How We Learn by Benedict Carey

I'm always interested in learning and in how to make the learning process better, more efficient, and longer term.  When I saw How We Learn:  The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens on NetGalley, I immediately requested it, but expected something rather dry and ridden with educational jargon.  

What a pleasant surprise to find the book informational in the best way (and full of some counter-intuitive concepts) and as entertaining, at least to me, as a novel.

When I finished, there was scarcely a page without highlighting.  I've put the hardback on my wish list, and I'll include it in my next book purchase because this is one of the books that I prefer in a page format that I can easily pull from the shelf and peruse at will.  If there is a possibility of referring to the book in the future (books on science, neuroscience, yoga, gardening, fabric art, etc.), I want it on the shelf with others in that category.

Carey begins with some basic facts about the brain and how memories are made and stored, then moves on to some detailed studies.  

Tidbits:

"...appreciating learning as a restless, piecemeal, subconscious, and somewhat sneaky process that occurs all the time--not just when you're sitting in a desk, face pressed into a book--then it's the best strategy there is.  And it's the only one available that doesn't require more time and effort on your part, that doesn't increase the pressure to achieve."

"Most people do better over time by varying their study or practice locations.  The more environments in which you rehearse, the sharper and more lasting the memory of that material becomes--and less strongly linked to one comfort zone."

"Altering the time of day you study also helps, as does changing how you engage the material, by reading or discussing, typing into a computer or writing by hand, rciting in front of a mirror or studying while listening to music:  Each counts as a different learning 'environment' in which you store the material in a different way."

--sections on the stages of sleep and the different ways each stage helps consolidate information

"Breaking up study or practice time--dividing it into two or three sessions, instead of one--is far more effective than concentrating it."  "Studies find that people remember up to twice as much of material that they rehearsed in spaced or tested sessions than during cramming."

--the "fluency" effect

--"interleaving  multiple skills

This is an excellent book about learning that will give you new insight into the learning process.  Both interesting and informative, How We Learn can provide skill sets to aid anyone who wants to learn more efficiently and with less effort.  The research and studies are documented in the Notes, and Carey experimented with most of them himself or uses examples of others who tried the methods.  Great for students, for parents, and for anyone who wants to learn, including learning to improve physical behaviors as in music or sports.

Highly recommended.  One of my favorite books this year, and it isn't even fiction.

Read in June; blog post scheduled for Aug.  Sept.

NetGalley/Random House

Education/Learning/Nonfiction.  Sept. 9, 2014.  Print length:  274 pages.

Zor by J.B. (Ray Clements)

Zor is a strange little book, a parable about finding enlightenment.

"The avatar, Zor, knows the quest for enlightenment must begin with the unification of Philosophy, Spirituality, and Science. To that end, he guides Jonathan Brewster on his path to self awareness; deftly balancing quantum physics, religion, Zen, reductionism, multi-dimensional reality, Einstein, chi, the power of thought, post death experiences, Newton, Pavlov, the Big Bang theory, relativity, pantheism, space/time travel, peace, love, and understanding."  --from  this page; the page also contains some great links on some of the above subjects.     

This little book, a relatively short read, covers so many things that I've come across in books on yoga, spirituality, and neuroscience.  Although the subject matter is deep, J.B. keeps us from getting lost by using lots of illustrative examples and the enforced parable technique.  

The story of Jonathan Brewster and his chance (?) meeting with the Haitian dwarf Zor provides a way to think about the way interconnections of philosophy, spirituality, and science are perceived.

I enjoyed the book very much, partly because so many of the names and philosophies were familiar from other reading, including the "brain books" -- the books I've read about neuroscience.  However, I also liked it because the book takes it so much further, linking everything together, much like the neurons in our brains..

Fiction.  Philosophy/Spirituality/Science.  2010.  268 pages.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

What a tiny treasure is The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating!  This is a memoir that has formerly active Elisabeth Bailey confined to bed without even the energy to sit up for any length of time.  Initially, the doctors don't know the cause of her illness, but what began with flulike symptoms turned into a "systemic paralysis-like weakness with life-threatening complications."

