Bi-weekly Book Review - "Accelerated Learning"

One of my biggest qualms with school was that I was never taught how to learn. I went through 15+ years of formal education literally having no idea how to learn what was being put in front of me. I would be given heaps of information, facts, dates, names, foreign words, equations, recipes, etc. and would be expected to replicate it onto a test the following week or month. The next month I would have forgotten nearly everything - retaining perhaps 5% of what I had learned in the class.

I would routinely do poor on tests after studying long long hours for tests by myself. I would ace other tests with just an hour of study with a friend - asking questions back and forth. Other times I wouldn't even study and do great on the test while others who had studied for a long time would do miserably. Study became like a kind of blind gambling where I put in my cards and hoped for the best.

Nobody had told me how to study. Or about multisensory learning. Or why I was studying what I was studying. And I sure didn't go looking for those answers - what puberty stricken teen/confused young adult voluntarily sets off to find them?

So it was just recently, through a series of major life changes that I realized what I should be learning the most - how to learn. After discovering the beauty of torrenting audio and e-books for free I came across a book in the lot called: "Accelerated Learning."

"Accelerated Learning" by Brian Tracy was exactly what I was looking for. I have the book in audio format with a 96 page work book - all for free (see the link on torrenting above). If you have the funds and wish to support the author you could also consider buying it on Amazon.

The book is well "spoken," concise and extremely motivating. Some of the major points the author touches upon are:

• Success and what determines it.
• How your self-image determines your performance and the seven kinds of intelligences.
• The "Six Stages of Accelerated Learning," the first one being how to create a relaxed state of mind before study.
• Understanding and learning how to use multi-sensory learning techniques rather than relying on mostly visual learning (as most people unconsciously do)
• A great section on memorization. From memorizing people's names to ideas to numbers. 
• The development of concentration. 
• Power reading and writing. 
• How to be a better communicator. And I'm sure some of you can use this. I know I can!

The book has a lot of great ideas. Ideas that will make you look forward to your next study session. Ideas that can show you how to understand yourself and your learning styles better.

It turns out conscious learning is both effective and satisfying.

My one complaint with the book is that because of the older copyright (1994) it doesn't touch on a lot of different technology that is available today.

The book is short in length and it only took me a week or so to get through - listening to while on the bus, cooking, walking to class and so on. If you are more of a visual learner than I am perhaps pick up the paper copy. If you have trouble finding the torrent online drop me a comment with your email and I'll be happy to forward along the direct link to you.

Do you have any other comments on learning styles? What works for you? Have you spent some time specifically to understand and hone your own learning styles? Leave a comment below!

Ou.yang.

*This (short) book review is included in a series of reviews that I shall do on a bi-weekly basis.*