Book 1 of 2009 ‘Study is Hard Work’ William H Armstrong

William H Armstrongs book which I found via Librarything is a Study Skills Guide in the most traditonal educational sense, the kind of education you see in Public Schools rather than State run Classrooms, and it is definitely School Masterish but don’t let that put you off

William H Armstrong is a a devil for the detail. He advises Students to tackle things in depth and in a  a detailed Subject attending way. Attention to detail he maintains will speed you up in the long run. This means this is a book for the Keenies the educational hardocore the devoted School Pupil or Undergradaute. He  dismisses no Subject, all Subjects are important to him and he is unashamedly traditionalist. He speaks eloquently of his Subjects . One must do Subjects because one has to, not because one is interested, if interest were the only criteria then he surmises we would get nothing done if interest were our only guidepoint.

The Author is a a Disciplinarian who loves his Studies who teaches us to love our studies. In each Chapter before you read it there are five questions gauging interest (or not) in a Subject, followed by at end a Five Question review of the Chapter to see how well you have been paying attention.

Reading Reading Reading is the baseline of all study and naturally he advocates a love of the book as essential to the task. He would be horrified at some of the things happening in the Education system at the moment. Such as Students who find it difficult to read set books, or the decline in the public Library. The decline of Maths and Science in Schools would give him kittens.

I must confess I thought this is a book to take one chapter at a time but ended up rushing it a bit because references to Assignments are plainly irrelevant to me. I struggled with his no nonsense old fashioned tone but gradually came to terms with it.

A  first class book from someone who knows how to study.

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