Category Archives: Introductions

I could say that this book changed my life – but that’s something that every book worth finishing will do, and so that is not especially notable.
I could say that anyone interested in education, either for themselves or for their children or friends, will find a lot of very important thoughts that I think they need to hear in this book – but that’s too general and lacks specificity, and I wouldn’t respect a recommendation so vague without knowing the reviewer.
I could continue the “I could say” format – but I don’t think it will help me finish what I’m trying to say.

What I might say, then, if I were forced at gunpoint to provide a negative review of this book, is that the buccaneer theme and analogies found throughout the first half of this book were perhaps a little taxed as an organizing concept. I would explain that it feels a bit pedantic, almost like it’s trying too hard to take very useful advice and interesting concepts and dress them in the sort of rugged pirate garb that the author hopes will make them appealing to youthful readers. I hope he’s right – because the “young adult” set can get a much out of this book as anyone else.

Since no one is coercing me, what I will talk about instead is the intense, concentrated value of this book for me, an adult trying to thrive in the working world.

When I discover a field of endeavor, one thing that’s very important if I am to sustain my interest is the discovery of a philosopher, someone who understands not only what we’re doing, but why. When I got into writing, it was Ayn Rand and John Gardner. When I got into shooting, it was Jeff Cooper. I discovered in these people not so much a new way of thinking, but a developed understanding of much in myself that I had not yet integrated and understood. In each case, it was like finding a new grandparent, a patron saint, a mentor – that stood for that part of myself that I had yet to truly delve into.

James Bach has done this for me for self-education and professional thinking. (I suspect that Jerry Weinberg did something similar for him, and his recommendation that you read everything Jerry has ever written is worth the price of the book. I’ll review some of Jerry’s books soon.) Like the other members of my personal pantheon of author-mentors, James Bach can do more than give advice – he can help you understand how he came to know and believe the things he does, and how you might come to do something similar.

You can and arguably should get a taste of Bach’s work on one of his two blogs, about software testing and education, which can be found at www.satisfice.com/blog and http://www.buccaneerscholar.com/blog/ respectively. (I am adding both of these to the Blogroll, so this post is something of an Introduction, too.)

I suggest this post as a starting point for Satisfice: http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/483

Likewise, http://www.buccaneerscholar.com/blog/archives/134 might be a good point to start on the blog about education.

Now, you may not care about software testing at all. That’s fine – but still go look at that link up there. If, as I suspect, the post you read is smart, useful and thought-provoking even through you don’t care about software testing, poke around a little, see if you can find something else of value in those archives. I know I did – and that I came to care about software testing. That’s something else a philosopher is good for – making a particular field of endeavor interesting even to the non-specialist, giving someone approaching as an initially disinterested generalist the view they need to understand why they should care about something they would have never thought twice about before, something that can provide them enormous insight and value, even if they never design a software test strategy, or shoot to protect what they love, or write a novel – as the case may be.

I should also note, for any Sudbury or AVS type people who might come through here, that this book is now my habitual answer when it is suggested that graduates of a Sudbury education have mysterious powers of intelligence and insight, and that no one knows how they do it. Well, maybe some people don’t know how they do it, and maybe some of them do it differently – but this book can help anyone get a handle on understanding how I do it, and I suspect anyone either at AVS presently or having come up in such a place can get just as much value from this book in explaining their own processes and abilities as they can learning new heuristics and taking comfort in the tale of a man who was successful at self-education.

For AVS people in Colorado, I have purchased a few copies of Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar and donated them to the school for PR and training purposes, and of course to make them available to the students. They are available as loaners – but I suspect you’ll want your own copy, when all is said and done.