How We Learn

Most of us were taught that learning is a matter of discipline: find a quiet desk, shut off the music, keep a strict routine, and push through distraction. Benedict Carey, a science reporter who has covered the brain and behavior for years, argues that much of this advice is mistaken. His book surveys decades of education and memory research to explain what actually happens when we take in and hold on to information, and what we can do to make the process easier. Carey's central finding is that people learn quickly and automatically from birth, but our efforts to turn learning into a rigid system have pushed aside some useful natural tools. Forgetting, sleep and daydreaming all turn out to play real roles in building lasting knowledge. He asks whether a dedicated study spot is really the best choice, whether changing your routine can sharpen recall, whether distraction ever helps, and how necessary repetition is. The answers add up to a set of strategies that fit into everyday life instead of feeling like a chore. The book also puts these ideas to practical use. Carey tried many of the counterintuitive techniques himself and reports on how they work. Along the way he makes the case for giving a final exam on the first day of class, for mixing up subjects and concepts instead of drilling one at a time, and for knowing when staying up late to prepare beats an early-morning cram session. Some of it takes a leap of faith, because it runs against what school taught us. Carey's picture of the brain is not that of a muscle that simply grows with effort. It responds to mood, timing, circadian rhythm, location and surroundings, and it rarely follows orders. The book shows readers how to work with those quirks instead of against them. It suits students, professionals, teachers and anyone curious about how memory works, and it comes in the tradition of The Power of Habit and Thinking, Fast and Slow.