NOTICE: (Updated March 5, 2010)

Beginning December 19, 2009, Books 'N Border Collies will be posting but only intermittently while I pursue personal goals. I plan to share some reading I'm doing, but there will be no reviews. I will, however, be sharing my exploration of vegetarian cooking and the cookbooks and websites I use to educate myself. I hope you enjoy it!

Lezlie



Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Experimenting With Knowledge Blocks



The first concept in my 2009 Lifetime Learning Project is "To explore various methods of self-education on various topics in order to identify subjects and techniques I would like to use going forward with my Lifetime Learning Project." One of the methods I am going to begin experimenting with is something I am calling "Knowledge Blocks". Here is my working definition:

"Knowledge Blocks" will consist of a minimum of three books making up a theme. At least one of the books must be non-fiction. After the books are read, I must write about the theme connecting the books, how each book fit in and what I learned.

The reason I have chosen to model the definition this way is three-fold. First, while I will allow myself to include as many books in a Block as I want to read, if I require more than three books, I risk running into problems with my short attention span. Three allows a decent introductory exploration of a topic without it feeling like a chore. Second, I always mean to read more non-fiction but never seem to make room for it. The non-fiction component of the Block provides an incentive. And third, my dream is to someday write a non-fiction book. The writing component of the Block will help to develop the habits of conscious planning, orderly thinking and daily writing.

One of the first examples of these Blocks will most likely be on art forgery. I will be tying together the reading of Girl With A Pearl Earring, The Forgery of Venus, and a book I'm waiting for from the library called The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century.



Let the experiment begin!



14 comments:

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

This sounds like a well-thought-out plan. Your first topic includes two books that are already on my TBR list so I'll be waiting to hear what you have to say about them. :)

Lezlie said...

Heather ~ Thank you! I have my thoughts on those first two books posted already. The titles are linked to the posts if you want to check them out.

Lezlie

Jeane said...

What a great way to learn about something new. I really liked the Girl with a Pearl Earring, it will be interesting to see how the other books are, and what it's like to read them together. Hey, I gave you a blog award!

Lezlie said...

Hi, Jeane! I hooked up your review to Pearl Earring so people could see another POV. And thank you so much for the award!!

Lezlie

Anonymous said...

Very impressive.

Literary Feline said...

This is a great idea, Lezlie! I look forward to seeing your your experiment progresses.

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

What a terrific idea! An entrepreneur friend of mine follows a rule that, if you want to know how to do something new, talk to three people who know how to do it. That idea has always appealed to me. Your knowledge block plan is a twist on the same concept. I like it!


(Also, I may want to borrow your picture for my All Kitten blog.)

Lezlie said...

BkClubCare ~ Thank you! I have high hopes for this idea!

Literary Feline ~ Thanks! If it works out well, I'm hoping to find a way to build on it for bigger projects.

Rose City Reader ~ Thanks! And you absolutely may borrow the picture. I just found it on a random Google search for school images. :-) Gotta support Kitten Blog!

Lezlie

joanna said...

Hello there Lezlie, my inspiration. ;-) I've been struggling with coming up with a concrete plan for my own project, largely due to the fact that pretty much everything interests me. History, anthropology, science, literature, etc etc etc. Maybe this knowledge block concept is something for me? Hmmmm....

Lezlie said...

LOL! Hi, Joanna! I completely understand. I can already see alterations in my plan because I'm easily distracted. There is just so much interesting stuff out there to read and discover! I'm hoping this Knowledge Blocks idea can harness that wild curiousity, and turn it into a useful tool I can expand on rather than always simply collecting random trivia. Not that there's anything wrong with random trivia! :-) Give it a try! I'd love to hear how it works out for you!

Lezlie

Ladytink_534 said...

What a cute picture!

Lezlie said...

Ladytink ~ I really liked that one, too. It may become the Knowledge Blocks official post photo. :-)

Lezlie

Serena said...

this is a great plan and fantastic set up to provide you incentives for expanding your knowledge. Great! I look forward to your posts and the information from The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century.

Lezlie said...

Serena ~ I'm really excited to get my hands on that book. It's on order at the library, so it might be a little while.

Lezlie