Benedict CareyRezensionen

Good overview of results in the world of psychology and neuroscience that make sense of what factors are important in learning. The author maps these back into potential practical application to your own learning with good success.

The book is written to be very accessible and at times this is annoying for a reader with prior knowledge in this field.

Книга, впервые вышедшая в США в 2014 году, выдержала уже четыре издания. Бен Кери, научный журналист The New York Times, объясняет, как эффективнее запоминать информацию. Многие рекомендации ошеломляют парадоксальностью. Например, для освоения нового материала вовсе не обязательна тишина. Лучше, когда вокруг что-то происходит (фоновая музыка, гул кафе) — мозгу будет на что опереться, вспоминая. Запоминание лучше производить интервалами. Оптимальный график заучивания: первый повтор спустя день-два, затем неделю, потом через месяц. Хорошая новость для любителей отвлекаться от дела: вы почти на верном пути. Закончить начатое, скорее всего, будет легче, ведь даже во время перерыва мозг продолжает подбирать ключи к проблеме. И наконец, тренировка извлечения из памяти лучше многократного повторения, а неверное угадывание увеличивает запоминание. Тем более что приложения-карточки вроде Anki для смартфонов бесплатны.

Watched review by Activate Learning -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZsYjUuUpHE
There is also a lengthy review by Ethan Schwandt -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js9JWLlRgfw&list=WL&index=7&t=191s
For now, I will skip this review since he mixes the book's ideas with his own learning processes. I might watch it after reading the book.

This book was interesting. I learned several things that I will be able to use in the future. It seemed rather repetitious in some places, with subtle changes in the studies and conditions but it does seem rather conclusive that the way students are taught could be more efficient. Perhaps our teachers should read this book...

We read this one as a group at Pluralsight. The different approaches to having content connect with people were very interesting. Some of the ideas that I really want to explore more include:

Pre-testing as a way to introduce people to a subject. Multi-subject teachings rather than single subject teaching. Giving time to forget and relearn to help drive a topic in. Give people deliberate interruptions when learning. Helping people teach each other as a way to learn.

An interesting mix of experiments focused on different parts of learning together with personal experiences to illuminate how learning works - and how it is different from perceived knowledge. One nice thing is the historical breadth of the experiments, not only showing older obscure research but also highlighting how recent many of the new understandings around learning are: chunking, interleaving, necessity of sleep, state of mind. Wondering how this kind of understanding can explain how some people are thinking radically different about the world.

"We all 'know' we need to be organized, to develop good, consistent study routines, to find a quiet place and avoid distractions, to focus on one skill at a time, and above all to concentrate on our work. What's to question about that?
A lot, as it turns out." (215)

Varying the setting in which you study, as long as you don't study in silent conditions, can improve your recall. Context cues are important. Distributed (or "spaced") practice is more powerful than longer and fewer periods of studying, with a longer period between sessions if the test is farther away. And forgetting something helps you learn it better the next time.

We do badly on tests because of the "fluency illusion," which is the belief that because we understand something now, we don't need to study it later. The best way to deal with the "fluency illusion" is to test right away. In fact, after preliminary memorization, a good two-thirds of your study time should be spent testing yourself. In fact, pretesting (taking a test before you learn anything) (as long as you get immediate feedback) has been shown to improve your later learning of the subject, even if you got everything wrong. And teaching the subject to someone else also helps.

Problem solving follows a different path from factual learning. The stages of problem solving include preparation (learning and studying the problem), incubation (walking away from it when you're stuck), illumination, and verification.

In fact, interrupting a job before it is finished tends to push it to the forefront of the mind and allows for percolation. The ideal pattern is interruption-percolation-reflection.

We believe in isolated practice, but varied practice (different circumstances, variations of the same problem) is more effective for both motor and verbal learning. Interleaving is also effective - "mixing related but distinct material during study" (163) It helps students decide on the appropriate kind of solution.

Sleep consolidates learning - REM improves pattern recognition, percolation, and interpreting emotionally charged memories; Stage 2 sleep improves motor learning; and Stage 3 & 4 improve retention and declarative memory.

In other words, in order to learn effectively, you need to include distraction in your environment and in your routines, you need to study less at any one time, you should take tests before and during the learning process, and you should start projects immediately instead of clearing the decks but interrupt them just when you get interested. You need to sleep on things, mix things up, and deliberately confuse yourself.

Or so Carey says. It's an enjoyable read, both as an overview of learning theory and as a set of things for teachers and learners to consider.

Good overview of ideas that ares explored in more depth in other books.

