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Reflections on a prediction.

2008-12-17T07:02:00.000-08:00

Several people have asked me why I haven't removed the prediction on the US election.

I am leaving it as it is because I want to remind myself to not take myself too seriously.

Obviously, Obama won the election, not McCain.

The American people took the high road and elected the most qualified person to lead our nation.

In the end I voted for him as did my 92 year old father. We watched the debates and were quite impressed with what we saw and heard. He will be a great president.

A newspaper editor in the 1920's wrote a letter to the paper's astrologer to let him know that he was being dismissed.

" As you have doubtlessly predicted you are fired.'

I will stick with what I do best and leave predictions to others more qualified.

Wonderful news

2008-04-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

Today I received news that I have been accepted as a student in the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University in Taipei. This is one of the most prestigious and rigorous such programs in the world. It is a tremendous honor for me to to be in this program.

I am especially excited that this will provide me with even more training to help the many students who are learning Chinese via the Michel Thomas Mandarin Chinese language course published by Hodder ( UK ) and McGraw-Hill ( North America).

My hope is that I will learn even more to amplify and improve my teaching of Chinese.

Stay tuned for more details.

Prediction - US elections

2008-02-06T01:48:00.000-08:00

I have developed a method whereby I check in via my body to get some feedback on items for my patients. Over the years I have learned that a feeling of expansion correlates with a positive response and a feeling of contraction correlates with a negative response. I originally got this idea from the work of University of Chicago psychologist Eugene Gendlin, the developer of Focusing. When I was studying at the University of Chicago in the mid-1970's I took a brief course with him and learned about getting feedback in this way. I subsequently took more courses and refined the method on my own during over 17 years of patient contacts in my medical practice.

The day of the New Hampshire primary the polls showed Barack Obama ahead of Hillary Clinton by anywhere from 10-13 points. The Clinton camp was already sending signs of spinning the impending defeat. A few days before I had asked my body sense who would win. The answer was consistent: Hillary. I couldn't make sense of this. How could such a large advantage in the polls be wrong? It was impossible for Clinton to win. Yet every time I checked I got the identical answer; Hillary would win New Hampshire.

The night of the NH primary I kept checking the question. The response was consistently the same; Hillary wins NH. In the end she won by a few points.

I had long learned that this body sensing seemed to trump my logical conclusions. So I used the same process to skip forward.

Here is what emerged over and over again over the last few weeks and up until the time of this writing:

Michael Bloomberg will enter the race as an independent at the end of February.

Obama will win the Democratic nomination.

McCain will win the Republican nomination.

McCain will be elected president.

After two years he will no longer be president.

I hesitated to post this since I don't want to interject politics into this blog but I thought that it would be interesting to see how these predictions stack up based on what happens in the future. Hence, this post.

This actually happened.

2007-09-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched John on the telephone attempting to place an
order.

He got some automated program where you speak to a computer and
it processes your order. He read out the order number, the address,
etc. etc. At some point he became exasperated because the computer
voice kept saying, ' We are sorry but we cannot understand what you
are requesting and cannot process your request. Please repeat your
request again.' Finally, he started screaming, 'Operator! Operator!'
Then he began yelling, 'Assistance! Assistance! ' At this point I
suggested saying customer assistance. He said this several times. Each
time the automated voice replied, 'We are sorry but we cannot
understand or process your request.'

Then, at his wits end ,he screamed, 'Asshole!'

The voice replied, 'Thank you. We shall transfer you immediately to one
of our customer representatives.'

We both laughed. And, yes, the customer representative was a real asshole!

I welcome your feedback

2007-07-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

Please contact me at the e mail link below.

2007-07-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Or contact
us at hrpharold [at]gmail{dot) com

How would your life be different if you spoke Chinese - effortlessly?

2007-06-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with foreign languages. At age 13 my parents told me I could have anything I wanted as a bar mitzvah present. Without any hesitation I requested a short wave radio. I bought it at Lafayette Electronics in Newark, NJ. It was a large, blue, metal box with several dials for tuning. From the back I was able to peer inside and see the glowing tubes.

I am not too sure how my siblings spent their evenings and nights. Mine were spent in the basement of our house, my bedroom, endlessly turning the dials and happily listening to strange voices speaking in foreign languages from far away places. I quickly became adept at distinguishing between the various tongues. If you needed someone to distinguish between Ukrainian and Polish, Estonian and Finnish, Yiddish and German, Cantonese and Mandarin, then I was your man. Any new language which I couldn't identify ( the missionary stations were good for these) became an obsession. Then, once catalogued, I would move on.