Bailey doesn't allow the book to be list of symptoms or complaints, but rather an emotional and spiritual journey.  Observing the tiny snail, which is about all that she can do, keeps her mind active and curious.  The snail, with its slow deliberate pace becomes both the perfect companion and metaphor.

One morning, Bailey notices a square hole in a scrap of paper; each morning revealed more square holes.  When the snail chewed a hole in a letter she had written, she began drawing arrows to the holes in her communications with the outside world with the note:  "Eaten by my snail."

Then she put some withered blossoms out for the snail.  In the evening, the snail awoke and began its exploration.  After investigating the blossoms, it began eating a petal:

"I listened carefully.  I could hear it eating.  The sound was of someone very small munching celery.  I watched, transfixed, as over the course of an hour the snail meticulously ate an entire purple petal for dinner.


The tiny, intimate sound of the snail's eating gave me a distinct feeling of companionship and shared space."

I loved this short book.  I learned more about gastropods and the habits and sex lives of the Neohelix albolabris than I ever expected to know.  I learned more about patience and close observation than I'd ever thought about.  And about courage and perseverance...

The quotes the author uses from poets, scientists, and naturalists are so well-chosen, so apt:

"My wide wake shines, now it is growing dark.
I leave a lively opalescent ribbon:  I know this."   
                                                          - Elizabeth Bishop, form "Giant Snail," 1969

"at my feet

when did you get here?

snail"

                          -Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828)

"The [snail's] tentacles are as expressive as a mule's ears, giving an appearance of listless enjoyment when they hang down, and an immense alertness if they are rigid, as happens when the snail is on a march."
                    - Ernest Ingersoll, "In a Snailery," 1881

What a lovely, lovely little book this is.  Maybe my favorite of the year, and certainly one that I will include in all-time favorites.  I can't even explain why this tiny book touched me with such emphasis.

Nonfiction.  Memoir/ Natural Science.  2010.  178 pages + an excellent bibliography.

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own

Blakeslee, Sandra, and Matthew Blakeslee.  The Body Has a Mind of Its Own:  How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better.

 A fascinating look at the body and the brain! 

Peripersonal Space:  "Through a special mapping procedure, your brain annexes this space to your limbs and body, clothing you in it like an extended, ghostly skin."

This annexed space is not static, but rather expands and contracts.  "When you eat with a knife and fork, your peripersonal space grows to encompass them.  Brain cells that normally represent space no farther out than your fingertips expand their fields of awareness outward, along the length of each utensil, making them a part of you.  This is why you can directly experience the texture and shape of the food you are manipulating."

Maps:
"Research now shows that your brain is teeming with body maps--maps of your body's surface, its musculature, its intentions, its potential for action, even a map that automatically tracks and emulates the actions and intentions of other people around you."

These maps are plastic and capable of change related to damage, experience, or practice.

One of my favorite chapters is "The Homunculus in the Game:  or, When Thinking is as Good as Doing."  Researchers discovered that "motor imagery practice led to nearly the same level of body map reorganization as physical practice.  As far as your motor cortex is concerned, executed and imagined movements are almost identical."

The chapter on "Plasticity Gone Awry" is equally intriguing and reveals the strange ways the body maps can be disordered producing physical behaviors like "yips," the dread of golfers.  These conditions are known as dystonias.

"Broken Body Maps" examines conditions such as alien hand, supernumerary limbs, fading limbs, and other strange disorders of perception.

In the chapter "The Bubble Around the Body," the authors mention that Wassily Kandinsky was a synesthete, and when he saw colors, he heard music.  "Kandinsky was capturing music on canvas.  Some synesthetes can 'hear' his music by looking at his paintings."  Wouldn't that be marvelous?  To see his paintings and hear his music?

I have so many passages highlighted in this book...conditions, names of scientists and researchers, various studies and their outcomes.  I found the book mostly accessible as it is written for the lay person and highly entertaining because the subject interests me profoundly.  Many of the studies and scientists have been mentioned in other "brain books" I've read, but each author approaches each study slightly differently, adding a little to my understanding.  The Blakeslees (mother and son) approach the studies in a unique manner that intertwines brain and body.

