I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the advanced copy of this book. I apologize for the delay in sharing my review. Now that I've recently retired, I’ve been able to tackle my backlog of reviews, and I’m excited to share my thoughts on this one. You can find my review on my Instagram account @shhi_iamreading. Here’s the link: https://www.instagram.com/shh_iamreading

Interesting ideas and recap. Some ueful research that helps educators understand cognition and some the science behind this. Not for neuroscientists but useful as an informative guide to how we learn.
It would have been useful to have ideas suggested to use to then improve learning.

I remember getting in trouble in fifth grade. I wasn’t writing an essay that afternoon, I was staring off into the unknown day dreaming about something. After my teacher’s admonishment I got to work writing and won that month’s writing contest for my grade level.

Are we supposed to always buckle down in monk-like focus and silence in order to learn? Carey explores and tests recent research, in this book he shows how our growing understanding of the brain has transformed both learning and teaching. Along the way he discovers that a singular approach is not practical for actual learning. For example, spacing study sessions will create improved long-term recall. I know that the subjects I crammed for were soon forgotten after exams. Repetition and rote learning cause a steep initial curve followed by a plateau. Interleaving materials and study process will help long-term. It’s tempting to devote hours to a particular problematic area, for example a section of a concerto. Interleaving that technical passage with scales and earlier studied works will help improve that sticky passage. One of the lessons that was difficult for me to grasp for years is that naps and sleep are beneficial to recall and comprehension.

Carey’s work is interesting as it turns much of what I was taught to be a good student on its head and inside out. While all the hours of learning matter, the way we break down the time and use it can be all the difference between comprehension and confusion.

As a teacher, I'm always interested to learn more about learning! How do we transfer information in to knowledge? How do we get students interested and engaged? Carey provided me with a lot of food for thought.

Sorry I was not able to read you book but it went to archive before I could get to it. Sorry once again.

This is an interesting and useful book. The author takes us through the theories he has developed on learning after years of studying and research. There are some intriguing and potentially useful ideas in the book.