An insightful, joyful tour of the transformative powers of starting
something new, no matter your age--from the bestselling author of
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"Vanderbilt elegantly and persuasively tackles one of the most
pernicious of the lies we tells ourselves--that the pleasures of
learning are reserved for the young." --Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling
author of Outliers
Why do so many of us stop learning new skills as adults? Are we afraid
to be bad at something? Have we forgotten the sheer pleasure of
beginning from the ground up? Inspired by his young daughter's
insatiable curiosity, Tom Vanderbilt embarks on a yearlong quest of
learning--purely for the sake of learning. Rapturously singing Spice
Girls songs in an amateur choir, losing games of chess to
eight-year-olds, and dodging scorpions at a surf camp in Costa Rica,
Vanderbilt tackles five main skills but learns so much more. Along the
way, he interviews dozens of experts about the fascinating psychology
and science behind the benefits of becoming an adult beginner and shows
how anyone can get better at beginning again--and, more important, why
they should take those first awkward steps. Funny, uplifting, and
delightfully informative, Beginners is about how small acts of
reinvention, at any age, can make life seem magical.
