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Matt's avatar

I love this idea. I started looking around/thinking up textbooks I could make. I’m so far behind on reading The Custom of the Country (still book II) but maybe this will spur me on. Thanks Haley!

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haley larsen, phd's avatar

I love hearing that it sparked some ideas for textbooks for you!! :)

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Cary's avatar

What a great idea. I think most people don't realize how quick and inexpensive it is to have a stack of paper bound.

I read this right after a post by someone else I follow about reading (and re-reading) more closely, "The Double Bind Problem of Self-Taught Creatives Discovering Deeper Insights From Fewer Resources" (https://theblissfulnomad.substack.com/p/the-double-bind-problem-of-self-taught). A bit of a mouthful but I suffer from the same, ah, affliction, so it really resonated. Your post offers a perfect way to do that. Thanks!

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haley larsen, phd's avatar

Oh, that's lovely to hear! I'm so glad it's helpful to you.

I have really loved seeing the trend of personalized curriculum and syllabuses on the internet this fall -- and have also thought that it might lead many folks to dead-ends (not of their own making, of course, but because part of the joy of a curriculum is that it's meant for a classroom setting, where resources, references, and your teacher's expertise and support tend to abound).

I'm glad a self-made textbook might prove a helpful tool for you, as you craft ideas and themes for self-guided study! If you ever want more close reading recommendations, let me know!

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Cary's avatar

I think that, if anything, we need more personalization in education at least as much as we need to retool it. Only about a zillion people have pointed out that our industrial age, assembly-line-inspired education system is not serving us so well in a day and age when career changes are not just far more common but sometimes mandated as new technologies arise and others obsolesce.

So, after reading Saili's article I linked to in my original comment, I did look back through my highest rated books of the last couple of years with an eye to IDing the ones I ought to closely re-read. It's kind of a mixed bag, of stuff I was reading because of grief, because I'd just been diagnosed as autistic, and my usual weird mix of the oodles of topics I'm interested in (but which I, at least, can connect up in my mind).

I feel like it would be too much of an imposition to throw all that at you and see wha you recommend. And I wouldn't want to do it here in comments, of course. But if you are up for that, send me a message. If nothing else, I am *always* happy to talk about books and reading with a fellow book nerd/lover.

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Aly's avatar

I love this idea, thanks for sharing! It sounds so fun! Plus it adds those tactile and creative elements which can help the brain encode material better.

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The Islamabad Review of Books's avatar

I love this!!

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Shanti's avatar

Exactly what I wanted. I am digitally hopeless in creating something like this. Overwhelmed with all those creative tools out there.

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Despina Kay's avatar

This is a really excellent idea. Thank you soooo sooo much for teaching this to us.

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