I love non-fiction as much as fiction and sometimes a book really sticks with you forever.
Ultralearning by Scott H. Young.
This is it if you want to see how the best of the best learn read Ultralearning. It compiles leading research into methods of learning that can be applied to yourself, children, teaching and pretty much any other situation in which someone needs to know more or get better.
I have applied a summary of the advice given in this book to my son, who, while smart, is not particularly interested in studying for tests at all. The result of applying Ultralearning is that he gets over 90% in pretty much every test and regularly comes 1st or 2nd in his class for these tests. He also attends a school with incredibly high standards in academics, so I am even more pleased with him when he is competing with high achievers.
The person who normally beats him in tests is a student who spends hours revising for every single test and is from a highly academic background.
We, on the other hand, review and practice for each test for probably 25 minutes at a time and only do this twice. That is no more than one hour in total because, after all, my son has a lot of video games to play and I would never want to get in the way of that.
Is 90% good enough for 50 minutes where we mostly joke around and chat around the subject, making up fun challenges as we go?
I think so and the main takeaway from my time with Ultralearning for us is that 90% with 1 hour of work is better than 95% or more for 5 hours of work.
So, there we have it.
The best non-fiction book I read in 2022.
It has made quite an impact on me.
