How We Learn

The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens

By: Benedict Carey

Narrated by: Steve Kramer

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In the tradition of The Power of Habit and Thinking, Fast and Slow comes a practical, playful, and endlessly fascinating guide to what we really know about learning and memory today - and how we can apply it to our own lives.

From an early age, it is drilled into our heads: Restlessness, distraction, and ignorance are the enemies of success. We’re told that learning is all self-discipline, that we must confine ourselves to designated study areas, turn off the music, and maintain a strict ritual if we want to ace that test, memorize that presentation, or nail that piano recital.

But what if almost everything we were told about learning is wrong? And what if there was a way to achieve more with less effort?

In How We Learn, award-winning science reporter Benedict Carey sifts through decades of education research and landmark studies to uncover the truth about how our brains absorb and retain information. What he discovers is that, from the moment we are born, we are all learning quickly, efficiently, and automatically; but in our zeal to systematize the process we have ignored valuable, naturally enjoyable learning tools like forgetting, sleeping, and daydreaming. Is a dedicated desk in a quiet room really the best way to study? Can altering your routine improve your recall? Are there times when distraction is good? Is repetition necessary? Carey's search for answers to these questions yields a wealth of strategies that make learning more a part of our everyday lives - and less of a chore.

By road testing many of the counterintuitive techniques described in this book, Carey shows how we can flex the neural muscles that make deep learning possible. Along the way he reveals why teachers should give final exams on the first day of class, why it’s wise to interleave subjects and concepts when learning any new skill, and when it’s smarter to stay up late prepping for that presentation than to rise early for one last cram session. And if this requires some suspension of disbelief, that’s because the research defies what we’ve been told, throughout our lives, about how best to learn.

The brain is not like a muscle, at least not in any straightforward sense. It is something else altogether, sensitive to mood, to timing, to circadian rhythms, as well as to location and environment. It doesn’t take orders well, to put it mildly. If the brain is a learning machine, then it is an eccentric one. In How We Learn, Benedict Carey shows us how to exploit its quirks to our advantage.

©2014 Benedict Carey (P)2014 Random House Audio

better option than reading the book

The narration was pretty good. I like that there's an option to increase the speed..ans like the title says, it's better than reading the book. I don't enjoy reading books, however i found myself to be distracted often and missing some sections here and there.

Best book I've read in years

I'm fascinated by learning strategies, so I could be biased. That said, this was the most well thought out and executed books I've ever read.

The ideas are structured perfectly, there's just enough science to back up those ideas, and every lesson comes with practical application. Most books fail at one or all of these. Not here.

I'm putting this advice to work right away and I'm confident that I'll see some payout quickly. Awesome!

Interesting & Evidence Supported Perspectives

Benedict Carey offers some interesting insights of the learning process in some non-traditional but evidence supported methods. Even though I have studied learning and educational psychology some, I was not familiar with some of the research Carey offered. Some of the insights helped me to understand a few of the observations I had made in my professional degree program students over the years. Indeed, some of this content will be woven into recommendations for future courses. I rated everything as a 4-star for this book because of tending to be stingy with 5s. If available, 4.5s would have been perfect. If you are an educator at the secondary level or higher, I recommend this book. It could change the way you do things or the evidence presented therein could prove to be the impetus behind your own creative strategies for your students or even adult learners.

Best learning book ever!

As an instructional designer, I read a lot on adult learning theory and have to translate a nugget or two here or there into practice on my own. This book is full of so many practical takeaways and gimmes to really help learning stick. Simply the best at providing simple, practical, research based approaches to helping others learn!

Great book. Highly recommend

I am a professor at a business school and also an avid lifelong learner which includes reading, podcasts, listening to books, etc. Because of this book and also make it stick, another book on this topic,I will now be dedicating at least 20 to 30% of my previous reading or information consumption time to retrieval practice, elaboration, and application.

Very interesting and informative

I am a high school teacher and coach and I learned a great deal from this book and it had changed they way I teach and coach. What I really liked about the book is how it turned conventional wisdom about leaning on its head. For example he talks about how you have to forget to leave. Meaning that forgetting is an important part of learning new things.

Required Reading for the Modern World

This was an amazing read, full of solid practice advice. It is insightful, inspiring and above all useful. Don't think twice about this one. Pick it up and arm yourself with knowing how that pesky but powerful machine stuck between your ears learns!

Should be required for every curriculum.

This content should be incorporated into every curriculum and any educator, or self educator, who doesn't include it is cheating their students.

Not captivating but information seems helpful

In my opinion the book could have been more clearly written. Hard to say exactly why. He seemed to orbit other details that that diluted the key points. I ended most chapters wondering what was the key point. It took several listens to figure that out. The information he talked about was interesting. I'm looking forward to experimenting with it with my own studies and the studies of my students.

A must read for every educator!!!

Written in laymen's terms this book really simplifies brain theory and gives you practical ways to apply what you have learned. A great investment that will pay dividends for years to come.