Daniel T. Willingham

Willingham has written a well-organized book that can help all of us to become better learners by embracing practical strategies for fine-tuning our mental mindsets.

In all candor, this is not a fun-filled reading experience. It doesn’t serve up many vivid anecdotes or touches of humor. That’s not its intention. It offers dozens of tips (94, but who’s counting?) for students, educators and others who are eager to improve their mental acuity.

Speaking of students, some reviewers have accurately described the book as “very school focused.” As someone who has taught college communications classes on a part-time basis for nearly 4 decades, this emphasis was fine. But I believe the author could have broadened the overall appeal of the book by including more anecdotes and examples that involved workplace and lifestyle scenarios. Much of the content focuses on tips for understanding lectures, taking more helpful notes and taking tests. There is also some excellent advice for educators about preparing questions that make tests fair and effective.

Some content involves embarrassingly obvious stuff. Cramming for tests isn’t smart in most cases. Never write things in your notes that you don’t completely understand. You get the idea. But the book also includes dozens of fascinating insights. As someone who warns students about the dangers of procrastination, I was intrigued by the author’s approach to this common problem. He explores “the planning fallacy” that recognizes how people tend to underestimate the amount of time a task will take to complete. Think about your least favorite construction project. Willingham serves up tips for pummeling procrastination, including using to-do lists as visual incentives for logging incremental progress and training your brain to think of work tasks as less disagreeable, and the “fun” tasks less enjoyable.

Granted, many of the tips aren’t rocket science, and have been covered in other self- help books (example: set smaller, attainable goals to make intimidating tasks seem more manageable ones.) But I really liked his “Just start” strategy: Simply tell yourself “I will work five minutes, and if it’s miserable, I will stop.” You might be surprised how often you will not stop.

The book also includes some excellent tips for grappling with anxiety, a problem the author has encountered. One tip involves recognizing thought patterns that can make anxiety worse. Reinterpret what your body is feeling. Train your brain to not talk about yourself as being stressed out, but instead as being excited (“Your body is telling you it’s ready for adventure!”)

Could the content have been pruned to include only the 40 or 50 most insightful relearning strategies? Probably. Nevertheless, it’s a helpful primer who anyone who is eager to fine-tune learning skills.… (mehr)

If it is true, as Jerome L. Rekart asserts at the end (p. 13) of the first chapter of his book, The Cognitive Classroom (New York: Roman & Littlefield, 2013) that "Educators are applied cognitive scientists," then I can think of no better place to seek theory to apply in practice than the books of Daniel Willingham.

This one is no exception: it is concise, highly readable, and contains a plethora of useful information for the instructor at any level. Dr. Willingham has a way of summarizing research that does not attenuate or trivialize it, but rather makes it accessible--and more importantly, usable--for even a dolt like myself. Very highly recommended.… (mehr)