Each language, I discovered, had it's own cadence, it's personal signature. There were spoken and written patterns to the various languages and these, I noticed, made it so that without understanding a word I could still easily identify the language. It is like picking up the phone and hearing the voice of someone you know. Maybe you don't know them too well. However, intentionally or not, you have caught on to the underlying voice signature. This is unconscious, both on the part of the speaker and the listener. Hence, its power and ease of being learned.

The speaker may only utter one word. You instantly know who it is. If it is not someone you know well you may not recall their name but you do know that " I know him." This is a primordial form of learning, one which sticks forever, effortlessly. If you can do this ( and I know that you can, we all can) then, as you will soon learn, you can do it with spoken Chinese. Effortlessly. Just as effortlessly as you learn to recognize a familiar voice.

In 1995 I had the good fortune to meet Michel Thomas. How this happened and what resulted I shall explore in future posts. Mr. Thomas was a teacher who had developed a method to teach foreign languages with a minimum of effort on the part of the learner. The entire period of study usually was no more than a few days. Everything was done orally, usually one on one or in small groups. Over a period of close to fifty years he taught more than 8,000 students in this way. From 1995 until shortly before his death in January, 2005, I was fortunate to study under him. Besides illustrating his method by teaching me two languages he agreed to help me understand just how he was able to achieve his remarkable results. In essence, he imparted a practical understanding of his teaching and course development methodology.

The Michel Thomas method became famous in the UK in 1997 when the BBC broadcast a documentary of Mr. Thomas teaching French to a group of English students. These were young people who had displayed a singularly difficult time learning foreign languages. Some had even been told that their lack of aptitude insured that they would never learn a foreign language.

Within a week Michel Thomas had them happily chattering away in grammatically correct French. They were subsequently tested and it was announced that they had successfully achieved a level that might be possible after two years of formal study.
Impressive, to say the least.

Prior to this Mr. Thomas had told me about his tapes which he rented out for in office use only. They were never to leave the office since he was concerned that someone might use them to copy his work. Over a period of several years I persuaded him to agree to release them publicly. Finally, in agreement with the British publisher Hodder, Michel Thomas courses in French, Spanish, German and Italian were published on CD and in cassette form and released to wide acclaim.

Following the death of Michel Thomas I was approached by Hodder to work with them on related projects. What resulted was the development of a course for English speakers to learn spoken Mandarin Chinese. I have spent quite a bit of time in the design of this course and, after several trials with various students ( from age 16 to 70) ,now expect a student who undertakes this course to emerge with the ability to speak basic Mandarin Chinese. This will take place in a matter of hours which, as far as I know, is unheard of .

Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and several other languages are, in part, distinguished by their use of tones. This factor as well as the sheer foreignness of the languages have traditionally been a real stumbling block for non-native learners. I recently read an essay by a distinguished professor from Princeton University who has spent most of his career teaching Chinese. He wrote that even though he was under no obligation to teach basic, spoken Chinese, it gave him so much pleasure that he continued to do so. However, he noted, when it came to tones this was an area which very few teachers could successfully impart.

Mindful of this I have developed a method to teach tones which, to date, has been even more successful than I had anticipated. It is based on the understanding that each of us has a very personal learning style. The method used (patent pending) manages to utilize unconscious learning styles in a way that makes the tones and their association with specific words stick effortlessly,forever and without repetitious practice . I still am in awe of the results I am seeing with students.

In addition to my years with Michel Thomas I have learned much from many other teachers in various disciplines. For the last seventeen years I have worked full-time as a physician. The nature of my practice is such that I employ innovative approaches to help patients who present with a myriad of disorders. From doing this on a daily basis I have learned many aspects of practical problem solving. It's just another example of the maxim, Necessity is the mother of invention.I have tried to meld as much of all of this as possible in the Chinese course.

My co-teacher, Jingtao Deng, a native of Beijing, China, speaks a beautiful, clear, traditional Mandarin. It has been a real pleasure to work along side her in the creation of this course in Mandarin Chinese. I look forward to develop many more courses for languages and other subjects.

