#WrongBook is finally out!
If you’re not sure whether it’s for you, here’s a summary to whet your appetite.
I’m very proud of it and hope you enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’re wondering whether to shell out your hard-earned cash, here is Robert Coe’s review, and also some snippets from others who’ve read the book. And apart from anything else, it clocks in at 464 pages and looks damned impressive on your bookshelf.
Many thanks to everyone who’s sent in a photo of themselves reading the #WrongBook or shelfie with the #WrongBook conspicuously bulking out their bookshelf. Keep em coming!
Reviews
Jane Manzone (not everyone likes it!)
More #WrongBook pics
I’ve just ordered this. Looking forward to reading it!
I was wondering, why group both affective bias and cognitive bias under the label cognitive bias? Is it not misleading? Perhaps a different label could be used, one that might work as hypernym, say individual bias or personal bias. It seems to me that there is value in the distinction, but would welcome the rationale behind the choice to bundle them together.
I group so-called affective and cognitive biases together because they both take place in the mind and are both connected to cognition. In fact I’d go further and say that all so-called cognitive biases would probably be more accurately called affective biases but then the term cognitive bias is much better known and – with the exception of you – the lumping of the two under the same term has drawn no comment or seemed to produce any confusion.
How do you feel there would be a benefit to ‘unbundling’?
Just finished reading #WrongBook … Fascinating and troubling in equal measure – but I’m certain that’s the aim! Two key moments I wanted to share … Firstly the “Hell, yeah!” moment: teacher as expert. I’ll never forget a cringeworthy “Speed Dating” type training session I endured a few years ago. During it, all teachers had two minutes to “sell” a resource or method used in their classroom to a series of potential “dates” … An old, much-loved, cynical maths teacher plonked himself grumpily in front of me (I was clasping some ridiculous Bloom’s bookmark …) He glared at me and said: “I know more than the students do. I tell them what I know. At the end of the lesson, they know a little bit more than they did at the start.” Then, job done, he sat back and folded his arms. Class. Of course, I know there’s more to your point than that but, after training myself in the art of saying less and standing back helplessly while students merrily make a complete hash of a concept, a text or whatever, it feels good to be given the go ahead to go on and be the expert again! Secondly, the “Oh my God, yeah!” moment: Threshold Concepts. A real Epiphany for me. And it made me think of a way to get this across to other teachers in my department. Have you read “Incognito: The Secret Life of the Brain” by David Eagleman? There’s a brilliant little visual trick in Chapter 2 which I feel perfectly sums up the idea of Threshold Concepts. I won’t give it away as this defeats the purpose of the experiment but it’s attributed to Ahissar and Hochstein, 2004. And the beauty of it is, is that, until an ‘expert’ points it out to you, you just can’t see it; once you’ve been told, you just can’t see anything else!
So – thanks for the book. I have to go back and chew over some of the more dissonance-inducing ideas … but I’m grateful for both the endorsement of and the exploding of some of my most dearly-held tenets of teacherly faith.
Great anecdote and thanks for the tip about Ahissar & Hochstein – I’ll be sure to look it up
Dear David,
I have just finished reading your book and I am using it pretty much every day to refer back too. I really like the way its written and the summary at the end. I also love the sign posting at the bottom of the page – a masterstroke.
I have one question: I am using spacing. interleaving to help with my nine year old mastery of knowledge with his maths and English. Can you tell me, if I do this, will he be able to transfer (link) this back into school? Or is home, “Homework” redundant? I often use different, tools (Ipad, paper, Mac), also rooms in the house and times to deliver his “interventions” after school at home.
Regards,
Dominic
Will he be able to transfer what’s he’s learned? Hard to know. This post might be useful: https://www.learningspy.co.uk/learning/the-trouble-with-transfer/
Thanks for the positive feedback. Much appreciated!