Highly informative and inspiring: a must-read for students of any age.
A cognitive scientist tackles learning.
In this “user’s guide to your brain,” psychology professor Willingham aims to show readers how to “fully exploit its learning potential.” He begins by addressing the three “tasks” that make up the bulk of education—listening, reading, and taking tests—and suggests ways students can perform each one more effectively. The author’s advice ranges from the big picture (during a lecture, listen for verbal cues that denote the hierarchical organization of material) to the granular (sit in the front row of a classroom, since “there is less chance that someone in front of you will do something distracting”). He provides an illuminating comparison between taking notes longhand versus on a laptop, explaining how the brain processes information differently according to which media is involved. The book is similarly comprehensive about test-taking, moving from the common sense (read each question carefully) to the less obvious (to reduce pre-test anxiety, students should reduce their consumption of caffeinated drinks). Throughout, Willingham masterfully synthesizes the relevant research for practical application. For example, he cites studies showing that people “remember a little more each time they attempt to remember,” particularly if they leave a few minutes between each attempt. So, if an answer eludes you on a test, try again in five minutes, returning to the question at intervals until your time is up. Willingham lays out his recommendations in admirably clear prose with a logical structure, and he includes numbered “tips,” with essential points rendered in bold. Each chapter ends with an equivalent set of tips for teachers. The author also addresses a more personal obstacle to learning: students who, perhaps because of family background, don’t feel like they truly belong in school. On this subject, the author is both eloquent and encouraging.
Highly informative and inspiring: a must-read for students of any age.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-982167-17-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.
A duo of French mathematicians makes the scientific case for God in this nonfiction book.
Since its 2021 French-language publication in Paris, this work by Bolloré and Bonnassies has sold more than 400,000 copies. Now translated into English for the first time by West and Jones, the book offers a new introduction featuring endorsements from a range of scientists and religious leaders, including Nobel Prize-winning astronomers and Roman Catholic cardinals. This appeal to authority, both religious and scientific, distinguishes this volume from a genre of Christian apologetics that tends to reject, rather than embrace, scientific consensus. Central to the book’s argument is that contemporary scientific advancements have undone past emphases on materialist interpretations of the universe (and their parallel doubts of spirituality). According to the authors’ reasoned arguments, what now forms people’s present understanding of the universe—including quantum mechanics, relativity, and the Big Bang—puts “the question of the existence of a creator God back on the table,” given the underlying implications. Einstein’s theory of relativity, for instance, presupposes that if a cause exists behind the origin of the universe, then it must be atemporal, non-spatial, and immaterial. While the book’s contentions related to Christianity specifically, such as its belief in the “indisputable truths contained in the Bible,” may not be as convincing as its broader argument on how the idea of a creator God fits into contemporary scientific understanding, the volume nevertheless offers a refreshingly nuanced approach to the topic. From the work’s outset, the authors (academically trained in math and engineering) reject fundamentalist interpretations of creationism (such as claims that Earth is only 6,000 years old) as “fanciful beliefs” while challenging the philosophical underpinnings of a purely materialist understanding of the universe that may not fit into recent scientific paradigm shifts. Featuring over 500 pages and more than 600 research notes, this book strikes a balance between its academic foundations and an accessible writing style, complemented by dozens of photographs from various sources, diagrams, and charts.
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9789998782402
Page Count: 562
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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