To guide you on the path of positivity in the new year, four books provide support, affirmation and inspiration. Whether inspiring parents to join their children in trying new activities, encouraging group learning experiences or explaining how a neurobiologist might benefit from studying the tango, Vanderbilt maintains an upbeat and optimistic tone, like an encouraging friend. In this episode of the podcast, I ask best selling author Tom Vanderbilt about his new book Beginners and why engaging in the childhood joy of learning is. There may be instructional videos galore on YouTube, he argues, but it’s still better to learn with a class and a teacher. He’s also subtly radical in his unabashed rejection of futurism. As he chronicles his own experiences of studying how to sing, surf, draw, weld and juggle, he encourages listeners to embrace a “beginner’s mind” that facilitates lifelong learning. He takes listeners on an exploratory tour through infant psychology, educational theory and cognitive science.

Stuck in a gentle rut of mid-career competence, he decides to spend a year learning new skills. Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning Tom Vanderbilt 3.67 2,557 ratings379 reviews Want to read Kindle 10. Vanderbilt, who reads his own book, acknowledges that adults are rarely comfortable learning new skills. In this book, Tom Vanderbilt joins the growing army of beginners. In Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning (7.5 hours), author Tom Vanderbilt invites us to work through our fears and embrace the joy of learning something new. Acquiring a new skill is often daunting, and as an adult it can be downright embarrassing to struggle with an unfamiliar process.

Beginners book tom vanderbilt