How to Read a Book (With Apologies to Mortimer Adler) Susan Wise BauerDo not reproduce without permission. Please give appropriate credit for quotes and ideas. All civilization comes through literature now, especially in our country. If you are fortunate, you encounter a particular teacher who can help, yet finally you are alone, going on without further mediation. GRAMMAR-STAGE READING. 1. 2. For a novel: Keep a list of characters as you read Briefly note the main event in each chapter For a history: List the major events of the history Look for a stated pupose. 3. For a novel: Make initial notes on passages that seize your imagination. For a history: Mark central dates and people. 4. For a novel: Who is the central character? For a history: Who is this story about? LOGIC-STAGE READING. 1. For a novel: What does the central character want? For a history: What causes the challenge/problem/question? 2. For a novel: Is this novel a “fable” (allegory or speculation), “chronicle” (physical or psychological?) 3.
THE MACHINE STOPS ... E.M. Forster Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds. An armchair is in the centre, by its side a reading-desk-that is all the furniture. And in the armchair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh-a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus. An electric bell rang. The woman touched a switch and the music was silent. "I suppose I must see who it is", she thought, and set her chair in motion. "Who is it?" But when she listened into the receiver, her white face wrinkled into smiles, and she said: "Very well. She touched the isolation knob, so that no one else could speak to her. "Be quick!" "Kuno, how slow you are." He smiled gravely. "I really believe you enjoy dawdling." "Well?"
Halo Effect The idea that global evaluations about a person bleed over into judgements about their specific traits. The ‘halo effect’ is a classic finding in social psychology. It is the idea that global evaluations about a person (e.g. she is likeable) bleed over into judgements about their specific traits (e.g. she is intelligent). In the same way politicians use the ‘halo effect’ to their advantage by trying to appear warm and friendly, while saying little of any substance. But you would think we could pick up these sorts of mistaken judgements by simply introspecting and, in a manner of speaking, retrace our thought processes back to the original mistake. Likeability of lecturers Nisbett and Wilson wanted to examine the way student participants made judgements about a lecturer (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). In fact the students had been divided into two groups who were going to watch two different videos of the same lecturer, who happened to have a strong Belgian accent (this is relevant!).
Study Tips and Productivity Advice to Help Students 50 Tips for College Students I did the "extended tour" of college. From about 1991-2002. I did get 4 degrees, so at least I have an excuse. :) I've also been an adjunct professor, so I've also been at the other side of the classroom. 1) The Freshman Fifteen does exist. So does the Freshman Twenty. 2) Pizza - the ubiquitous college snack. 3) If it's either take out a loan or quit school, take out a loan. 4) If you can live harmoniously with someone in a 20×20 ft. space, you can do anything. 5) Flip-flops: Wear them in the dorm shower. 6) Always attend the *real* class, and use the Internet one for review. 7) If you are not a morning person, don't schedule classes for 7am. 8) Get involved on campus. 9) Too much socializing = bad grades. 10) If you are feeling overwhelmed, are having problems sleeping, or have gone through a breakup, visit your college's counseling center. 11) There are a lot of free activities on campus. 12) Many colleges have free tutoring centers on campus. 13) Sit near the front of class. 47) Sleep.
Postmodernism and Truth Explanations > Critical Theory > Concepts > Postmodernism and Truth Pre-modernist truth | Modernist truth | Post-modernist truth | See also Postmodernism can be a confusing concept that gets dropped into intellectual conversation and presentations, typically to make a complexifying point that prevents easy conclusions being made. But what is postmodernism? Pre-modernist truth In the days before modern science emerged, how did you know if something was true? The other way of knowing truth was to trust another person who declared something to be true. Archetypally, priests were critical truthsayers. Truth could also be asserted by one's superiors, from parents to craft masters to judges to the monarch. Pre-modernist philosophers, from Socrates onward (and probably before), sought truth through thought and reason. There is still plenty of pre-modernist truth around today, yet there are serious challenges to this order. Modernist truth And yet there are challenges to these truths. See also
Top 10 Strange Phenomena of the Mind - Top 10 Lists | Listverse Humans The mind is a wonderful thing – there is so much about it which remains a mystery to this day. Science is able to describe strange phenomena, but can not account for their origins. We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time – of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances – of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it! Déjà vu is the experience of being certain that you have experienced or seen a new situation previously – you feel as though the event has already happened or is repeating itself. Déjà vécu (pronounced vay-koo) is what most people are experiencing when they think they are experiencing deja vu. Déjà visité is a less common experience and it involves an uncanny knowledge of a new place. Déjà senti is the phenomenon of having “already felt” something. Jamie Frater
The New Way Doctors Learn Turning a medical student into a doctor takes a whole lot of knowledge. B. Price Kerfoot, an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, was frustrated at how much knowledge his students seemed to forget over the course of their education. He suspected this was because they engaged in what he calls “binge and purge” learning: They stuffed themselves full of facts and then spewed them out at test time. (MORE: Couch Potatoes Rejoice! The theory behind spaced repetition is simple: when we first learn a fact, our memory of it is volatile, subject to change or disappear. Since that first study, published in the journal Medical Education in 2007, Kerfoot has evaluated the effectiveness of spacing out exposure to a variety of other topics that doctors in training need to learn, such as performing a physical exam, diagnosing medical ailments, and administering a cancer screening test. (MORE: The American Hopsital: The Most Dangerous Place?) MORE: The Two Faces of Anxiety
100 Amazing How-To Sites to Teach Yourself Anything | Rated Colleges Posted by Site Administrator in Online Learning May 7th, 2009 Learning new skills and expanding your knowledge doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are loads of free resources on the Web that can help you find instructional videos, tutorials and classes to learn a wide variety of skills from fixing basic car problems to speaking another language. With 100 sites to choose from, you’re bound to find something here that will help you learn just about anything you could want. General Tutorials These sites offer a wide range of tutorials and videos. Around the House Want to know how to fix that broken cabinet or hang up some great wallpaper? Business and Management If you feel like you’re seriously lacking on business and management skills at work, no need to worry. KnowThis? Language and Writing Those who want to learn a new language, improve their writing skills or just learn more about literature will be well-served by these instructional sites. Technology Math S.O.S. Science Creativity