He has been a visiting scholar at NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management, a research fellow at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, a fellow at the Design Trust for Public Space, and a winner of the Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, among other honors. Tom Vanderbilt has written for many publications and is a contributing editor of Wired (U.K.), Outside, and Artforum. He is the author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) and Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America.

Why these times are perhaps the best of times for lifelong learning.

Why juggling can be a good learning experience.

How couples can benefit from learning a new skill together.

The advantages of learning a new skill in groups.

Why being a beginner is more challenging for adults.

The story of how his daughter learning chess led to this book.

His book shares his experiences and explores the science of learning, including why cultivating a Beginner’s Mind is key for adults committed to lifelong learning. And that began a journey of learning how to surf, sing, draw and juggle. Intrigued by his daughter beginning to learn chess, he decided to learn along with her. His book is about learning new skills – for fun. And he’s not focused on professional skills. He writes about learning a new skill, as opposed to acquiring knowledge.

But there’s another dimension that our guest Tom Vanderbilt, the author of the new book Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning, highlights. What comes to mind when you hear the phrase lifelong learning? Formal classes, with homework, delivered over Zoom? That’s part of it. Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

Podcast (retirement-wisdom-podcast-feed): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:24 - 28.8MB)

Beginners tom vanderbilt