Dancing With Your Books: The Zen Way of Studying

Rating:
Summary: Change your prespective about studying!
Review: I absolutely love this book! It has really helped me change my prespective about studying. Before I found this book, I hated studying. I'd shiver at the thought of spending hours on school assignments that seemed pointless to me. Studying really felt like a painful chore, something that just had to be done. I refused to look at studying as a chance to enjoy learning. I believed studying was impossible to enjoy, if I didn't think it would benefit me in some way. I was always clumsy with my books, I didn't know how to dance with them. However now that I have found this book, I know I can learn to dance with my books and actually enjoy learning. I highly recommand this book to anyone who has always seen studying as a chore. Anyone who believes that it's impossible to enjoy learning and yet has always had the desire to dance with their books!

Rating:
Summary: Don't miss the chance to improve your concentration!!!
Review: I found this book to be incredibly helpful not only in improving my studying habits but also my work habits. My grades have improved as has my work performance.

Rating:
Summary: Focus. Relax. Enjoy. Discipline your mind.
Review: The author has made a very personal work here. He's like a mentor, a coach, a big brother to the reader, telling you pretty deep advice about how to change your attitude in all things. He starts by explaining how you can relax, enjoy, and focus on all phases of your life, whether it be eating, taking a shower, walking, whatever. He then gives very specific pointers on using your new found focus in your studies. The reader is advised to live in the moment, thereby increasing your performance meaningful. By acting with meaning and purpose and focus, your actions become much more efficient.

It's a simple, short book, and very easy, pleasant reading. JJ Gibbs has an effective writing style and has really succeeded in making a book which is much more than a how-to-study guide. I keep it on the shelf next to What Color Is Your Parachute.

For my money, this beats the pants off of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence (admittedly a work with a different intent) for persons interested in disciplining their mind.

I read and successfully applied these principles between 1992 and 1996 in graduate school, studying chemistry. The principles taught by the book have influenced me in more than just study habits, though. My copy of the book is now dog-eared from having read it several times through and I think of it's message often.