often books need not be used at all

often books need not be used at all. One learns dancing by dancing or learns to play the loot by playing the loot. The same is true of thinking, and indeed of living. Every experience can be a learning opportunity. The child should learn to question everything that is to pass everything through a sieve and large nothing in his head on mere authority and trust.

— from Expanding Your Range (Growth/Change/Education/Learning/Habit) · How to Live by Sarah Bakewell

In the book

We absorb most of them uncritically — through childhood indoctrination, through authority figures, through the need to belong, through social proof, and through our own insecurities. The remedy is to question everything, to pass every claim through a sieve and lodge nothing in your head on mere authority and trust. And never forget the point of all of it: it is not the learning itself that is crucial, but the actions the learning brings about — not study but practice is the main thing. […] Trust the daily over the dramatic. What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while; automate the routine so your energy is free for what matters; and master the basics rather than chasing shortcuts. Stay a student of the world. Read widely to borrow other people's experience; learn by doing, not only by reading; ask those ahead of you what they wish they'd known; and question everything, passing each claim through a sieve before you keep it. To my children, and to theirs: — Expanding Your Range (Growth/Change/Education/Learning/Habit)

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