The First 20 Hours

How to Learn Anything... Fast!

By: Josh Kaufman

Narrated by: Josh Kaufman

Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

"Learn anything... fast!"

Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What's on your list? What's holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills - time you don't have and effort you can't spare?

Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy?

To make matters worse, the early hours of practicing something new are always the most frustrating. That's why it's difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It's so much easier to watch TV or surf the web...

In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition: how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By completing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you'll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well.

This method isn't theoretical: it's field-tested. Kaufman invites readers to join him as he field tests his approach by learning to program a Web application, play the ukulele, practice yoga, re-learn to touch type, get the hang of windsurfing, and study the world's oldest and most complex board game.

What do you want to learn?

Listen to The First 80 Minutes FREE from The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything . . . Fast!.

©2013 Worldly Wisdom Ventures LLC (P)2013 Worldly Wisdom Ventures LLC

Critic reviews

"As a father of three, practicing neurosurgeon, and global journalist, I don't have a lot of free time on my hands. The First 20 Hours is a practical guide to learning beyond our mid-20s, when our brains are fully developed. Josh's book will inspire you to pick up forgotten hobbies and chase elusive dreams." (Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent)

Mediocre Performance and Common Sense

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, it wasn't. Josh Kaufman doesn't provide any great insights, only the same common sense repeated in different ways in an attempt to sound profound.

Would you recommend The First 20 Hours to your friends? Why or why not?

No, it's just the same common sense that you learn in school or hear repeated by people who are first learning something.

What three words best describe Josh Kaufman’s performance?

Rough, monotonous, boring.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Heavens no.

Some caps are too boring to listen.

Some caps are too boring to listen even when he talks about some skills that you wanna learn. For me at least, he wasn't talking too much about the learning process itself.

Devices for the Audible

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I cannot recommend Audible as it doesn't work on older devices. I have 2 Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire and Kindle and have to listen on my computer as it doesn't work on any device but the computer. I refuse to buy a brand new device only for listening Audible. It should be at least mp3!!!

What did you like best about this story?

It is motivational

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

I just bought it

Any additional comments?

This is the first and last buy with Audible -> sorry

Great potential that veers off the rails

I wanted to love this book - I really did. In fact the first hour (of about 7) is amazing. It really gives some great tips for making progress in the first 20 hours of a new skill.

But then, it goes off the rails. The next hour is spent discussing the history of yoga and various yoga poses. After about an hour of that, I had to stop. I know that the author is using this topic because he wanted to get good at it in the first 20 hours. But so much time is spent on the history of yoga and the various poses, that. I almost dread the upcoming hours where he will probably go into the same details for windsurfing, an ancient Chinese game called Go, and other topics he mentioned earlier.

Get the book for the first hour though.

Amazing

Things I already knew about but piecing it all together even more and solidifying and simplifying the concepts. The narrative case studies for each skill were highly detailed and inspiring. Thanks Josh!!

Very informative

I feel very inspired. Very practical and achievable in application. Love the real life examples
Thanks!

First 3 Chapters are enough

The book has a great start and fullfilled my expectations. The you get 30min of yoga history and you just stop listening.

Learn by doing it.

First -- you're listening to a book instead of reading it because you wan to "read" faster than actual reading. So, for anything you wan to learn (or want to burn down your learning bucket list), you learn by doing it. Based on his experience and research, Josh has come up with 10 principles for learning enough to enjoy.

1. Choose a lovable skill
2. Choose the target performance level
3. Learn one -- only one -- at a time.
4. Deconstruct the skill to sub skills
5. Get the tools to help you start practicing the skill asap.
and 5 more.

Key emphasis on the getting to doing and acquiring skill, tips creating the environment to sticking to it makes all the difference in this approach. First few chapters will move to action -- a great success for any book by any measure.

The book also details Josh's successful application of these techniques to learning Yoga, web application, Go, touch typing, ukulele and windsurfing. I treat this as bonus.

This solves a lot of issues...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book codifies how to obtain skills quickly and I am thrilled to have it in my hands. So many people are wasting money trying to get an up-to-date skillset for this job market. Josh breaks this task down to easy-to-follow sub-tasks, allowing the learner a clear path to obtain tasks needed to make that person competitive in the job market.

Any additional comments?

This book is a game-changer and puts a path for skill acquisition within the reach of everyone. We have already given copies of this book to many friends and family members and will continue to do so.

Interesting

Worth a listen to if you having trouble trying to commit to learning a new skill. Reduce your expectations, research, be realistic but most of all commit to regular working at it. A high threshold to aggravation is helpful. I was amazed at his ability to learn a musical instrument but would of like to seen his ability to learn a language as memory wasn't really covered besides the repetition put in to make muscle memory.