Just imagine accomplishing something that you had assumed was impossible. It is such a high, such an empowering experience. Some people have gone to seminars ( popular a number of years ago in the US) where they experienced this by fire walking. The very idea of walking over a bed of hot coals without any adverse effect was unimaginable. So, of course, when they successfully completed it ( without burnt feet!) they were delirious with joy. "I did it! I achieved the impossible!" It just opens up so many doors psychologically. The thought arises, "If I can do this then I can do just about anything."

This is how I feel about the Chinese course.. In less than an hour with the assistance of Jingtao and me you are speaking sentences that you create on your own, sentences which any fluent Mandarin speaker will understand perfectly. They will also assume, from your mastery of the tones and sentence patterns, that you have been studying the language for quite some time. No one would ever believe that such a thing can be accomplished in a few hours and without any memorization, homework, or trying.

Even Jingtao told me that she couldn't believe what she was witnessing. It was so bizarre, so unbelievable that even though she was the co-teacher she still couldn't, wouldn't believe it! Now she believes it ,though, as she repeatedly mentions, it is still hard to accept. It has altered her entire worldview. One of our trial students, a 22 year old woman who didn't know a word of Chinese when she began and had never studied a tonal language, told us after two days, " Its a miracle."

When,after a few short hours, you discover that you can effortlessly produce complicated sentences in Mandarin Chinese you will find that now anything in any area of life is possible. And the great part is that you can take this as far as you wish. If you wish to continue on in Chinese ( possibly more rewarding than walking over hot coals) this is your choice. This foundation is solid and will support you in any direction you may go in your Chinese studies. Should this give you the boost and confidence to tackle something else - go for it! For me, true learning, which you will experience in this course, is totally unique and amazingly empowering. I love it.

It is the ultimate high.

How I treat asthma

2007-04-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

One of the conditions which I love to treat is asthma. Why? Because traditional medicine considers this a chronic, life long problem which can never be cured. It can only be held in bay with medicines. These medicines, essentially different varieties of steroids, are administered via nebulizers and many other ways. They help keep things from getting out of hand.

An asthmatic attack is frightening for everyone involved. The patient is gasping. They can't breathe. They feel like they are suffocating. It's horrible.

Recently, I had a child brought in who was a few months old. The wheezing could be heard across the room. When they left the wheezing was no longer to be heard. I had a medical student with me. We both listened with a stethoscope. No more wheezing. The child had also been pulling at one of its ears. Examination revealed a nasty ear infection. At the end of the treatment - no more ear pulling.

How can osteopthy not only help but actually cure conditions like asthma? What I did was carefully examine the child. Besides the regular exam that any well trained physician would perform, I also do a detailed osteopathic exam. I put my hands on the patient and feel for how the body is actually, at the moment of examination, functioning. If there is a problem in function I can often spot it. If you have read my earlier post on sprained ankles you will be familiar with the reality of sprains and strains which, unless removed, really limit the way the body functions.

To get to that post go to: http://www.healthresourcespress.com/harold_goodman_do.htm

They are present in 100% of asthmatic patients whom I have examined. The same can be said for all of my patients with ear infections.

I remove the strain and the symptoms are gone. This after untold time on nebulizers, inhalers, etc. At some point the patient no longer needs these medical crutches. The problem is solved. There is no nebulizer in the world that can remove a strain. There is no blood test or X ray, CT, MRI in the world that can detect what the skilled hands of an osteopathic physician specializing in osteopathy in the cranial field can uncover - and successfully treat.

So, people get better. The patient is not only free of symptoms, they feel better overall. More vitality, more energy.

For me, it's a no brainer. Osteopathy is my love. I also practice acupuncture, I am trained and licensed in traditional medicine and surgery. I am board certified in homeopathy. However, I am an osteopath in my bones ( no pun intended). After 17 years of treating thousands of patients I know what works. I only wish that more people knew that such an option is not only available but covered by most insurance. People just don't need to suffer from asthma and other so-called chronic respiratory diseases.

Why people fish

2007-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

I met an wonderful rabbi many years ago in NJ. He was a scholar, a genius, a teacher ( no congregation), dirt poor and the sweetest person ever. When I told him that I wanted to chat with him he suggested that we go fishing together. I told him that I didn't like fishing or going out on boats. He told me it was not about fishing. I didn't understand. All it was for him was a way to get away, be alone, have some place to just chill out. I just didn't understand. Then he died. Now I understand.

I know a number of men ( curiously, no women) who have or rent boats and go fishing. I never understood that for most of them it's a way to relax. The fish, for the most part, are tossed back into the water.

