I immediately like this Buccaneer Scholar guy!
Though I have not yet read this book, I immediately like this guy. Apparently he is an icon in the field of software testing, a guy who dropped out of school but was viscously determined to become “self-educated”… and his exploits are, from what the web says, “legendary”.
Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly has to say: “An informative and entertaining account of how to acquire a great education and a good job without classroom instruction…a healing balm for parents whose children are struggling in school, providing both with helpful tools.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
You can probably see why my curiosity gets aroused. And then, another blurb reads…
“Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar is a wicked smart book about becoming wicked smart.” (Stan Slap)
Since I have not yet read the book — but plan on it — I run the risk of endorsing a heathen right now. (Then again, if you support me, you do the same. LOL!) So, why am I so drawn to this type of title? I love the “take ownership of your own education” sense that this book emanates. So what if school doesn’t work for you? Obviously, traditional school is not working for hundreds of thousands of kids every year as it is currently incarnated. (I know, I know, but trust me, lots of folks — such as myself — are working on it.)
However, just because school isn’t working for you, does that give you the license to be an uneducated idiot? Well, it certainly seems that more than one or two folks in our country seems to think it does — AND IT DOESN’T! I mean I rail on the drop-out rate hard and often and yet, if a kid came at me with a Buccaneer Scholar typeof attitude about education and school and why they were gonna drop out but continue to pursue both their knowledge and their passion, I gotta say, I’d clear them some space.
Like I said, since I have not yet read the book, I am just gonna pinch the editorial review and post it here… for your consideration:
From Publishers Weekly
This is an informative and entertaining account of how to acquire a great education and a good job without classroom instruction or, as Bach puts it, how to become a buccaneer scholar. At 20, he became the youngest technical manager at Apple Computer and probably the only one whose highest academic credential was—and still is—an eighth-grade diploma. Now in his 40s, Bach runs a successful consulting business, and his work has been assigned reading for students at Stanford and MIT. As this book makes clear, Bach is also a gifted teacher. The steps along his road to achievement are detailed in clear chunks.