'Make it Stick' by Peter Brown, Henry Roedinger III and Mark McDaniel

Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter Brown, Henry Roedinger III, Mark McDaniel (4.0)

I read this book as part of a book circle organized by our University to encourage teachers to be lifelong learners and continue to improve their teaching techniques. Luckily the gentleman who runs the groups tends to find books that are impactful overall, not just on teachers and college students. This book looks at techniques for studying and learning that are traditionally thought to be the most successful and, using data, refutes their effectiveness. The authors convincingly argue that some of the basics (rereading text and mass practice) are ineffective at long-term storage of knowledge. They argue that the harder it is to learn something and the more you have to go back to ‘retrieve’ the knowledge, the better it is in your long-term memory. They illustrate this in many ways. Failing is and good – as long as you are told why you failed. That will sink the learning deeper in your memory. Our group was able to come up with many examples in our own lives of this phenomenon. Unfortunately, quick and easy learning gives positive reinforcement to the learning process. Hard learning with tests and spaced retrieval can be discouraging. As with most books of this type – you don’t need to read all the chapters to get the key points, but the authors use their own methods (spaced retrieval, interleaving subjects) to give you the best opportunity to learn (i.e. if you skip parts you may be short changing your learning process). Overall this book is very important for someone looking to improve their ability to learn and interesting to those of us who are lifelong learners.

'Star Wars, Vector Prime' by R. A. Salvatore

Star Wars, The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime; R. A. Salvatore (3.5)

There are so many ‘Star Wars’ books that it’s hard to know where a fan should start. This book/series is considered to be at the top of most lists. It begins ~20 years after ‘Return of the Jedi’. Han and Leia are married and have 3 kids, Luke is also married – to another Jedi – and is the Jedi mentor to his niece and nephews. While bringing in many of the classic characters, Salvatore also introduces a couple of important new ones and even better, brings in new antagonists with unique technologies. Unlike the most recent movie, this book has some very new concepts that seem to be worthy of the ‘Star Wars’ canon. Foreboding is enhanced, as the reader is privy to the intentions and power of the new enemy though our heroes are not. Given how much attention was made to the set-up of seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the first half of the book, I was disappointed in how quickly the large plot wrapped up, but overall I think Disney lost an opportunity in not using this as the basis for their last movie.

'A Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood

A Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (5.0)

I had forgotten how powerful this ‘Tale’ was – rereading it was a delight. In the same genre and league as Orwell’s ‘1984’, it is the story of a possible future of which the religious zealots have managed to take over a part of the world in order to reshape it more like the ‘good old days’. At first introduction, the state of society does not seem credible (you will tell yourself ‘that could never happen’), but the narrator uses flashbacks to fill in the blanks as to how the transition came about and eventually you are shocked into believing the unbelievable is possible. Written in 1998, Atwood’s prescience is frightening. The combination of environmental stresses and societal declines has given us a reactionary culture determined to do something about the lack of pregnancies and successful births. Women need to focus on their main job: having healthy babies. Our narrator is one chosen for this duty, a Handmaid. I don’t want to give too much away, but the ends to which this society goes to manufacture a process in which to do that is chilling. I particularly liked the ending – not a fairy tale ending, but a unique way to add a bit more light on the subject. Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors and here she is at her best.

'Wild Bill Wellman' by William Wellman Jr.

Wild Bill Wellman, William Wellman Jr. (3.0)

I met Bill Wellman Jr. at the SLO film festival. He was introducing two of his father’s movies (‘Public Enemy’ and ‘Westward the Women’’) that were screening at the festival and I was assigned to be his concierge, someone who helps the ‘talent’ navigate their way in SLO and at the festival. Bill was also selling his book, a history of his father’s life – from birth to death. Wild Bill was a prolific Hollywood director from the 20’s till the 60’s. His movie, ‘Wing’s’, a silent film about pilots in WWI, won the first Academy Award for best picture. His other famous films were ‘A Star is Born’ (the original one in 1937), ‘Beau Geste’ (1939), ‘The Ox-Bow Incident’ (1943) and ‘Buffalo Bill’ (1944). This book highlights the large and varied life that Mr. Wellman led. It is filled with the characters of old films – both silent and ‘talkies’. While Wild Bill’s life is fascinating, he is not a particularly likable character. I was really put-off by how much he fought his way through life. While I realize it was a different era – every opposition was literally met with fist-to-cuffs. The man never learned how to finesse a situation. It also came across as a bit disingenuous that he was married 5 times – but was a real ‘family man’. He did seem to settle down once meeting his last wife (with whom he had his many children) and his first wife died tragically in WWI. The other 3 came across as diversions. The personal connection made this book interesting for me to read, but I would only recommend it if you are a real movie buff of the 1930’s and 40’s.

'Between the World and Me' by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates (4.0)

This book may likely become required reading for future high-schoolers to understand the experiences and feelings of a typical young black man growing up in the late 1900’s. Mr. Coates has written a small, but powerful book to his son trying to explain, using a few main events in his life, how his formative years defined him. Throughout the book he struggles with sharing the hard truths and protecting the innocence his son currently enjoys. While he knows his son lives in a different time and place, he also knows in reality enough has not changed for a young black man growing up in the US today. One of the most powerful lines in the book to me was: ‘You have been caste into a race in which the wind is always at your face and the hounds are always at your heels. And to varying degrees this is true of all life. The difference is that you do not have the privilege of living in ignorance of this essential fact.’  This book is not long and not preachy. It does a very good job of highlighting the challenges facing every black person today. As many studies have proven, we all have biases- some obvious and some not. While we can never truly walk in someone’s shoes, this book does a good job of describing what that experience is like.