About the Book — For centuries, experts have argued that learning was about memorizing information: You’re supposed to study facts, dates, and details, burn them into your memory, and then apply that knowledge at opportune times. But this approach to learning isn’t nearly enough for the world that we live in today, and in Learn Better journalist and education researcher Ulrich Boser demonstrates that how we learn can matter just as much as what we learn.
In this brilliantly researched book, Boser maps out the new science of learning, showing how simple techniques like comprehension check-ins and making material personally relatable can help people gain expertise in dramatically better ways. He covers six key steps to help readers “learn how to learn,” all illuminated with fascinating stories like how Jackson Pollock developed his unique painting style and why an ancient Japanese counting device allows kids to do math at superhuman speeds. Boser’s witty, engaging writing makes this book feel like a guilty pleasure, not homework.
Learn Better will revolutionize the way students and society alike approach learning and makes the case that being smart is not an innate ability ― learning is a skill everyone can master. With Boser as their guide, readers will be able to fully capitalize on their brain’s remarkable ability to gain new skills and open up a whole new world of possibilities.
About the Author — Ulrich Boser is a best-selling author and a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress. He just finished up a book that looks at the new science of learning. Titled Learn Better, the book takes a broad look at how people can gain skills more effectively.
The book is deeply researched, and as part of his reporting, he took basketball lessons from a former Harlem Globetrotter, spent time with the nation’s foremost ER room doctor, and profiled the man who used some of the recent learning research to dominate the game show, “Jeopardy.”
Before the Center, he was a contributing editor for U.S. News & World Report. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. In February 2009, HarperCollins published his book The Gardner Heist, which examines the 1990 theft of a dozen masterpieces from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.