Make It Stick

The Science of Successful Learning

By: Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

Narrated by: Qarie Marshall

To most of us, learning something "the hard way" implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier.

Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head. Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

©2014 Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel (P)2014 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Amazing Book!

What did you love best about Make It Stick?

Good mix of theory a practical tips!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Make It Stick?

Learning by mistakes and Blooms Taxonomy.

Any additional comments?

This is probably the most important book I have ever read. I would highly recommend this book to law students or any other student for that matter.

Learn the science of learning

Make it Stick is a book about effective learning/teaching habits. Brown’s main idea is we need to focus much more on knowledge retrieval and not retention. Brown masterfully presents this information through numerous stories and studies, busting myths and giving concrete examples to try. Teachers, students, trainers, or really anyone interested in self-development should absolutely give this a read.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Practical and inspiring

This book gives insights into how we learn and inspires to continue learning at any age. It proves through research that your ability to learn is based on your determination and perseverance and not genetics.
Just what I needed to read as I'm teaching myself new skills in my profession.

Application

Where does Make It Stick rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Its a great book. I am a learning program designer in a corporate environment and I was looking for insight on cognitive science and how understanding the brain's learning behaviors could help me create better learning activities.

Although this book is technically written for students, I was able to acquire lots of important information all of which directly led to design decisions. It helped me choose when to set breaks, how to vary activity types, how to space the activity sessions, how to write and organize homeworks, how to introduce concept, choosing the right difficulty, integrate outside factors to impact the brain (distractions, misconceptions, etc.)

Narration is good, examples are precise and easy to understand and topics are backed by scientific evidence.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Make It Stick?

The last 10 minutes are wrapping up the whole book very well.

What does Qarie Marshall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A good narration

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Its too content heavy

Great Study Tools Overview

I’ve used Anki for awhile and this book really helped to validate that practice. (Anki is a free flash card program that uses the system discussed in the book to space repetition) It made me want to try the memory palace technique so it game me something new to try. The stories were inspiring as well. The book does repeat in some areas and can be a bit wordy, but I feel it fits the theme of the book so I see it as a plus.