Excellent.

Nonfiction.  Neuroscience.  2007.  215 pages.

The Wisdom Paradox

Goldberg, Elkhonon.  The Wisdom Paradox.

Elkhonon Goldberg, neuropsychologist, looks at the brain from a uniquely personal perspective after years of experience with patients and his own MRI.  He examines the way the brain develops and changes and explains that even with deterioration, the brain can still function in a marvelous manner as a result of acquisition and storage of knowledge.

On brain duality:  "The right hemisphere is the "novelty" hemisphere and the left hemisphere is the repository of well-developed patterns.  This means that as we age and accumulate more patterns, a gradual change in the hemispheric "balance of power" takes place:  The role of the right hemisphere diminishes and the role of the left hemisphere grows."

His discussion of  "late and luminous bloomers" (wonderful epithet) such as Goethe, Grandma Moses, Norbert Wiener (mathematician and philosopher), and Golda Meir is interesting.

In the section on memory, Goldberg explains generic memories ("memories for patterns") and "pattern expansion."  The capacity for pattern-recognition is one aspect of wisdom; patterns can enable quick solutions to wide-ranging problems, and these generic memories accumulate with age. :) Good to know!

He distinguishes between wisdom and genius, including the ability for empathy and "emotional intelligence" as necessary for wisdom, but not genius.

There is too much in this book (some very technical, some anecdotal) to cover quickly, but his conclusions that "growth of a neural structure appears to be stimulated by its use" is now pretty widely accepted and certainly worthy reason for keeping our brains as active as possible.

Lots of notes and documentation.

Nonfiction.  Neuropsychology.  2005.  321 pages including notes, documentation.

The Three-Pound Enigma

Moffett, Shannon. The Three-Pound Enigma: The Human Brain and the Quest to Unlock Its Mysteries.

While not as absorbing as The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge or The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggert, this book does take a different approach to the study of the brain--concentrating on different individuals: a neurosurgeon, neuroscientists and researchers, philosophers, a woman with a disassociative disorder, a neuroethicist, and a zen monk.

The main questions concern consciousness, dreams, and memory. How does consciousness relate to the neural system? What is consciousness? How does memory work? What about dreaming and consciousness? Dreaming and memory? What about the changes in the brains of those who meditate as illustrated by fMRI scans?

In between the chapters, there are also chronological (and technical) explanations of brain development in a timeline format. These "interludes" begin with the embryonic period and the initial formation of brain matter and by the end of the book, the final interlude discusses the normal cognitive decline that occurs as a result of deficits in one or both of two systems: executive function and declarative memory.

There are, of course, more questions than answers, but there are some interesting questions in the quest to learn more about that one organ that so markedly differentiates us as thinking beings.

Nonfiction. Science. 2006. 237 pages.

The Brain that Changes Itself

Doidge, Norman, M.D. The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.

Brain function and neural plasticity are fascinating subjects, and our brains are capable of almost miraculous re-wiring to accommodate to situations incurred by accident, disease, learning disabilities, natural aging, or stroke. That does not mean that all brain trauma can be cured, just that the brain has the often amazing ability to recover brain function in cases previously considered hopeless.

Dr. Doidge, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, is on the faculty at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York and the University of Toronto's department of psychiatry. His research into neuroplasticity leads him to interview some of the world's leading neuroscientists, to visit their labs, and to observe their methods in action.

In a fluent and highly readable account, he gives the reader an extraordinary look at individual triumphs and at scientific concepts and experiments that have led to so many hopeful discoveries in the field.

Portions of the book read almost like science fiction--fast and furious--leaving you marveling at the possibilities. Other portions slow you down and are more technical, but are still within the comprehension of the lay reader and are equally gripping.

The first chapters in the book are some of the most exciting. These chapters deal with almost unbelievable improvements in certain individuals with brain trauma or disabilities, the scientists who did the research, and the methods of research. While some very exciting discoveries have come about with improved technology that has allowed more and more accurate brain scans, other scientists have formed hypotheses and created treatments using very low-tech methods.

