Getting Better All the Time

Maybe it's the two exceedingly large cups of coffee I had this morning, but I want to tell the internet that I really, really like Joshua Foer's "Moonwalking with Einstein".

I have this on audiobook, and for non-fiction it's easy on the ears. In short, this is a book about Joshua Foer learning to improve his memory while also investigation the way memory has been understood to work throughout history. I'll let you link to the review for more of the gist, but I'll tell you now that one of the things I'm really enjoying is the chapter entitled, "The OK Plateau." Here, he places memory improvement next to all kinds of efforts to develop expertise, and comes back again and again to the virtue of deliberate practice: focus on your technique, remain goal-oriented, and get immediate feedback. Perhaps because I'm teaching Kaplan courses right now, I appreciate the reminder that such firmness of purpose is the cornerstone to sustained improvement. And that's it right now; time to throw my whole deliberate self into vacuuming, loading the washer, and washing some dishes!