Back to School for Grown-Ups: Everything You Should Have Learned in Class

by Stephen Evans, Ian Whitelaw

Here's a mind-broadening reader's companion for men and women who recall their school days as time spent gazing out the window, and who now realize that they missed out on many interesting ideas. The best and most significant of those lost and half-forgotten ideas are served up in this book, fashioned into lively prose, and supplemented with self-testing Q&A sections to help readers grade their knowledge of facts and understanding of ideas. For clarity and ease of use, Back to School for Grown-Ups is divided into five sections representing five school days. Each day consists of lessons in four subjects, as Section One, Geography, History, Mathematics, Religion Section Two, Science, Art, Mathematics, Literature Section Three, Civics, Geography, Science, Phys Ed Section Four, Literature, History, Art, Civics Section Five, Religion, Science, Geogr

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Education, Science

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a mind-broadening reader's companion for men and women who recall their school days as time spent gazing out the window, and who now realize that they missed out on many interesting ideas. The best and most significant of those lost and half-forgotten ideas are served up in this book, fashioned into lively prose, and supplemented with self-testing Q&A sections to help readers grade their knowledge of facts and understanding of ideas. For clarity and ease of use, Back to School for Grown-Ups is divided into five sections representing five school days. Each day consists of lessons in four subjects, as follows:

Section One, Monday: Geography, History, Mathematics, Religion
Section Two, Tuesday: Science, Art, Mathematics, Literature
Section Three, Wednesday: Civics, Geography, Science, Phys Ed
Section Four, Thursday: Literature, History, Art, Civics
Section Five, Friday: Religion, Science, Geography, History

Readers will be absorbed by discussions that range from the Magna Carta to the causes of World War I from the Big Bang to the concept of prime numbers from the origins of Hinduism to the story of Nelson Mandela from the geologic formation of the Grand Canyon to the definition of Pop art and much, much more. Author Stephen Calladine-Evans' style of presentation is informal and reader-friendly, and topics are supplemented with illustrations and brief summaries of key facts.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as interesting as I anticipated. Some encyclopedic facts, nothing particularly revelatory.