Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything

by Barbara Oakley PhD, Olav Schewe

Overview

A book for learners of all ages containing the best and most updated advice on learning from neuroscience and cognitive psychology.

Do you spend too much time learning with disappointing results? Do you find it difficult to remember what you read? Do you put off studying because it’s boring and you’re easily distracted? This book is for you.

Dr. Barbara Oakley and Olav Schewe have both struggled in the past with their learning. But they have found techniques to help them master any material. Building on insights from neuroscience and cognitive psychology, they give you a crash course to improve your ability to learn, no matter what the subject is. Through their decades of writing, teaching, and research on learning, the authors have developed deep connections with experts from a vast array of disciplines. And it’s all honed with feedback from thousands of students who have themselves gone through the trenches of learning. Successful learners gradually add tools and techniques to their mental toolbox, and they think critically about their learning to determine when and how to best use their mental tools. That allows these learners to make the best use of their brains, whether those brains seem “naturally” geared toward learning or not. This book will teach you how you can do the same.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250799371
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	170,444
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Barbara Oakley, PhD, PE is a Professor of Engineering at Oakland University and Michigan’s Distinguished Professor of the Year for 2018; she is also Coursera’s inaugural Innovation Instructor.

Olav Schewe is the founder and CEO of Educas, an educational technology startup, that develops solutions to help students learn how to learn. He is also an educational consultant to one of the world’s largest educational tech companies, Kahoot!.

Table of Contents

To Our Readers vii

1 How to Focus Intently and Beat Procrastination 1

2 How to Overcome Being Stuck 13

3 How to Learn Anything Deeply 23

4 How to Maximize Working Memory-and Take Better Notes 41

5 How to Memorize 53

6 How to Gain Intuition and Think Fast 61

7 How to Exert Self-Discipline Even When You Don't Have Any 73

8 How to Motivate Yourself 81

9 How to Read Effectively 91

10 How to Win Big on Tests 101

11 How to Be a Pro Learner 113

Checklist: How to Become an Effective Learner 121

Acknowledgments 125

Notes 127

Bibliography 133

Index 141

About the Authors 149

Editorial Reviews

"Learn Like a Pro is the book I wish I’d had when I was a student. It is jam-packed with practical, evidence-based advice for overcoming procrastination, strengthening memory, and reading more effectively. You’ll find a nugget of learning gold on every page.”—Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell is Human

“If you want to learn how to learn, I can’t think of better guides than Barbara Oakley and Olav Schewe. They transformed themselves from struggling students into master teachers, and they’ve written an unusually digestible, immediately useful book about how to build your knowledge, improve your memory, and boost your motivation to keep getting smarter."—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

"As both an educator and a lifelong student, I've found that most of us hack our way through when it comes to learning. We collect only an ad hoc hodgepodge of techniques that happen to cross our paths. But now I finally see the light. There's a method to optimizing our learning, a collection of best practices, and we're fools not to take on learning as a proper discipline. This book covers the leading methods in such a simple and fun way, it can't help but inspire you to jump in!"–-Eric Siegel, Ph.D., founder of Predictive Analytics World and author of Predictive Analytics

"In Learn Like a Pro, the authors provide a lively and nicely illustrated guide to specific activities that can make any of us more effective learners—and they intersperse instructive and entertaining cartoons as to why that is the case in terms of underlying neural changes in the brain."—Robert A. Bjork; Distinguished Research Professor; University of California, Los Angeles

From the Publisher