the cheapest teachers

In an effort to make this blog less whiny and more useful, I have decided to share how I taught myself some things with books. I am completely credulous when it comes to print material. I think I got this from my mom who will believe anything if it's in a bound book. And that has served us both well given that the print media is one of the more reliable forms of information these days. It is still important to have a discerning eye for a good book vs. trash, but that comes with practice and dictated very much by personal taste.

Anyway, when there is something I want to teach myself, a skill I want to acquire, I naturally turn to books. As mentioned, I believe in the power of books, but there were practical aspects too. Books are really the cheapest teachers.

So I've never went to cram school. And now own way too many test prep books. And I've taught myself how to knit from a book or two and still prefer my patterns from a book than an internet source. I started off with some frustrating books, but now have found the books just right for me (and I think for many others) in teaching myself how to play the guitar. I don't sound so horrible anymore (woohoo!).

I have also failed with books. I tried to teach myself how to cook from books, but alas, I just have absolutely no interest or talent in the kitchen. Of course if I were to invest more time in this endeavor, I may succeed. I've also had partial success teaching myself to draw and paint from books. I've learned a lot from the books and instructional art books are wonderful to look at (and to smell--oh the paper is so good)... but I find that for fine arts, I like to learn in a classroom setting.

Other odds and ends: I've taught myself the little bit of logic I need for the LSAT, as well as the LSAT, from a books (and thus can go on forever expounding my opinions on that matter). I have taught myself the English grammar never taught in my secondary school from a workbook. And one of my hobbies is to do workbooks (because I like to fill out forms)... so I have a physiology coloring book (with really good content) and a couple of Spanish grammar books I am chugging through for fun. Because I like getting and doing the workbooks so much, I like to sign up for standardized tests. Okay, this is where I stop leaking the crazy info.

But well, I think I am ready to share now more specifically how some of those skills were acquired through books--an idea that hit me while I was writing an email to Laura about knitting. So wait for it... I will give out completely unsolicited opinions and advice on how to learn skills from books. It will have to be personal in nature--I can only write about the books I have encountered and not ones I've never seen or read no matter how wonderful they may be.