Rating: 
Summary: Mindful learning leads to mindful teaching
Review: I read this book from the perspective of a college teacher, looking for new ways to think about what goes on in the classroom. My eyes were opened! Langer argues that learning need not be boring and students don't have to think of education as "work." She suggests ways to re-frame activities in ways that engage students in what they are doing and give them a reason to care about the outcomes. Langer attacks the myth that rote learning & blind memorization are the foundation for higher-order skills. She makes a strong case that "forgetting" is often a good thing. Teachers should be concerned about students understanding the contextual limitations of what they learn, rather than with "covering the material." Coupled with Bob Boice's several books on mindfulness in teaching, this book changed the way I think about college teaching.
Rating:
Summary: Mindful learning leads to mindful teaching
Review: I read this book from the perspective of a college teacher, looking for new ways to think about what goes on in the classroom. My eyes were opened! Langer argues that learning need not be boring and students don't have to think of education as "work." She suggests ways to re-frame activities in ways that engage students in what they are doing and give them a reason to care about the outcomes. Langer attacks the myth that rote learning & blind memorization are the foundation for higher-order skills. She makes a strong case that "forgetting" is often a good thing. Teachers should be concerned about students understanding the contextual limitations of what they learn, rather than with "covering the material." Coupled with Bob Boice's several books on mindfulness in teaching, this book changed the way I think about college teaching.
Rating: 
Summary: Mindless chauvinism propelled by neurotic cant
Review: Ironically although the author uses fairytales as parables, she misses the one which best describes this book: the story of gThe Emperor Who Has No Clothesh. Starting out, the first 6 pages raised my interest, and I was looking forward to the exploration of gthe mindsets that undermine the process of learningh. I guess that as an Executive I am a professional learner, but not an active and intense reader on this topic. Langerfs book simply caught my eye, and the encouraging testimonials by folk of renown persuaded me to buy it. What I found was a rambling discourse. And the author would have us believe that this meandering through all manner of trite is sheltered by the very notion of mindfulness itself i.e. gdifferent contextsh, gmultiple perspectivesh etc. Yes, the ideas are important, and they are certainly worth thinking about. But the style of the discourse reminds me of a Faculty Room conversation, fully laden with neuroses of political correctness and egalitarianism. Furthermore that Faculty Room could only be in America, with a decay of true mindfulness of other contexts and perspectives as an exponential power of the distance from Harvard. For example practitioners of Accelerated Learning across the globe have been applying Langer's ideas to real learning for years, yet are ignored in her discourse. So what is this book? It is not a textbook. It is not report of experimentation, the validity of gpolling 25 Harvard studentsh, and the authorfs childhood, provides no grounds for believing that we are talking about any sensible basis of experimental design. It is not gself-helph, or ghow-toh, despite the suggestion that it might be. Quite frankly, despite the eminent testimonials, the Emperor has no clothes. I read it a second time and sketched a mind-map in an attempt to temper my negativity, but unfortunately there is no doubt - its a dud. For enlightened and constructive insights into similar ideas I would refer readers to practical thinkers such as Edward DeBono.
Rating:
Summary: Must reading for any teacher or student.
Review: Langer compares the rote method of learning and performing (as a musician, teacher or student) with mindful learning which includes the dynamic variable of context. The context of the event is a part of the event and has an impact on what happens during the event. Teaching and learning is a dynamic process involving multiple communications in a combination of languages. If you want to improve your learning or performance of almost anything, read The Power of Mindful Learning by Ellem J.Langer. Better yet, invite her to your school district for a seminar. Look for her in the Psychology Department at Harvard University. I would like to obtain a list of her other books and papers. I am looking for a copy of her Psychology of Control. Any offers?
Rating:
Summary: Power of ideas
Review: Langer's style is more popular than academic. She presents plenty of empirical evidence to support her ideas, though there may not be enough data to satisfy some scholars. What she does well is challenge conventional wisdom, for example, that you have to learn to do the basics before acquring a new competence. Or, that we should encourage our children to 'pay more attention'. She dissects these beliefs and exposes the relatively shallow assumptions that underpin them. This has had great power for me, and I have tried to apply these insights mindfully. It is over a year since I first read this book. In that time I have found endless applications for Langer's concept of mindfulness. My training designs have been completely transformed by the idea, backed up by empirical evidence, that teaching people 'steps in a process' is essentially meaningless. I have borrowed constantly in writing and speech from her suggestion that 'conditional' language is more persuassive than 'unconditional'. Most importantly, I have learned to help other people become mindful about solving their problems in my coaching work.
