Monday, January 10, 2011

Review: Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar

Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar
How Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion Can Lead to a Lifetime of Success
by James Marcus Bach
Chronicle Books, 2009

Many people who failed to thrive in a traditional classroom setting have gone on to become highly successful in business, industry, arts and even the sciences. Despite low grades, none lacked intelligence. Instead, they developed their own nontraditional learning styles that helped them achieve in their chosen fields .

James Marcus Bach, son of the Richard Bach who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull, is one such example. He dropped out of school with an 8th grade education, and yet by his early 20's he had became a software tester at Apple Computers.

Part autobiography and part self-help book, Bach explains in these pages why he didn't get much of an eduation in schools, yet was able to educate himself. He outlines his unique style of education in these pages, providing the reader a curriculum guide for self-education.

Bach's primary lesson is that the real key to getting an eduation, and staying educated, is a love of learning.

“The pattern I experienced at Apple would be confirmed almost everywhere I traveled in the computer industry: most people have put themselves on intellectual autopilot. Most don’t study on their own initiative, but only when they are forced to do so. Even when they study, they choose to study the obvious and conventional subjects. This has the effect of making them more alike instead of more unique. It’s an educational herd mentality.”

Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
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