Natural Born Learners

Our Incredible Capacity to Learn and How We Can Harness It

By: Alex Beard

Narrated by: Mike Grady, Alex Beard - introduction

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Learning is the soul of our species. From our first steps to our last words, we are what we learn. Our education predicts our earnings, our contentment, even how long we'll live. But for all its obvious importance, learning has lost touch with human progress. We live in an information age, work in a knowledge economy, yet our schools remain relics of an industrial era. No more.

In Natural Born Learners, Alex Beard takes us on a dazzling tour of the future of learning to show how today we can - and must - do better. Combining expert insight, entertaining anecdote and intelligent research, Beard leads us from the crowded corridors of a South London comprehensive to the high-tech halls of Silicon Valley, through the exam factories of South Korea to the inclusive classrooms of Finland.

Tackling everything from artificial intelligence to our growing understanding of the infant brain, and from the content of our character to the way classrooms are unwitting engines of extremism, Beard shows that we're on the cusp of a revolution - and that learning in the 21st century must change in order for us to access our better future selves.

©2018 Alex Beard (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group

Startlingly Great.

Summarizes nicely many situations at the cutting edge of education systems both tech and human. Yet, the bulk of it also lays down an amazing panorama and vision of how the future might be.

I also have the hardback for notes. Just very much a gem, this Audible version, since the narrator has a humorous, engaging voice, which suits the writer's wondrous style. I really thank myself for getting the Audible version - it helped me, as a parent and part-time educator to really digest so landmark & bell-weather developments and situations.

I couldn't recommend it highly enough, too and - as did another reviewer - very much suggest reading it twice or at the very least pausing at sections to mull over its implications.

I listened on 1.25 speed, but stopped to ponder on personal related experiences when the categoric nuggets of insight and wisdom (often) arose, so in the end it took me maybe 15-16 hours of my time to get through. Yet, that was worth every minute and almost every second of it.