Science writer Benedict Carey draws upon cognitive psychology to challenge traditional learning strategies, to recommend evidence-based alternatives and reinforce others. The book is divided into four parts detailing theories of memory and learning, learning retention, problem-solving strategies, and the benefits of insightful learning and sleep. I would recommend this book to any teacher or professor recommending strategies for students or parent homeschooling their children.

Actually really enjoyed this book. Nothing really ground-breaking, but a good summary of what the literature has to say today.

This book will help you to learn Spanish - or the Spanish guitar - faster. This book will give an athlete the edge to turn Silver into Gold. This book will give any child the chance to perform better in exams. Full stop. How We Learn is a landmark book that shakes up everything we thought we knew about how the brain absorbs and retains information. Filled with powerful - and often thrillingly counter-intuitive - wisdom, stories and practical tips, it gets to the very heart of the learning process; and gives us the keys to reach our very fullest potential in every walk of life. 'This book is a revelation. I feel as if I've owned a brain for 54 years and only now discovered the operating manual . . . Benedict Carey serves up fascinating, surprising and valuable discoveries with clarity, wit, and heart.' Mary Roach, bestselling author of Stiff 'Whether you struggle to remember a client's name, aspire to learn a new language, or are a student battling to prepare for the next test, this book is a must. I know of no other source that pulls together so much of what we know about the science of memory, and couples it with practical, practicable advice.' Daniel T. Willingham, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia 'Buy this book for yourself and for anyone who wants to learn faster and better.' Daniel Coyle, bestselling author of The Talent Code 'As fun to read as it is important, and as much about how to live as it is about how to learn. Benedict Carey's skills as a writer, plus his willingness to mine his own history as a student, give the book a wonderful narrative quality that makes it all the more accessible - and all the more effective as a tutorial.' Robert A. Bjork, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California

In this book, Benedict Carey (no relation, as far as I know) takes a look at our surprisingly haphazard and incomplete understanding of how we learn.

We think we know how to learn. Be organized, be disciplined, focus, concentrate, keep plugging away. Do your reading and studying for academic subjects, and practice, practice, practice for physical skills, be it playing basketball or playing piano.

Yet we all know people who barely seem to study at all, who hardly seem organized about it, yet who ace their courses, or pick up new skills, apparently without breaking a sweat. What's going on?

Our brains are a good deal more complex and interesting than we usually assume, and didn't evolve to learn in organized, concentrated big chunks of time devoted to a single subject or skill. Carey, starting in part with his own stressful experience in high school with mediocre results, compared to his greater success with tougher subjects when he did what seemed like goofing off in college, explores our still-incomplete understanding of the science of how we learn. His interest isn't abstract; he wants to know what we can do to make learning easier, faster, more effective--and more fun.

Carey takes us through the often slow and frequently misdirected progress in learning how our brains learn, interleaving practical suggestions for applying this growing understanding to help us absorb new knowledge faster, more permanently, more accessibly, and with less stress.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

Ruby Rose's father is going to jail. That is if she doesn't solve the mystery of Dr. Ramachandran's death, a forensic scientist who works at the DeWitt Lab. Her father is a janitor there and with him being the one giving him tea that day plus the vials found in his locker he is the prime suspect. Ruby knows her father didn't do it... well mostly didn't think he did it.

Rose moved about a year ago but still hasn't settled in. She still thinks of Lillian often, her best friend, and is sad that she hasn't called at her anymore. She goes to the DeWitt school. There the "little gods" are treated superior to the regular kids. You can get demoted there if you have anger issues, hack online databases... you know things like that. She has one friend there: Rex who actually looks like a T-Rex. Small arms, big head, wickedly evil smile. So there in it together throughout. Some other characters get added to the mix later. Mrs. Whitmore a.k.a. the Window Lady. She never leaves her house and she just happens to be a forensic scientist so she knows a little bit about poison. The three of them will help solve the case and save Ruby's dad.

There are a couple of suspects. Roman the day janitor who's angry in a quiet way and Dean Touhy or Dean Tubby like everybody calls him who's job depends on Ramachandran. There are four grad students too: Lydia who is a mess and was the one who was supposed to bring tea to Ramachandran, Victor who wants to take over the Lab, Grace who maybe has a drug problem, and Wade who despised Ramachandran's rules. Who's the killer?

