Saturday, February 21, 2015

Turn the Page: How to Read Like a Top Leader - Chris Brady



This book is fantastic! There are a lot of great ideas that I'm going to incorporate into my reading immediately (taking organized notes, keeping track of words that I need to look up,etc), some ideas that I may do down the road, several things that I already do (nice to get affirmation) and a few ideas that I can never, ever, ever do (dog earring pages, reading the last paragraph of the book first are the two main ones). 

This book tells you how to read and get more out of your reading. It covers several methods to help your reading become more active, more productive, and more useful to you. This book will help you turn passive reading into active reading.  You will learn techniques and tips on how to get so much more out of your reading.  You don't have to agree and incorporate every idea in the book to enjoy this book.  You can take what works for you and leave the rest.  But I believe that everyone that reads this book WILL learn some useful tips/ideas.


 If you hate reading, read this book. If you love reading, read this book. If you want to get more out of your reading, that's right, read this book.


Thursday, February 12, 2015

A Thomas Jefferson Education - Oliver DeMille

Amazon Book Description:
Is American education preparing the future leaders our nation needs, or merely struggling to teach basic literacy and job skills? Without leadership education, are we settling for an inadequate system that delivers educational, industrial, governmental and societal mediocrity?
In A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century, Oliver DeMille presents a new educational vision based on proven methods that really work! Teachers, students, parents, educators, legislators, leaders and everyone who cares about America's future must read this compelling book.
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This book is so informative!  I love the concepts of a Thomas Jefferson education - reading and learning through the classics.  Not just classics in literature but in science, history, arts, math, etc. Also the approach used is much more of a mentor/coaching focus than on the traditional lecture format.  This method focuses on teaching people (of all ages) HOW to think (versus WHAT to think).

I think the ideas and plans in this book are brilliant.  I read classics with my daughter all the time (for pleasure) but will certainely implement some of the methods and ideas in this book to make the experience better for her (and me).

Also, the resources  alone(including book lists) in the back of the book are worth the purchase of the book.  If you have children or are hoping to learn more yourself, go pick this book up (borrow, buy, steal {ok, maybe not steal} now!