Tom Fote of the Jersey Coast Angler's Association posted the following:

I received a copy of the January 2000 American Sportfishing Newsletter. This newsletter contained interesting information about why anglers fish. The information came from the "Future of Fishing" surveys conducted in 1980, 1995 and 1999. According to ASA the results of these surveys show that in 1999 "more people who fish do so for relaxation (35%), to be with friends and family (33%), and to be close to nature (13%). Catching large trophy fish (3%), catching fresh fish for food (5%), and fishing simply for the sport of it (7%) are no longer considered motivations by most anglers." The entire report is available at the ASA website.

It seems to me that people are searching for ways to find peace and space in their lives. It is a natural human need. Angling has long been a way for many to achieve this.

I used to walk in a local park here in Maryland. The park has a large pond. You will often see a number of men, often with their sons, I assume, just sitting on the grass, fishing. They seem very relaxed. Their equipment is very simple. They seem to be away from the rest of the world.

I suspect that many such avocations fufill a similar need.

Dream Running

2007-02-19T11:35:00.000-08:00

Today a friend told me about a wonderful experience. She runs in her dreams. It reminded me of what H.H.Lui, a teacher of Taiqichuan in Chicago, told me in the early 1970's.

Mr. Lui told me that he received one of the first business ( or economic?) graduate degrees from Harvard Yenching University in China. Subsequently he went to work as a vice president of a major bank in Shanghai. The Communists took over and barricaded the bank building. They held him and the other administrators hostage.

No one would be allowed to leave unless they "contributed" bank funds to the People's Liberation Army. After refusing to sign the papers authorizing this for several days, Mr. Lui saw the writing on the wall. He signed and fled China.

How? He was a good swimmer. He swam from mainland China to Hong Kong. When he got to Hong Kong he had nothing but the dripping clothes on his back. He earned his meager income pulling rickshaws. Then he became paralyzed with rheumatism and was no longer able to work.

Finally, after exhausting his financial resources on both Western and Asian medicine doctors someone suggested that he do Taiqichuan. He laughed at this. "Only old people do that!" However, desperation led him to finally try it. He totally recovered from his illness and eventually emigrated to the US.

At one point he was hospitalized and bedridden. He decided to do Taiqichuan while laying in bed. He allowed himself to access the feelings associated with actually doing it, seeing himself performing the movements and as many other perceptual associations as he could muster. He fully recovered in a short time.

We are all capable of experiencing anything we wish on any level possible by knowing the experience in this moment. This I know from my own experience.

As Tolstoy wrote, "The kingdom of heaven lies within."

Healing

2007-02-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

For the last seventeen years I have worked as a physician. I have my own office and do my own thing. My license says physician and surgeon. I have extensive training in osteopathy, homeopathy and acupuncture. However, to be most honest, I would have to say that I am a healer.

I am a conduit, a channel to be used by higher powers for the healing of my patients. I have no special powers or talents. Many of my patients believe that I do but I disagree with them. I believe that we are all part of something bigger than us as individuals. You may call it whatever you wish.

We may be compared to drops of water in the ocean. Why do I say the ocean? Well, it is only the conceptual, reductionistic mind of man that would take a perfectly fine, single body of water and divide it into little pieces and then label them: Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and so on. We, of course do the same with the earth. Canada, North Dakota, Essex County, New York City, Brooklyn, Crown Heights and on and on. I guarantee you that the birds flying in the heavens are not aware that they are passing over the Indian Ocean or Brooklyn. Only human beings would become caught up in such nonsense. And yet, this passes for our reality.

So there is no drop of water in an ocean until the conceptual cookie cutter mind of man creates one. It just is. It all may be experienced as One whatever you wish. Anyway, that is the starting point for my approach to patients and life.

If you want to learn more about my background in these things you may wish to visit my other site: http://www.healthresourcespress.com/harold_goodman_do.htm

I shall be writing about this aspect of my journey as well on the above site as well as here at learnetarium.com.

The book sickness

2007-02-05T04:52:00.000-08:00

Sometime in the 1960's I discovered a shop in Morristown, NJ. It was called the Old Book Shop. It was run by an elderly Polish Jew whose name was Turetz. The store was located in a poor, Black slum, at the bottom of a long hill. It was surrounded by a Pentecostal Holiness church, a gas station, and a mishmash of buildings and broken down homes.

