A review by dclark32
Black Box Thinking: Why Some People Never Learn from Their Mistakes - But Some Do by Matthew Syed

5.0

Update in Feb 2023: while I recall my four star rating being because the book became a bit repetitive at the end, upgrading to five stars because of the power of its ideas. It's been two years since I read it, and yet hardly a week goes by where I don't find myself thinking of and applying its ideas. Few books have transformed and elevated my thinking so completely. It's the book that Dweck's Mindset aspired to be.

5/5

*******
Will maybe write a review of this excellent book later, but three ideas for future use:

1) Failure week - exactly what its name suggests. Celebrate the value of failing with students.

2) The pre-mortem - So you have an idea/assignment/whatever. Imagine it is several weeks/months from now, and it's all gone badly. What went wrong? Speculate what would be the most likely source of problems, and adjust accordingly.

3) Brainstorming with only positive suggestions generates many fewer ideas than brainstorming with criticism