jason Mangone, put together an interesting reimagination of Plutarch’s historical text Lives. In Leaders: Myth and Reality, the authors explore the lives of thirteen leaders, comparing and contrasting their exact deeds versus how we in society have interpreted those deeds and in some cases have transformed an individuals exact actions into the statue or legend we see and speak about today.

This book will give you pause, enforcing the importance of attaining greater perspective regarding people and events. Today we let soundbites rule the airwaves and thus end up regurgitating those same phrases without thought or digestion. Perhaps it is time to break from the mold, begin to read, think, speak and write for ourselves and in support of our own beliefs.

Such a text will cause one to take stock of their own leadership processes. Something that we all should do as often as possible. Good luck and happy internalization!

Animal Farm

 
 

George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a perceived staple of middle school to high school education somehow never crossed my path until recently. A book many recall reading at some point in their adolescence and a title and author who still remains a talking point well into adulthood is worth everyones relook. If you have not at down with this short story in the past decade, I challenge you to crack it open once again. The social and political division that permeates Orwell’s text seems to still carry legitimacy today. The personal desire to throw off the shackles of perceived injustice with little foresight into what shackles may await you on the other side remains a significant quagmire. Change for change sake, leadership with 100% authority, rules that continue to evolve for the betterment of only a few, all topics that we today continue to struggle with. Whether you want to get behind an authors interpretation of talking animals or simply dig into the subtext of equality and social structure, Animal Farm is ready for you.

Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom

 
 

This book came out of left field. While I know of the author Tom Ricks, I had no incling of this book or the interesting indirect connections that existed between the statesman and the author. This book provides an interesting story when viewed from the lens of today. These men never met and were political opposites and yet their work, while not directly supporting of the other both drove the British Nation forward in a time of crisis. Moreover, each man was nothing other than polite when discussion the other. There were no party lines that isolated or affiliations that prevented the passage of knowledge or understanding.

Here we see two biographies, one from the left and the other from the right and somehow they both were striving for the same goal. I was surprised by the context provided in this short dual biography, Churchill and Orwell. A wonderful summer read as we ever so recently passed the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

Educated: A Memoir

 
 

Tara Westover’s memoir Educated is a unique and thought provoking journey. I noticed this book listed as one of Bill Gates and President Barack Obama’s must reads of 2018. Additionally, as the cover annotates, this book is also a New York Times bestseller. But what drew me to this text were not the names of those who had read the book, rather the story of the author.

Born into a fundamental Mormon family, Tara describes her exposure to the world through all the excitement , pain, love and trauma that she endured. More impotently though, this memoir allows you to walk Tara’s path as she struggles between learning and educating herself and the beliefs and commitments of her family. When we talk of mental strength and personal courage Tara Westover comes to mind.

For anyone who has challenged a belief, be it their own, a friends or family members, this memoir brings that raw emotion of unknowing, the confusion of trying to decided what version of the “truth” is most correct and when you are the most alone, the amount of commitment and faith it takes to continue forging ahead.

After reading this story, you will feel Educated.