Personal Development

Click on the button to get the indicated file format:
Format	HTML	Text	WP	PDF	RTF	Word	Image
Local
Remote

Self-improvement:

•   My first day as a schoolteacher — Article: December 8, 2001
•   My Grandfather on Public Education— Column: Jul. 12, 1998, Revised May 15, 2001
•   Evolutionism vs. Creationism — Article: Aug. 13, 1999, slightly revised
•   Propaganda Techniques — July, 1998.
•   Logical Fallacies — July, 1998.
•   Speedreading and Related Skills — Column: Jan. 13, 1998
•   Introduction to Ethics — Course Outline: May 4, 2001
•   Diffusion of innovations, Jon Roland — Article: March 17, 2003
•  PhotoReading — Improved form of speedreading/speedlearning. The webmaster discovered the technique independently.
•  FReader— Computer program designed to improve reading skills, especially speed.
•  AceReader — Reading program to help you read faster while on the computer by utilizing special display modes, such as tachistoscopic rapid viewing.
•  Reading Acceleration Machine (RAM)— Freeware device for presenting word-groups sequentially at a pace chosen by the user. It is a tachistoscope ("rapid-viewer") that supports efficient and rhythmic reading, rehearsal of text-comprehension, and acceleration in reading speed.
•  SpeedMath — Training program to improve mental math skills.
•  SuperLearning — Improve learning skills for all ages.
•  Total Immersion language learning — Many schools do this. Here is one: Berlitz.
•  Memory Techniques and Mnemonics — Collection of methods for improving memory and practicing memorization.
•  Mental Math — Techniques for improving mental math skills. And see
  •  BEATCALC: Beat the Calculator!— Techniques and exercises.
  •  Curious and Useful Math — Still more techniques.
  •  Casting Out Nines, Jim Loy — Useful technique for checking arithmetic calculations.
•  Questorming — One approach to the art of asking the best questions.
•  Integrated Scientific Method — One approach to discussion of the subject.
•  Quantitative Analysis History — Survey of the elements of the subject.
•  Origin of Epistemology and Scientific Method — History of the subject.
•  Nonlinear Regression Analysis on a Spreadsheet, by Paul H. Ricketts — Most spreadsheets have the capability of performing a polynomial regression analysis of any order.
•  Multiple Regression — Discussion of tools to analyze the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and a dependent or criterion variable.
•  NLREG — Statistical analysis program that performs linear and nonlinear regression analysis, surface and curve fitting, and serves as a good educational tool for the subject.
•  Guide to Grammar and Writing — See especially their
  •  Diagramming Sentences — Essential tool for learning grammar that is being neglected in the public schools today.
  •  Basic Sentence Parts, Phrase Configurations — Diagrams of the functional elements of sentences.
•  Grammar Handbook — Writers' Workshop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
•  Irregular Verbs — Nearly complete list of the English verbs that give people trouble.
•  Exploring English — Instructional material on English grammar and usage.
•  Supervoca Vocabulary Builder — Learn the words likely to appear on standard tests.
•  Soundkeepers Vocabulary Builder — Words likely to appear on the GRE test.
•  Number2.com Vocabulary Builder — ACT, GRE, SAT, Free Test Prep.
•    Robert's Rules of Order Revised — Online version of 1915 edition. Essential manual for parliamentarians of deliberative assemblies.
  •  Official Robert's Rules of Order Home Page
  •  Robert's Rules of Order - Summary Version
•  The Elements of Style, Oliver Strunk (1935) — Classic guide to good writing.
•  Rhetoric, Aristotle (350 BCE) — Classic handbook on persuasive communication that remains one of the best.
•  Elements, Euclid (~325-265 BCE) — Classic text on Euclidean geometry, never exceeded.
•  Rules of Debate — Includes the standard Oxford Rules for competitions.
•  Debate.net — Gateway to public debating.
  •  World Debate— Books on debate and public speaking.
•  Meter and Scansion — Poetry Analysis
•  Versification — Poetic Analysis Terms
•  Groupthink Model — Outline of the book Victims of Groupthink by Irving L. Janis (Houghton Mifflin, 1972).
•  Groupthink — Another outline of the concept.
•  Geologic Periods — Listed on one printable page.
•  Tree of Life — Project to put the entire evolutionary descent tree online.
•  Philosophy of Science: An Overview for Educators, by Peter Machamer — Introductory review.
•  Modeling Across the Curriculum — Research project to study the impact of computer modeling tools on secondary-level science learning.
•  Visualization and Modeling — Symposium on the subject.
•  Three Kinds of Statistical Literacy: What Should We Teach? — Survey of what is most important to teach.
•  Information Theory, Lucent Technologies — History and survey of the subject.
•  Approximation methods — Introduction to some of the methods.
•  Error Analysis — Elementary introduction.
•  Error Analysis — Intermediate introduction.
•  Constraint Analysis — Intermediate introduction.

More advanced materials

•  Prisoner's Dilemma and Public Choice Theory — Explorations of the conflict between what is rational for the individual and what is rational for the group.
•   Counterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems, by Jay Forrester — Classic paper on why public policies produce unintended consequences.
•   Evolving Complex Networks in Constitutional Republics, by Jon Roland — Examines how changing network structures can reveal how political and economic processes behave and misbehave.
•  Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms, by David MacKay — Textbook on the subject.
•  Strategy and Conflict: An Introductory Sketch of Game Theory, by Roger A. McCain — Beginnings of a textbook on the subject.
•  Should Scientific Method be EKS-Rated?, by Craig Rusbult — Discusses controversies in scientific method.
•  History and Philosophy of Science, by Ess — Notes for a course on the subject.
•  Positivism — Some very introductory notes — Introduction to positivist instrumentalism.
•  Philosophy of Science, by Alexander Bird — Introduction to the subject.
•  Systems Biology: A return to the scientific method, by Luke V. Schneider — Presents a modern analytic approach to biological questions.
•  Evolution Is Not a Necessary Assumption of Cladistics, by Andrew V. Z. Brower — Makes some interesting points on the theoretical issues.
•  Theory of autoevolution — Attempts to reconcile instrumentalism, realism, and historicism.
•  The Tri-Partite Model of Representation, by Peter Slezak — Makes some interesting points on the theoretical issues.
•  Epistemological problems posed by ecology and environmental management, by G. Wiegleb — Makes some interesting points on the theoretical issues.
•  Set theory and physics — Discusses mathematical foundations of the field.
•  Quantum Logic and Probability Theory — Discusses connection between the fields.
•  Methodological naturalism — One approach to scientific epistomology.
•  Computer Learning and the Scientific Method, by Leonard Ornstein — Makes some interesting points on the theoretical issues.
•  Regression Analysis of Time Series (RATS)— Econometrics/time-series analysis software package used worldwide by economists and others for analyzing time series and cross sectional data, developing and estimating econometric models, forecasting, and much more.

Prime Reading — First of several lists of recommended books.

Online higher education:

•  Concord School of Law — Accredited JD program available.

Self-improvement groups

•  Toastmasters International — Improve your speaking ability and make new friends. Join or form a local toastmasters club in your area.