Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning

To be honest, my rating of this book is largely carried by the prologue. It was captivating, and interesting, and really made me want to dive more into the book. That the rest of the book wasn't quite as compelling is unfortunately just the way it is. While still engaging, it didn't hold that magic of exploration that the intro did.Vanderbilt has a premise; that people can be lifelong learners. As someone who studied training and development and particularly learning for adults, I fully support and believe in that. But, it stands to change that methods and abilities also change as we age and hold other responsibilities. He starts with denoting the differences between him and his daughter as they seek to learn chess, and their approaches based on age and experience. Then, leaving his daughter as a joint person in learning behind, he outlines his experiences learning other skills; singing, surfing, jewelry-making, juggling and more. His goal is not to become an expert (although frequently we fall into that trap when learning) but just to appreciate the learning for learning's sake.Again, his intro was the most interesting to me, I think because it did offer that variance between him and his daughter and touched on methods of learning more. While there was some science around learning included in the other chapters, it didn't quite capture the attention as much. I still enjoyed reading about his various endeavors and appreciated that there wasn't a milestone end or significant goal to be reached. It reminds me too of how much I learn to try to be the best at something, which is an impossibility. Does it speak to our culture? My own personality? Probably a mixture of both in truth.From a purely reading standpoint, I experienced this book in three different ways. The first was reading it out loud to my significant other, which combined with the fact it was my favorite part of the book, was an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, my voice gave out too often, and I then switched to the audiobook, in which the narrator (Vanderbilt himself) was so soothing that we couldn't really listen without falling asleep quickly. Which then led me back to finishing the book just reading it in general (no going back to losing my voice, sorry s/0).If you're interested in the science of learning, recognize that this just touches on it briefly and is more of a personal experience narrative. But it's valuable in its own right and hopefully gives some inspiration to keep learning, no matter the outcome.Review by M. Reynard 2023

"Beginners" is a book recommended on the "Modern Mrs. Darcy" site. The author believes that "Beginner parents also become beginner teachers." p. 18. In order to encourage his growing daughter to learn new things, he wanted to learn some new skills himself, and perhaps even more importantly, reconnect with learning new skills for himself. "In learning along with our children, by tackling things together as beginners, sharing the pratfalls and little triumphs, we can actually teach them one of the most valuable lessons of all: just because you're not immediately good at something does not mean you won't eventually get it." p. 24.Vanderbilt started his journey in learning new skills by joining his daughter's chess class (open to all beginners, not just children.) As w/ any learner of a new skill, Vanderbilt soon learned how much he had YET to learn; he also learned that children learn faster than adults - language, new skills, the whole gamut of activities. Children don't have all the neuronal connections yet, so have "room" to forge many of them more quickly. (That's MY distillation of what the author spent pages telling us.)I liked that Vanderbilt tried learning both artistic AND physical skills. From chess, he took classes in surfing, ocean swimming, juggling, singing, metal-working (jewelry), and drawing, explaining what he had to UNlearn in order to get his technique correct in each skill."Beginners" was a refreshingly different type of read for me, and by reading it, I am encouraged to continue trying to learn new things (even more Spanish!) in the new year of 2023.

When is the last time you were truly a beginner at something?Have you tried a new sport, taken up a new hobby, attempted a musical instrument, tried to bake sourdough bread? If not, what are you missing out on?That is the premise of Tom Vanderbilt’s new book Beginners. Tom explores the psychology, neuroscience, and social norms of becoming a beginner at a new task. Tom’s journey starts when his daughter wants him to teach her chess. Only he realizes, he doesn’t really know how to play chess. This starts an exploration of what it means to be a beginner at something new. As Tom learns chess, surfing, singing, juggling, open water swimming and jewelry making he takes the reader along to understand the value that they can find in becoming a beginner and maybe more importantly, why we as adults don’t take on new things.One of my favorite lines is this: “A person with a growth mindset believes that passions are “developed,” knowing it may not come easy or ever. These people are likely to be more motivated to stick with the pursuit when challenges arise.”So do you have that growth mindset? Are ready to try something new? Let Tom show you the way.

It was/is a thoughtful book, to stimulate anyone with an open mindset to rediscover what it means to learn new things. It playfully explores what it means to pick up (new) things like chess, surfing, open water swimming, drawing, etc. Learning to learn. Why should we stop just because we are a bit older? I’m thankful for reading this book, particularly during this lockdown period when so many things seem impossible but certainly aren’t (or soon that will change, what a great perspective)!

Just lovely!Loved it from beginning to beginning!

As a strong believer in continuous improvement and learning, I found this book to be a great way to motivate myself to go out and learn something new. It has a great balance of storytelling from the author’s own experiences as a beginner, and also a few facts and interesting studies about how we learn. Easy and fun read.

This book encourages people to try a new activity at any age. Although it was written by a 50 year old, pensioners should take it on board as well. Whatever you were thinking of, don't think about it, do it!

This book was enjoyable to read, but I’m not sure that it really said anything deep or profound. It seems to follow the modern trend of just telling stories, without much analysis or attempt to get at the deeper truth. I would have liked to see frameworks or explanations, or how-to information, alongside the stories.

This is not a how to or instruction book. But throughout the author experiences a lot of lessons are to be learn. A amazing easy read, that grips you on his tales of learning.