Mr. Turetz wasn't terribly outgoing, at least not when I was around. He often would be seated on an orange crate with a book in his hand, reading.Except for my actually handing him the cash for the stuff I bought he would rarely acknowledge my presence. During my visits it was not unusual for me to be the only customer in the shop. The outside of the shop was non-descript, uninviting ( though I loved this!), the windows covered with a generous layer of grime. It had probably been a grocery store or some other commercial venture at an earlier time when the neighborhood had seen more prosperous times. Now it was a dump. A has been. Forgotten and forlorn. Definitely my kind of place!

There were books everywhere. On the floors, in row upon row of closely placed, mismatched bookshelves, fruit crates, boxes, in short, anything that would support a book. Old 78 rpm records ( including Edison cylinder records) were stuffed in an off-white metal cabinet. There were hundred of these records. The price? Five cents each. Sometimes the piles of books grew so tall that I was afraid to even touch them especially if I saw a book near the bottom of the pile that looked interesting. Frequently I would witness a mass shift take place as the books, as if turning over in bed, would move in the direction of least resistance. Shelves would yield, boxes crumble, piles tilt as the entire store rearranged itself.

In the midst of all of this mayhem sat Mr. Turetz. He always looked the same. Unshaven, gray stubble covering his face. A few wisps of once dark hair sadly sitting on a shining oblong bald skull. His eyes were blue. His face lack-lustre. His expression wasn't sad. It was dead. Somewhere in this living form there resided a human being. Where it was was not obvious to me.

He always seemed to be dressed in a grimey, thick shirt of the type that one would purchase in an Army-Navy surplus store or some purveyor of overstock clothing. His pants were brown and held up by what had once been a belt but now was an afterthought of cracked leather. His shoes were so worn as to be almost classifiable as some unknown category of footware.

The man was laconic. Not only would he not engage others in conversation but even when I would speak with him he would answer as if from some far away place. The words were sparse, the sentences short. I asked him where the books came from. He looked at me as though I were a dolt. " The books? Everywhere. They come from everywhere." He would make frequent trips to buy books from anyone who had books to dispose of. He bought books, old records, paintings, prints, bric a brac, furniture, book shelves and a lot of junk. But mostly books.

"It must be great to come here every day and be with all of these wonderful books," I gushed. Again that look of pity mixed with resignation and sadness. " It's a sickness. A sickness." I was shocked. How could anyone call this, all of this incredible stuff a sickness?

Morristown was over ten miles from my parent's home in Livingston. To get there I rode my bicycle along Route Ten, a fairly busy thoroughfair, and then up a long hill past Washington's Headquarters. Then a bit more pumping along until I entered the dredges of Morristown and my beloved bookshop. I would park my bike, unlocked, out side the store and excitedly enter. My bicycle had two metal baskets attached to its rear. They were always crammed with as much stuff as I could carry away from the store. Sometimes I even spent as much as a dollar or two for my treasures.

(to be continued)

Why learnetarium.com?

2007-02-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

My name is Harold Goodman. For as long as I can recall I have been addicted to learning. I just love learning about everything. I find life and people to be endlessly fascinating.

As a child I spent much time alone. Even though I am the eldest of five kids I really was a loner. Reading and observing the world were the ways I structured my universe. Later on I went through public school which ,in retrospect, seemed uneventful. I used to bring my own books to read. I found school boring, uninspiring. The teachers were good people doing their jobs. However, I was essentially on my own path.

Foreign things fascinated me. It was so refreshing to realize that not only was my take on the world somewhat different from those around me but that untold millions of other people all over the world shared my differentness in so many ways. I like being me. For most of my life that has taken me in a very different direction than most of the people I encountered.

I was born in New York City. My family was Jewish and very identified with Jewish tradition. We were not orthodox. We were semi-secular New York Jews of the 1950's. My memories of my early years are somewhat vague but I recall some relative, maybe an aunt, telling me, "Your name is not Harold, it's Hershl." My father to this day writes me letters that start, in Yiddish, with the phrase "Dear Hershl". He is 90. He is also my hero and best friend.

I recall watching Jewish programs on television. Only in New York! Around Christmas time there were programs for Jews such as an English version of the famous Yiddish story "Bontshe Schvayge" ( Bontshe the Silent). To this day I remember being drawn into those images on the black and white little screen. I cried as Bontshe was brutalized and destroyed. I cried as he came to heaven and his story was retold. I cried when, offered anything he wanted by God Himself, he cringed, fearful that he was being led into yet another trap, another disaster. Then he replied, "If what you say is really true, that I may have anything I wish, then.....if it's really true, if this is not some cruel joke, then what I really want....is to receive a warm roll with some butter every morning." I identified with Bontshe.

