Many of us have students heading off to college for the first time and I was wondering what books they’ve been reading, or have been encouraged to read over the summer to get them ready for the big transition.
I heard Cal Newport on NPR’s Hidden Brain and was impressed with his commitment to “deep work”, avoiding distractions to get focused on the tasks at hand. I found out he wrote a book called “How to Win at College” so I bought that for our DD. Her school is also having them read “College Success” which is available online by OpenStax.
Anyone else have any recommendations?
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I would go back even further into Cal Newport’s catalogue to How to Become a Straight-A Student. Many already are, but they get there inefficiently. This is the work that started his Deep Work quest. It has practical, easy to follow organizational and time management tools.
I’d also recommend So Good They Can’t Ignore You by the same author. He deconstructs the “follow your passion” myth, suggesting that we can’t know what our passions truly are without experience and without that don’t have skills to parlay. He cites examples of people from all walks that put in the work before finding and following their passion.
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