I felt it was rushed in the beginning. Instantly she was trying to solve the case. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get to know Ruby but as soon as Mrs. Whitmore came in the scene I felt better. Her perspective of the kids helped me get into the story more. Then I grew fond of Ruby and Rex. Ruby who took charge when her father needed her and Rex her loyal companion who even went to the Davenport Towers with her as well as Mrs. Whitmore who was supposed to have a glass eye that could fall out in any moment. It was actually a very good mystery. I didn't really know what to expect going into it so it was interesting to see how it all unfolded. It was pretty good. I did like it. It just didn't blow me out of the water. I actually expected it to be sillier but it was actually very intricate. It was all in all a good kid's mystery that made you wonder.

http://shesgotbooksonhermind.blogspot.com/

The book's promise is to help the reader understand how the mind learns, and share some practical tools and techniques, so that whether you are a student getting ready for the semester finals, or an adult trying to acquire a new skill, be it a physical or intellectual one, you can do it in a better way without beating yourself to death with not-very-efficient repetition and practice sessions.

It achieves its goals: simple yet effective techniques that are the results of memory and learning research of the past hundred years are described in a very concrete manner. They are also contrasted with traditional approaches, often sprinkled with personal stories of the author during his school days. Any university or high school student can empathize with at least one of those personal stories, and this helps the book to have a strong connection with the reader.

Its weakest parts are related to the very superficial introduction of brain structures, as well as lack of the detailed accounts of brain chemistry that jumps into action, but including that part of the memory and learning research would probably make the book at least three times longer.

Its strongest part, on the other hand, is short and simple learning and memory experiments that you can try out yourself very easily. This way, you can test some of the techniques presented, not only on yourself but maybe with some of your friends and family, collecting a few personal data points that might reveal surprising results.

Moreover, the Perceptual Learning Modules (PLMs) and their applications to very different areas such as pilot training and learning how to distinguish art styles were striking examples of research that I've read about for the first time.

The most important findings of the cognitive psychology presented in this book is also probably of interest to teachers, as well as parents. Even though learning has many dimensions, and the book neglects critical ones such as motivation, emotional states, and many others, the simple learning techniques backed by scientific research will be an important addition to your toolbox if you, as a parent or teach, can really introduce them to your students and children.

Memory and learning are two of the most beautiful aspects of the human mind, and this book, without claiming unrealistically good results, shows how you can do a little better without making radical and difficult changes to your daily routine. "Work smarter, not harder" is a cliché we learned to sneer at (and rightfully so), but there's no harm in saying that this book manages to provide an answer to what it really means to work or study "smarter".½

In the town of Adjacent, when people start disappearing, seventh graders Di and Tom are determined to figure out what’s happening. When they discover that their math tutor has left mathematical clues, it is a matter of time before they unravel intrigue and conspiracy surrounding the nuclear power plant in town. Along the way in this mysterious adventure, the characters use Cartesian coordinates, slope, equations, pi, and the Pythagorean theorem. At times the math seems to dominate the story and many readers are likely to gloss over it if reading on their own, but math teachers would find it worthwhile to read the book aloud in class and pause to puzzle out the problems.½

When people start vanishing from a godforsaken trailer park next to the Folsom Energy Plant, two eleven-year-olds investigate using mathematical clues that were hastily planted by their friend Mrs. Clarke before she disappeared.

'Accessibly and clearly written."
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.gr/2015/11/how-we-learn-benedict-carey.html

This book, about the research on how our brains learn and retain what we learn, is really fascinating and because I'm slowly making my way through the book, I'll be updating my review as I go along. As of now, I'm not quite halfway but I'm insanely fascinated by all the research all these people have done. The retention chapters seem very useful for putting to use in college if you are about to attend or are thinking of returning in some form. It's been a while since I read Part One, but if I remember correctly, from a lot of what people learned in their research, ended up being very contradictory. It might be just that we are all very different people and that makes it very hard to study and get a definite answer. Or maybe we need to do research and refine it even more. I can say, after reading a bunch of Non-Fiction books, which got very boring very quickly, this book is a lovely read. Yes, there is a lot of talk about research by this person and the result, then on to research that may agree or disagree by these two different people, but it stays fascinating and pretty easy reading. I see that Benedict Carey was a Science Reporter for the New York Times, I think this probably helped to keep his book a simple enough read for a person interested in science, but without a science degree...like me.

This is a book that challenges conventional ideas about learning methods.

Everyone wants to increase their learning skills. If you think that focusing, buckling down and concentrating are the best/only ways to accomplish learning you may be in for a surprise. How about forgetting, distraction and napping as study aids? Confused? According to author Benedict Carey many of the things that are supposed to enhance learning actually make it more difficult and things that are thought to be a hinderance may be more beneficial then given credit for. Carey carefully reveals what works and why, using solid methods and research.

