After a particularly demanding microeconomics course, I thought it would be useful if I read something on how to learn things involving numbers and graphs more efficiently. But even though I picked this book intending to learn from it, A Mind for Numbers exceeded my expectations because the strategies here on how to learn can be applied to almost any subject.

A Mind for Numbers aims to provide a way to make STEM subjects interesting. The strategies mentioned in this book include:

• When studying, it might help to skim the chapter before reading it, just so you know roughly what it’s going to be about. Likewise, it helps to read all the questions for the exam before you attempt it.
• If you come across a problem you cannot solve, don’t panic – let your mind think about it while you work on other things.
• On a related point, the book advises attempting the most difficult problem in the exam first. This is not to say you have the solve it on the first attempt – just work on it for a minute or two, until you get stuck, and then move on to the easier questions so that this difficult question can be worked on in the back of your brain.
• The pomodoro method can be very powerful
• Spaced repetition is also very powerful
• Do your best to chunk information – this helps you remember more
• Visual and metaphorical memory cues can be very helpful
• Sleep is very important so don’t skimp on this if you want to be able to remember what you study
• Cramming doesn’t really work in the long term anyway, so what you should do is to study a little each day

There’s a bit more, but this is what I got from the book. Making this summary, by the way, is also one of the things they recommend doing (although the exact advice was to write things out, not type things out). Some of these things on the list are things that I’ve heard before, but it was nice to have everything in one place.

I also liked how each chapter ends with an interview of someone who once struggled with math or engineering or science and how they managed to overcome it. The interviews were pretty practical and it’s always good to hear that you don’t have to be born with a natural aptitude for things to become good at them.

Overall, I found this to be an easy to read and practical book. If you’re looking for things you can do to make your studying more effective, this may be something to pick up.