A Guidebook to Learning: For a Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom by Adler Mortimer J. (1986-03-31) Hardcover Hardcover – January 1, 1739

I had a good buying experience. The book's condition arrived as described. Delivery was quick.

Good read, but do be prepared! The book is a sort of explanation and chronological coverage of the different ways the organization of knowledge has been handled and can be divided. His attacks on over-specialization, explanation of the superior way to organize knowledge, and his attempts to help his readers learn how to have a truly liberal education are invaluable.

Arrived very quickly! Completely satisfied!

"A Guidebook for Learning" by Mortimer Adler is a thought-provoking work that addresses the challenges of education in our information-rich era. Adler's ambitious goal - to provide a comprehensive guide for those seeking true education amidst the modern knowledge explosion - is admirably realized in this insightful book.Adler's critique of the alphabetical organization of knowledge in encyclopedias, library catalogs, and university course listings is particularly compelling. He argues convincingly that this approach creates a fragmented and chaotic understanding of knowledge.The book's historical survey of classification systems is enlightening, offering readers a broader perspective on how knowledge has been organized throughout time. Adler's proposed solutions to "alphabetiasis" are innovative, particularly his endorsement of the Encyclopedia Britannica's Propaedia and the Syntopicon of the Great Books of the Western World as superior learning guides.It's an essential read for educators, students, and professionals in library and information science. Adler's work challenges us to rethink our approach to organizing and acquiring knowledge, making it a valuable resource for anyone committed to meaningful learning in the modern age.

"A Guidebook to Learning" is a short book. It reads quickly, but has some profound thoughts.Mortimer writes that our day and age is unique in history. Up till the 1800s a person could master most of the knowledge a civilization might have. But now information is exploding and there is no way to keep up. Because not all information is equal people need a structure for evaluating which subjects they should learn.The book starts by covering how encyclopedias, universities and libraries all organize information alphabetically. The encyclopedias have a large number of articles, sorted alphabetically. Universities provide catalogs of courses, which are sorted alphabetically. Books in libraries are broken into sections, and within these sections the books are sorted alphabetically. Information organized alphabetically does not help the student figure out which information is important, and which information could be ignored or delayed in learning.Mortimer covers twenty five hundred years of how Western Civilization has organized information. He explains how various people proposed teaching, their motivations, expections, and the approaches.For example Plato structures his scheme for educating students around a goal of becoming the rulers. In his first phase students master gymnastics and music, then later analysis, reasoning and argument. In the second phase they learn mathematics, geometry, astronomy and more music.And Francis Bacon broke education into memory, imagination and then reason.The last part of the book gives suggestions how a modern learner can structure his continued education. Mortimer sees four stages to an education:1) Information: the basic foundation of data, acquired bit by bit, as we move through life.2) Knowledge: here information is acquired in a more systematic fashion.3) Understanding: the learner can see relationships between knowledge and understands cause and effect.4) Wisdom: here the can make wise use of what he understands.Mortimer breaks an education into two groups. One is a core group of knowledge which he argues that everyone should master. The second is specialization knowledge. This could be for your job, like computer programming languages. Or it might be for a hobby, like bee keeping.He challenges the reader to become an autodidact. He encourages us to read books, but to do more than read, to discuss the meaning of the books. For it is only by discussing that we can get additional insight into the meaning of a book.This is a good book, well worth reading. I will probably buy it and have my daughters read it when they get older. And we'll then discuss the book.

I found it dull and uninteresting except for a few things here and there. He goes into much detail about the history of the organization of knowledge, which sounds fascinating, but turns out to be quite boring in this book. I kept wanting to get to the good stuff: the guidebook, the how-to of autodidactism. After finishing the book I understood that the book is not the guidebook it claims to be. It is not a book of directions or advice; it is mainly information, lots and lots of information.However, it may be that I have not read enough of his books to appreciate this one.