There are many things I liked about this book. This was not my inital response as I felt it started off as a re-hash of a basic Psych 101 course. But the further I read the more impressed I became. Carey drew me in with a series of learning hacks that were not only imminently doable but also solidly backed by science. The hacks were also specific - what works well for language learning did not always work for math learning for instance. My favorite part of the book was Chapter 10 - You Snooze, You Win which covers how sleep can be used to the best advantage to retain material.

One thing that I felt was lacking were short chapter summaries at the end of each chapter (making the hack easy to refer to later). Instead of individual summaries there was an appendix of Eleven Essential Questions that does a similiar job. If I were trying to decide whether this book was a worthwhile read I would read this section first - it works as somewhat of a synopsis for the entire book.

I found the book fascinating and well written. Obvious target audiences would be parents and students. My wish would be that teachers and school boards would also read and use these methods but with the current emphasis so much on testing I'm afraid that would probably be a hard sell. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning methods.

Interesting examination of psychological research into how people learn.

I find this book very interesting. As often happens in my home, family members will abscond with my Early Reviewers book to read for themselves before I've finished it. Mr Kelsey is currently reading HOW WE LEARN by Benedict Carey... "One of the best books I've ever read," he says. [Mr. Kelsey is very much a bibliophile, which gives his opinion credibility. ] "If only I had this book when I was twelve years old," he laments. The instinctive ways we used to learn often were discouraged and frowned upon in our formative years. HOW WE LEARN suggests it might not have been the better way. Effective ways could very well be what you felt like doing in the first place. Many natural ways have shown to hold a lot of merit. Learning is likely a more natural process than we thought. For example: It turns out it doesn't have to be mandatory that you study at the same place at the same time everyday, as Mr. Kelsey insisted with our children so often. And it MIGHT BE OKAY to study with loud music in the background. I remember my children arguing with me that they actually did better with background noise. Of course, I had been taught not to believe such nonsense. Mr K. wants to buy another copy of the book for himself, one he can mark up properly. He is also manifesting a growing desire to learn and study and teach and read..... a compliment and high recommendation for Mr. Cary's book and it's influence I'd say. Five stars for sure.

Mr. K has been very impressed by the information in this book about how important sleep isl He wants our family to know about it. We went to Barnes & Noble yesterday and bought the last book available and Mr. K has ordered more to share. That's a good recommendation, don't you think ??

ARC provided by LibraryThing and NetGalley

Something that I think we all struggle with, especially in recent years, is discovering how our brains work, how we learn, and how we can improve them. And the publishing industry is starting to catch on and publish books that distill this information into layman’s terms, something that the average Joe or Jane can pick up, instantly recognize themselves in and learn something new. One of the first books that I read that did this was The Power of Habit (which is a marvelous book that everyone should read), which discussed how we form habits, how habits can be broken, and how new ones can be created, even when it seems as if the brain is slowing down. Now, Benedict Carey comes to us in How We Learn, to show us that some of the facts that we’ve believed for ages: learning is all about self-discipline, we must have designated study areas, we must have silence, and maintain rituals to ace our exams or do well at the big competition this weekend, can be, and most likely is, bullshit. Carey, an award-winning science reporter, walks us through research and studies to show us that from the moment that we are born we learn quickly, efficiently, and without effort, without having to have all of these other things in the way. It is only as we age, where we try to make up a system and listen to self help gurus or others that tell us what we must have to study and learn that we can begin to have difficulties. And Carey shows us this and takes us through how to recapture some of that form effortless learning so that it becomes less of a chore, and more of an everyday part of our life. In short, Carey shows us that we need to unlearn many of the things that we’ve learned and go back to the basics.

This is a fun, entertaining, and engaging read, one that something everyone will get something out of and should be required reading for anyone in the education field. I give it four out of five stars.

I had high hopes for this book. I’m terribly interested in how we learn, so it was the “how we learn” along with “the surprising truth” that intrigued me. Here’s the real truth: How We Learn covers “how we learn” moderately well, at least as well as my educational psychology class from 1976. But, sadly, I didn’t run across any surprises here. And, if you wish, we can attribute that to my keeping up with current learning theories rather well instead of failures of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed the book immensely. The only downside was that it took me awhile to get into the first chapter or two, but once I did I read most of it pretty quickly.
As a educator, I was very interested in learning more about how we learn and how our brain works. It was also a great balance of sharing the science while also having it accessible to the general population.
My two favorite chapters were about learning context and study time.