Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mind [Paperback]

Colin Rose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 1998

We live in an era when the unprecedented speed of change means: The only certainty is uncertainty; you can't predict what skills will be useful in ten years time; in most professions knowledge is doubling every two or three years; and no job is forever--so being employable means being flexible and retraining regularly.

Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century contains a simple but proven plan that delivers the one key skill that every working person, every parent and student must master, and every teacher should teach: it's learning how to learn. The theory of eight multiple intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist) developed by Howard Gardner at Harvard University provides a foundation for the six-step MASTER-Mind system to facilitate learning (an acronym for Mind, Acquire, Search, Trigger, Exhibit, and Review), and is enhanced by the latest findings on the value of emotion and memory on the process of learning.

Combined with motivational stories of success applying these principles, and putting forth a clear vision of how the United States can dramatically improve the education system to remain competitive in the next century, Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century is a dynamic tool for self-improvement by individuals as diverse as schoolchildren and corporate executives.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

We live in an era when the unprecedented speed of change means: The only certainty is uncertainty; you can't predict what skills will be useful in ten years time; in most professions knowledge is doubling every two or three years; and no job is forever--so being employable means being flexible and retraining regularly.

Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century contains a simple but proven plan that delivers the one key skill that every working person, every parent and student must master, and every teacher should teach: it's learning how to learn. The theory of eight multiple intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist) developed by Howard Gardner at Harvard University provides a foundation for the six-step MASTER-Mind system to facilitate learning (an acronym for Mind, Acquire, Search, Trigger, Exhibit, and Review), and is enhanced by the latest findings on the value of emotion and memory on the process of learning.

Combined with motivational stories of success applying these principles, and putting forth a clear vision of how the United States can dramatically improve the education system to remain competitive in the next century, Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century is a dynamic tool for self-improvement by individuals as diverse as schoolchildren and corporate executives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Dell (February 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440507790
• ISBN-13: 978-0440507796
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

182 of 201 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boooooooo! Hisssssss!, June 14, 2000

By 

John Noodles (A Field in ND, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mind (Paperback)

I'm beginning to detect a pattern in these so-called "accelerated-learning" books. For one thing, their authors seem to be using them to greater or lesser degrees as platforms from which to hawk their seminars and mail-order courses. For another, they all have a gimmick. For instance, Tony Buzan's is "Mind Mapping," Paul Scheele's is "PhotoReading," Wim Wenger's is "Image Streaming"...and Rose's/Nicholl's is Acronyms. Sometimes these gimmicks work--as in the case of Buzan's--and sometimes they're pure snake oil (PhotoReading).

I wouldn't go so far as to call this book snake oil...but I also wouldn't go so far as to call it useful, either. There is very little fresh, useful information here. I have found better information in other books (try Buzan's--his books also smack of hucksterism, but they *do* contain some useful information and techniques). Aside from the "learning maps" technique (that is, Mind Mapping), there is very little here that will seem like more than very basic common sense to even the most mediocre of intellects. In other words, if you're absolutely helpless when it comes to learning, this book might help. If you're hoping, however, that this book will help you more readily absorb material in your graduate Victorian Poetry seminar, forget it.

This book is heavy on background information--research, sanitized for lay people. The instruction the give in analytical thinking is laughable. My impression is that the target audience is for the most part corporations...and I have to ask, "Do they really think business executives and secretaries are so stupid?" Here's their "learning strategy" for problem-solving:

D efinition

A lternatives

N arrow Down

C hoose and check the consequences

E ffect

Then they go on to expand on these hard-to-grasp concepts. Much of the book consists of this type of pablum.

The front cover declares that this book will help you "Master a foreign language with ease." Guess what their instruction consists of...An ENTIRE CHAPTER devoted to peddling their language course. That's it! Unbelievable! They devote several more pages at the end of the book to peddle their program, too.

This is a TERRIBLE book. Anyone who says otherwise is probably working for the publisher! You've been warned.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Some Strategies Just Repackaged, November 2, 2004

By 

Victor (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mind (Paperback)

Loads of hype and salespitch! The methods described in this book are fairly flexible, but they are so hyped up that it is not easy to cope with the dissapointment after the hype. The only good part of their story is the "search for meaning" section of the MASTER learning method that goes some way to promoting thinking before memory.

There are tons of stories and anecdotes in the pages that have already been debunked, and a good amount of serious salesmanship.

One warning though! I did do a websearch on the company and found that they are currently being prosecuted for advertising against the trades descriptions act in the UK. They claimed falsly to be able to teach a foreigh language within just a few hours, amongst other such nonsense.

Lots of dodgy sales methods, but no real payback!

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray!, August 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mind (Paperback)

I found Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century to be an enlightening, well-researched, comprehensive and even entertaining book.

It is an excellent introduction to the entire accelerated learning system of learning which the authors seem to have applied from cradle to grave! Although the subject matter ranges from early learning to corporate training, from the value of music to language-learning, there is plenty of "meat" for would-be learners of any age or interest.

It is not a book for intellectual snobs but for people seriously interested in improving their personal ability to learn anything faster and easier.