Rating:
Summary: Power of ideas
Review: Langer's style is more popular than academic. She presents plenty of empirical evidence to support her ideas, though there may not be enough data to satisfy some scholars. What she does well is challenge conventional wisdom, for example, that you have to learn to do the basics before acquring a new competence. Or, that we should encourage our children to 'pay more attention'. She dissects these beliefs and exposes the relatively shallow assumptions that underpin them. This has had great power for me, and I have tried to apply these insights mindfully. It is over a year since I first read this book. In that time I have found endless applications for Langer's concept of mindfulness. My training designs have been completely transformed by the idea, backed up by empirical evidence, that teaching people 'steps in a process' is essentially meaningless. I have borrowed constantly in writing and speech from her suggestion that 'conditional' language is more persuassive than 'unconditional'. Most importantly, I have learned to help other people become mindful about solving their problems in my coaching work.
Rating:
Summary: The Nature Of Learning
Review: Ms. Langer effectively conveys her theory of mindful learning and its implications for education wherever it takes place - in school, on the job, in the home - and does so in a clearly expressed nonacademic manner. What is mindful learning? It is learning that involves "openness to novelty; alertness to distinction; sensitivity to different contexts; implicit, if not explicit, awareness of multiple perspectives; and orientation in the present." What might this all mean for us? Perhaps our educational curriculums need to be taught differently, maybe our jobs could be more enjoyable, and self-improvement less onerous. She states the myths of conventional learning:
1.The basics must be learned so well that they become second nature.
2.Paying attention means being focused on one thing at a time.
3.Delaying gratification is important.
4.Rote memorization is necessary.
5.Forgetting is a problem.
6.Intelligence is knowing "what's out there."
7.There are right and wrong answers.
Each chapter discusses, in a nondogmatic manner, theory and possible reasons why these myths are not always helpful. This is not, as Professor Langer states, a "how-to" book with prescriptions and study programs for the self-help "professional learner" (as one reviewer phrased it.) It doesn't have cute little "mind-maps," and it isn't a De Bono's "Thinking Course"-type book. The reviewer (Adamson, January 22, 1999) might have learned something if he'd been less smug about his naive faith in those "accelerated" learning books which don't deliver half of what they claim. Personally, I found this book extremely helpful in my own personal studies - from learning to play tennis and golf better, becoming more fluent in Spanish, improving my chess - since I try to find alternative methods, perspectives, and just plain fun in learning. I don't try to be perfect. I don't think there's only one way to do something. Try it.
Rating: 
Summary: Important information for anyone in formal education
Review: Prof. Langer examines aspects of traditional approaches to formal education in relation to her "mindfulness" concept arriving at 7 common problems. For the insights into those problems alone, the book is an important work and valuable. However, there are three areas of concern for prospective readers. First, the book does not explain the "mindfulness" concept throughly. The author seems to rely on readers having read her first book, MINDFULNESS, for that. Second, the book does not relate the "mindfulness" concept to similar popular concepts such as that of FLOW by Csikszentmihalyi. Without that comparision for completeness, the book is more of a report of the Professor's research than it is a self-help tool for the improvement of learning ability in general. Third and lastly, the style of writing tends to be overly concise and lacking in explanation at times. The author seems to struggle between an academic style of writing and a popular one directed at the self-help audience. As a result, there is a gap where the reader is left to ponder how to make the most of "mind*less*" learning situations on their own. The reader is also left with incomplete guidance as to how to create a mindful learning situation. As a result, the author does not go as far with the topic as perhaps she should. Nevertheless, it is a valuable work and I would recommend it to any serious student or educator.
Rating:
Summary: The Nature Of Learning
Review: Take the time to read this short analysis of sideways, mindful learning. Langer calls for us to allow for lateral thinking, to strive to cultivate it in our schools, and to approach each day by being open to life's multifariousness. She writes, "the very notion of intelligence may be clouded by a myth: the belief that being intelligent means knowing what is out there...An alternative view, which is the base of mindfulness research, is that individuals may always define their relations to their environment in several ways, essentially creating the reality that is out there. What is out there is shaped by how we view it" (p. 100). Reading this will help set you on your toes. Mindfulness is viewing the world from several perspectives; seeing the familiar as a novelty; attending to things with the full force of perception; and looking for more options when others say enough (p. 111). She calls for us to mature in our thinking, so that we will have intelligent ignorance in making the best of situations. It is good reading, good learning.
Rating:
Summary: It Re-Invents The Obvious
Review: Take the time to read this short analysis of sideways, mindful learning. Langer calls for us to allow for lateral thinking, to strive to cultivate it in our schools, and to approach each day by being open to life's multifariousness. She writes, "the very notion of intelligence may be clouded by a myth: the belief that being intelligent means knowing what is out there...An alternative view, which is the base of mindfulness research, is that individuals may always define their relations to their environment in several ways, essentially creating the reality that is out there. What is out there is shaped by how we view it" (p. 100). Reading this will help set you on your toes. Mindfulness is viewing the world from several perspectives; seeing the familiar as a novelty; attending to things with the full force of perception; and looking for more options when others say enough (p. 111). She calls for us to mature in our thinking, so that we will have intelligent ignorance in making the best of situations. It is good reading, good learning.
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