One interesting aspect is that brain plasticity or malleability, can be a blessing or a curse, for while the brain has remarkable flexibility, repeated patterns of thought and behavior ("neurons that fire together wire together") can create a rigidity that is hard to break. As a result, both positive and negative results can be achieved by the same brain process. (Ahh, those bad habits that we reinforce daily....)

On the other hand, "neurons that fire apart, wire apart" a phenomenon that provides a method of correction and a way to break bad habits or addictions.

Other interesting points (and there are far too many to mention!):

* Use it or lose it applies to mental as well as physical skills. Plasticity is competitive and unused areas can be pruned back or used for other information.

*The benefits of memorization (largely discarded in modern education) increased auditory memory, and therefore, thinking in language and that the stress on handwriting (also no longer a priority in education) not only increased motor skills, but probably "added speed and fluency to reading and speaking."

*Culture is more important than some believe. Because our brains are plastic, "To a larger degree than we suspected, culture determines what we can and cannot perceive." An example is in speech. There is a critical period during which the auditory cortex develops and during that period an infant is "capable of hearing any sound distinction in all the thousands of languages of our species." After the period closes, however, infants lose the ability to hear many of the sounds not used in their own culture which explains the problem some cultures have reproducing certain sounds.

Melbourne Conversations - Dr. Doidge speaks and explains better than I can.


Here is an article about the CBC Documentary with David Suzuki; there is also a link to a video, but it is evidently only available in Canada.

The brain is an astonishing organ; this book affirms that the brain is capable of significant growth, change, and self-repair.

(If you've reviewed this book let me know, and I'll link to your review.)

Nonfiction. Science. 2007. 408 pages.

The Intention Experiment

McTaggert, Lynne. The Intention Experiment. I started this nonfiction book quite a while back and wrote a bit about it here. Finally got through all the quantum physics stuff (whew!), which although interesting, was hard going-- and into accounts of various fascinating experiments. Initially, the brain-strain bogged me down, and I put the book aside, but on returning to it, I was completely immersed.

Offering a scientific look at the power of human consciousness, Lynne McTaggert presents scientific studies conducted by leading researchers at imminent universities and research facilities to show the effects of intention; she examines the way the scientific community approaches the mind over matter debate.

Hmmm. How to describe the idea of "intention" - it the age-old practice of prayer and new-age interest in thought/action, it is quantum physics, shaman and healer, laboratory studies, qi gong, meditation, alternative medicine, spiritual healing, placebo effect, brain frequencies, complex magnetic fields, and quantifiable scientific data. Fact or Fantasy?

How can an individual's intention to harm a plant produce a quantifiable scientific effect?

How can meditating Tibetan Buddhist monks in a drafty Himalayan monastery in the middle of winter be covered with sheets drenched in ice water and then generate enough heat to cause steam to rise from the sheets?

How can remote intention effect the PH of water?

How can prayer/healing intention effect cardiac or cancer patients?

How can remote intention effect the growth of algae in a laboratory?

The experiments and studies on plants, inanimate objects, eggs, mice, and humans are definitely involving and intriguing.

The "how" is not yet fully explained, but evidently both the "what" and the "how" are under vigorous academic and scientific study. I guess the "why" is obvious.

McTaggert interviewed scientists in various fields, medical doctors, clairvoyants, practitioners of meditation, and healers, looking at both scientific experiments and studies of people who appear to have unusual talents. She investigated studies by leading institutions and interviewed participants. Her bibliography is extensive and impressive including studies from journals such as Physics World, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, International Journal of Psychophysiology, American Heart Journal, American Journal of Psychiatry, and other well-known and respected medical and scientific journals and studies - as well as journals on parapsychology and alternative medicines.

I found the book engrossing (after the hard science and quantum mechanics) and suppose it goes back to not only do we use only a fraction of the power of the brain, we aren't even aware of some the power we do use.

Nonfiction. Popular Science (mostly lay terms, explanations). 222 pages + 50 pages of Notes and Bibliographic material.