Until we moved to Livingston, New Jersey when I was nine I didn't know any non-Jewish people except at public school where I had no friends. I never thought much about being Jewish. I lived in my own little world.

When we moved to New Jersey I realized that not everyone was like us. There was our home with its own flavors, filled with books, learning, The New York Times, bagels and Eastern European Jewish foods, and lots of talking. About everything. Later, when I began to meet other kids and visit their homes I realized that most people were very different from us. Their food, their attitudes toward life and learning, their politics, their spirituality, their language all seemed different. I also realized, quite soon, that there were a lot more of them than us. A lot more.

I found my grandparents fascinating. They had come from far away, from foreign countries. They had lived in Russia, Poland, Latvia. They could speak other languages. Their homes were very different from ours. Especially my father's parents, Bobe and Zeyde ( grandmother and grandfather in Yiddish). For the longest time I thought that those were their names. That's the only way we referred to them and addressed them. Bobe and Zeyde.

When I visited them I entered another world. I would sleep in a bed in their attic. The bed smelled different than our beds. Everything in their house smelled different. The radio was on in their home but unlike our radio which was tuned to WOR ( every morning I would hear John Gambling in Rambling with Gambling and the theme song, "Pack up your troubles in your old kip bag and smile, smile, smile.....") their radio spoke Yiddish. It was tuned to WEVD.

Later I was to learn that EVD stood for Eugene Victor Debs, the great Socialist hero. The station was started by the Socialist Party. Then it was run by the Jewish Daily Forverts, the largest Yiddish paper in the world. My grandparents read the Forverts and the New York Times daily. I loved to listen to them speak Yiddish. I liked being Jewish. It was fun and the food was pretty good, too!

When I was not at school or participating in the many sports activities in which my parents enrolled me ( to this day I detest sports) I read books and walked around in the wooded areas surrounding our house. In the woods I found all types of incredible creatures: salamanders, newts, red efts, turtles ( I especially loved painted turtles and do to this day), rabbits ( I used to hop on all fours like a rabbit - I love rabbits), and, of course, snakes.

Snakes were my favorite. I received a book on snakes for a present . It was by Herbert Zim. When I was asked by indulgent adults what I wanted to be when I grew up I would excitedly answer, " A herpetologist!"

The best parts of the woods were the bogs,marshes and swamps. They were a treasure trove of all types of wild life. I would quietly sit by the water for hours observing the many creatures that lived there. I loved this world. I loved it much more than the world of the adults and school.

The Livingston library was located in an old house. I would ride my bike there, leave it under the large oak tree in front of the library and enter my house of worship. An elderly lady sat behind a dark, wooden desk. She was the librarian. She looked like someone's grandmother; maybe she was. You could take out books for two weeks. If they were returned late the fine was two cents a day! I was very careful about getting those books back on time.

The Livingston library had strict rules on who could borrow books. Books were segregated by age levels. For the longest time I was not allowed to borrow books from the adult section. Finally, they relented after I asked over and over again. From then on I never bothered the librarian again. All I wanted was to be able to read those books.

I went over to the left side of the room, I recall, and picked the first book off of the shelf. The shelves were wonderful, old wooden ones; few of them matched. I had a plan. I was going to read every book in the library. I would learn what I wanted and, I believed, needed to learn. I soon realized that my plan was impractical. Some other patrons, apparently, were also using the library. They were unaware of my plan. They were rudely removing books from these shelves and upsetting my master plan to read the entire collection. Isn't it interesting how other people seem to often not follow my rules? What a disappointment. Eventually, I recovered from this shock. From then on I just read whatever struck my fancy, whatever turned me on.

In our home books were everywhere. When we sat down for supper my father would be reading the New York Times and the five kids each had a book in front of them. My mother hovered in the background serving food. One day my father announced that reading was forbidden at the dinner table. We all love reading to this day. When my family gives gifts books are always welcome!

This site is a place where I and others who are autodidacts, who love learning, can share our experiences. I will be writing about my experiences, what I have learned about learning, what works for me. I would love to hear what excites you about learning. I have much to share. I plan to link to other sites of a similar nature. If you have any suggestions please share them with me. I would like learnetarium.com to be a safe-zone for like minded people.

Welcome!

2007-01-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the home of learnetarium.com!