Author: barboakley

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Books of the Week

We have a “double-header” this week of two books to recommend. The first is the unusually titled The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, by Mark Manson. We love the cover description, which notes: “Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better.” Haven’t you always wanted to figure out what you should be caring about, so you can shrug off the less important stuff? As we’ve discovered, this book helps you learn how to do that.

Our second book this week is strongly recommended by Kevin Mendez, our Learning How to Learn illustrator (and Barb’s son-in-law!). It is My Life & Work, which is the autobiography of Henry Ford. Kevin observes: “It’s incredible how far ahead of his time Henry Ford was. What we now attribute to modern Silicon Valley tech startups was often first implemented by Henry Ford. These include a myriad of approaches, such as not having job titles, going for a semi flat organization, placing emphasis on the whole user experience, and not hiring sales people based on sales commissions but instead, paying them well for customer satisfaction. Many of Elon Musk’s Tesla approaches were pre-dated by Henry Ford. I think Henry Ford is way underestimated and way understudied.”

Awesome Websites that Not Enough People Know About

Here is a great reddit list of Awesome websites that not enough people know about, with many learning-related websites. Note that the list features one of our own favorites—Class-Central!

MOOC of the Week

Here’s an outstanding new MOOC just starting from Coursera: “Intellectual Humility.” The course description is fantastic! “Faced with difficult questions people often tend to dismiss and marginalize dissent. Political and moral disagreements can be incredibly polarizing, and sometimes even dangerous. And whether it’s Christian fundamentalism, Islamic extremism, or militant atheism, religious dialogue remains tinted by arrogance, dogma, and ignorance. The world needs more people who are sensitive to reasons both for and against their beliefs, and are willing to consider the possibility that their political, religious and moral beliefs might be mistaken. The world needs more intellectual humility.”

We’re signing up for the course ourselves. (We simply can’t resist the opportunity to get a cheeky certificate that says “I am super humble!”)

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Book of the Week

We have to admit that we’re fans of writer Tim Ferriss. Tim has a wonderful way of ferreting out fantastically interesting people—like Nicholas McCarthy, the only one-handed pianist to graduate from Britain’s Royal College of Music in its 130 year history. Or like Mark Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape.

Tim’s new book is Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. Tim’s stream-of-consciousness style brings out important questions that are so obvious that sometimes we just don’t think to ask them. This book is something like a buffet—parts are fantastic, while other parts are best left on the table. But it’s all presented in a way that helps you pick and choose what’s right for you.

Another favorite Tim Ferris book of ours is The Four Hour Chef. It cuts past the usual recipe books and gives real insight into what you need to set up a good kitchen and be an efficient chef. (Oh yes, speaking of cooking, Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential (updated edition) shouldn’t be missed!)

Free e-Guide on Finding a Fulfilling Career that Does Good

“You have about 80,000 hours in your career, which makes choosing your career is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. Ben Todd and his team of researchers have dedicated their careers to helping you find a career you enjoy, you’re good at, and that tackles the world’s most pressing problems.”

Here’s a career e-guide that Todd and his team have developed and made available for free to Learning How to Learners until December 12th. After that time, you can purchase the paperback on Amazon, here. This might make an interesting holiday gift for the student in your life.

Integrating Learning How to Learn into a College Class

If you are wondering how you might integrate a MOOC like Learning How to Learn into your university or college level class, wonder no further. In the paper “Developmental Math Pilot: Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Psychology Concepts, and Group Work,” authors Elyse D’nn Lovell and Denise Elakovich describe the very positive results of their work. They note: “Research findings suggest that MOOCs used in developmental math coursework can improve math success, and group work within face-to-face classrooms can increase connectivity to learning. A MOOC [Learning How to Learn] was merged with face-to-face psychology of learning group projects, and students described increased connectivity to their learning. For example, Haley exclaimed, ‘So definitely learned how to learn all over again this semester and I’m doing awesome … It’s like I’m breezing through!’”

Class Central Year in Review

Class Central is five years old, and has become the most popular search engine for online courses and MOOCs! Here’s the Year in Review for 2016, which also gives good insight into the special Class Central features that learners find most popular.

MOOC of the Week: Deciphering Secrets

We’ve got a fascinating recommendation for you this week: Coursera and the University of Colorado’s Deciphering Secrets: The Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe, co-taught by Barb’s friend Ana B. Sanchez-Prieto. As the course description notes: “Perhaps no other relic of the European Middle Ages captures our imagination more than illuminated medieval manuscripts.” This is your chance to learn more from masters of the field!

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

Follow LHTL on Facebook | Join the private LHTL Hall of Fame group | Follow LHTL on Twitter

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Books of the Week

This week, we’d like to recommend “Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics,” by Richard H. Thaler. “The creative genius who invented the field of behavioral economics is also a master storyteller and a very funny man. All these talents are on display in this wonderful book”—so wrote Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman about Thaler’s book. Kahneman himself, of course, is the author of perhaps the greatest book in psychology, Thinking, Fast and Slow. Another not-to-be-missed classic in this area is Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us.

Barb’s interview on National Public Radio’s “Innovation Hub” Here’s Barb’s interview with Kara Miller on National Public Radio’s “Innovation Hub” about her struggles with math and her finding a way to teach it so that other can succeed in math, too. Don’t miss her three learning takeaways!

College Smart

In the mail, we’ve gotten notice of the new book College Smart: How to Succeed in College Using the Science of Learning, by Nicholas Soderstrom of the Bjork Labs—a fountain of outstanding educational research. College Smart will show you in clear, simple terms how you can use breakthroughs from the science of learning to study smarter in college-or for anything else, for that matter. You may wish to check this out if you’re looking for a good holiday present for the student in your life! (And don’t forget our own ever popular A Mind for Numbers, now in 11 languages!)

The surprising self-interest in being kind to strangers

Barb’s friend Amy Alkon gave a TED talk on “The surprising self-interest in being kind to strangers.” It starts slow, and ramps up to a finale that can change lives—including yours. Enjoy!

What does it feel like to do math?

Here’s an interesting discussion by Andrew Wiles, the mathematical legend who solved Fermat’s last theorem, of what it feels like to do world class mathematics. Note particularly how he describes accepting feelings of being stuck—and also the value of a less-than-perfect memory. [Hat tip: Joe Muskatel]

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

Follow LHTL on Facebook | Join the private LHTL Hall of Fame group | Follow LHTL on Twitter