Top Books to Boost Your Learning Ability

Learning persists beyond the classroom and throughout our lives. According to worldwide research by UiPath, many workers recognize the need for lifelong learning. Around 86% of respondents believe that their employers should provide opportunities to gain new skills, while another 83% would like to receive opportunities to enhance their current ones. They also noted that they would be more inclined to stay with jobs that offer these learning opportunities. After all, commitment to growth is essential to keep up with current trends and retain relevant information in a fast-moving world.

But what is the best way of learning? In our post on different “Ways to Increase Your Knowledge About Everything“, we discussed how 65% of people are visual learners and found reading to be a great method for boosting knowledge. We also touched on how reading can help us improve our learning the process to effectively develop current skills and acquire new ones.

To get you going on your reading journey, here are four books that can enhance and shape your learning abilities:

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Developing habits is part of human nature, and people thrive on routine. In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg dives into how people develop habits, as backed by science, and derives a three-step loop on this function: cue, trigger, and reward. Any change in habits requires a lot of time and effort, and the book provides plenty of real-world inspiration to help readers better themselves. These can be applied not only to learning processes but also to many other behaviors.

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Common studying practices such as cramming, rereading, highlighting, underlining, and single-minded repetition of new skills may seem efficient at first, but can prove the opposite in the long term. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown provides research-based insights into these habits and how they can give the undesirable illusion of mastery. To correct inefficient practices, Brown suggests ditching traditional studying routines and instead promote strategies like knowledge retrieval to keep the mind active and improve memory. These tips can help readers enhance their learning performance and really “make it stick.” While memorization isn’t the only goal, retention is key to effective learning.

Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career

There is no one-solution approach when it comes to learning.  Ultralearning by Scott Young instead provides principles for how someone can take self-directed action, starting with learning-how-to-learn before actually putting new skills into practice. Mastering a skill in a short time is difficult but possible through the powerful Ultralearning method, and these flexible tactics can be adapted for success in a variety of situations, both in personal and professional settings.

How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens

Is the way we study truly the most optimal way to learn? In How We Learn, Benedict Carey tackles questions we ask about how we keep information. It provides a sequential approach to our biology, how we recognize patterns, and ultimately how we process and apply information. Carey recommends unique ways of retaining knowledge, such as testing yourself and even getting enough sleep. Learning is a lengthy process, but much like an exercised muscle, you can develop greater strength over time.

Approaching sustainable success can be achieved through lifelong learning. These books provide a greater perspective on how one can start becoming an evergreen student. Honing these abilities will lead to opportunities for faster growth — be it as a scholar, an enthusiast, an educator, or an employee.