What a beautiful and encouraging book for learners of all ages, educators, and parents to unlock your potential and the potential in others.

This book is written based on math education research but the application is broad. This is a must read for students, adults, teachers, parents: anyone in a variety of roles. It’s about neuroplasticity, making mistakes, changing our minds, making connections within the brain, being flexible and making connections with people.

Jo Boaler has written a lot about math education, but this book takes a broader view of learning generally that can be applied by math teachers or anyone else.

Her book is centered around neuroplasticity, the fact that our brains are always capable of making new connections and continuing to grow & learn. She introduces it as a “new” concept, but it seems new is relative.

And yet I really enjoyed her concrete examples, because it made me see some of my own biases and false assumptions I’ve made about my ability to learn or develop new skills, as well as best practices for supporting my kids in learning.

Some things that stood out:

-I really can learn new things, despite my age.
-Struggling with work leads to most the growth. Don’t swoop in and give away the answer.
-Attitude matters, but so does changing your approach.
-Speed isn’t as important as depth and flexibility. Worksheets & math facts stink. Don’t be discouraged when your kid understands that.
-Group work isn’t inherently evil. (But maybe has been structured wrong every time.)

Embrace struggle and failure, take risks, look forward and be positive,, be open to different ways of thinking, sometimes we won’t succeed and that is okay. Just a few of my takeaways from my new favorite book! Share this with yourself, your students and your fiends, you won’t be disappointed!

This book was a great reminder of potential in everyone! (including self)
Every day we wake up our brains have changed!
“The more we struggle, the better learning and brain growth.”
"Connecting with people and ideas enhances neural pathways and learning."
"Learning changes us as a people. When we learn new ideas, we see the world differently"

This is the third Jo Boaler book that I have read. I was disappointed with the fact that much of the research presented is also discussed in the other books. It took a while to "get to the new stuff". At the same time, I understand that these studies are the "hooks" that get you invested in reading the rest of the book. Overall an inspiring book, not just for educators, but for all looking to change their mindset.

Really interesting! I’d love to have this book as assigned reading for everyone who interacts with all types of learners! After reading the book, it validates some of my hunches about my own learning and makes me a wiser teacher. Buzzwords aside, if we all took what the author is describing in this book to heart, schools would be a much better place for our students and teachers alike.

Limitless Mind by Jo Boaler presents the idea that brains are not fixed from birth. Boaler shares research and studies that back up this message as well as how this can help us move from from the fixed brain mindset to the brain growth mindset as learners.

Boaler is a professor at Stanford and backs up her book with a plethora of research. She shares this information in an accessible manner that is readable for someone who is not an academic in her fields of work. She breaks down her message into accessible chapters that help us better understand this newer research.

The crux of her book is the idea that when we learn and push ourselves, we develop new pathways in our brains. We are not born with brains that are made to be good (or not) at certain subjects but we actually develop them, and this ability never stops. Our brains are constantly growing and this happens by stepping outside our comfort zones.

We can do this by pushing ourselves in areas that are challenging and pushing through struggles and even mistakes. As we do this, the pathways in our brains are delicate but the more deeply we use these pathways the stronger they become. This message is the push for why struggle and mistakes are actually beneficial and allow our brains to continue to grow.

When we face challenging situations, rather than fear causing us to turn around, forge ahead, knowing these are the situations that help brain growth. Mistakes are a part of our everyday lives but many of us have grown up to think of mistakes as things are "bad" and something we should try and avoid.

Boaler encourages mistakes and strongly feels that facing obstacles is how we can learn and thrive. When we struggle, our brains are more active and are working harder than when we are just in" auto pilot" mode. When we are able to change our perspective on failure, we are able to live a more limitless life and continue on the path to improve and grow.

Life gives us endless moments where we can learn, grow and connect. Mistakes can help us be determined, proactive and move forward. Boaler shares that we are often unmotivated in areas where at one time someone or something gave us the idea that we couldn't be successful. I found this message to be so motivating and inspiring. As someone who has spent much of my academic life feeling like I wasn't "good" at certain subjects, this book is such a wonderful reminder that life long learning and growing can not only help us live fuller lives but the things we can master are, indeed, limitless.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins and Jo Boaler for an advanced copy to review. All opinions are my own.