Product Description

This is the best guide ever published on how to acquire and maintain good study skills. It covers everything from developing a vocabulary to improving the quality of written work, and has chapters on studying math, science, and languages; taking tests; and using libraries. If anyone you know is college-bound, buy this book: it will prove a lifesaver and a godsend.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #196205 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
He speaks truthfully about the discipline required for learning, and about the pleasures of order and system in acquiring knowledge. Any reader, of any age, will enjoy this book. --Jill Ker Conway, Author and Former President, Smith College

There is much to admire in this wonderfully commonsensical book. The optimistic, and realistic, assumption that learning is accessible to the ambitious, that one can learn how to learn, underlies a kind of democratic scholasticism. Mr. Armstrong knows that the bright futures belong to students who make the effort. The modest effort required to read this practical little book should be handsomely repaid, in school and in life. --Marlyn McGrath Lewis, Director of Admissions, Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges

This uncompromising title foreshadows the clarity and honesty contained within . . . The student who reads [this] carefully will be prepared not merely for success in school, but for something far more important: a life of self-fulfillment. David R. Godine is to be praised for bringing this remarkable book before the public in a new edition. --John R. Silber, President, Boston University

Customer Reviews

Excellent book.
Harold Martin is absolutely correct when he writes that this book "has a bluntness far from common in how-to books of any time or clime." Even though the book was written in the 1950s, its core message is perhaps even more relevant today than when the book was first published: students have a basic obligation to study whether or not they are interested in any given subject matter. Knowledge is the nourishment of our minds, just as food is the nourishment of our bodies. "By the sweat of your brow shall you earn your food to eat."

Knowledge isn't easy to acquire, the path to it is painful, but it doesn't have to be boring... you can make study a pleasant experience, just like training for any sport is fun, but ultimately it wears the body down. This book lucidly outlines what is necessary to make the most out of your study.

Oustanding outline
This brief book is aimed at high school students, but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life. That ought to be just about everyone.

Its formal, no-nonsense tone closely matches its content, a school-masterly essay on schooling. Armstrong starts by pointing out the number of hours spent in school. If a carpenter set out to build houses single-handedly, he'd be well into the third using only the hours a child spends in K-12 education. Does the student have as much to show for the time spent? If not, why not, and what can be done to fix that problem?

Armstrong starts with the basics: reading and writing. Reading doesn't just mean recognizing each word on the page, it means taking in the information, disgesting it, and incorporating it into oneself as thoroughly as one digests a sandwich and incorporates it into the body's tissues. The goal is to bring the information back to life, not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees. Writing is the other half of the text. I've seen it again and again: someone who can't express an idea is as ineffective as someone who doesn't even have one.

Only a third of the book remains after that discussion, which Armstrong dedicates to specific tips for studying languages, math, science, and history. He generally handles these topics thoroughly and evenly, except for some weakness in the science and math sections and some zealotry regarding history. Well, he was a history teacher - if conveyed only a tenth of his passion to his students, that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across. I criticize this part of the book only for ignoring the arts. They demand all the concentration and study that math and science do, but the study differs slightly in kind - and no, it's not "just natural," any more than learning French or calculus.

My only criticism is that the text aged. The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s - none of the references seem newer than the late 1950s. As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age. Yes, there may be some somatic sense in writing with a pencil that can't be replicated at a keyboard, but the whole process of editing and revision has changed since then. Also, his praise for the "new math" seems more like a perfunctory show of support for his colleagues. In retrospect, it caused more problems than it solved.

These are minor points, though, and don't detract from the main discussion. I recommmend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student.

//wiredweird

Great Tips for Studying!
Next year I will be entering a hard high-school where good study habits are required in order to get a passing grade. I would study for hours, and yet, get an unsatisfactory grade on my papers. So, when I was in Barnes and Noble, I picked it up. This informative book by Mr. Armstrong was very helpful and gave great ways to study better and learn to have good study habits. I would recommend this book to all who have a hard time studying.