learning from a lecture requires active thinking: listeners must rebuild the hierarchical organization of what they hear.

recommend that you take notes on alternate pages; in other words, leave every other page blank.

(1) a fact (the meaning of parlous) or (2) a connection (pizza and minnows) and find nothing.

Judge the effectiveness of a method by the results, not by how it feels to do it.

memory is the residue of thought and organization helps memory.

I was equally dumbfounded to discover that repetition, although it often helps learning, doesn’t guarantee it.

Outsmarting your brain means doing the mental exercise that feels harder but is going to bring the most benefit in the long run.

When you’re trying to learn, your brain tells you to do the mental equivalent of push-ups on your knees. Your brain encourages you to do things that feel easy and feel like they are leading to success.

The second time you encounter material, it’s easier to understand, whether you’re reading it or hearing it; plan your reading and listening accordingly.