Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything | Barbara Oakley Phd - Olav Schewe

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

About the Author

Barbara Oakley, PhD, PE is a Professor of Engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and Michigan’s Distinguished Professor of the Year for 2018; she is also Coursera’s inaugural “Innovation Instructor.” She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineers and the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers. She holds a PhD in Systems Engineering from Oakland University (1998). She has served as Vice President for the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society―the world’s largest society for bioengineers.

Olav Schewe is the founder and CEO of Educas, an educational technology startup based in Oslo, Norway, that develops solutions to help students learn how to learn. He is also an educational consultant and special advisor to one of the world’s largest educational technology companies, Kahoot with more than 1 billion users worldwide. Olav holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with Distinction from The University of Oxford Saïd Business School (2014) and Bachelors’ degrees from The Norwegian School of Economics and The University of California, Berkeley (2010).