Books to help you learn about learning.
Here’s our curated list of books for anyone interested in alternative education — its lively history, guiding philosophies, innovative approaches, controversial theories, research-based methodologies, proven practices, and intriguing new ideas. We have also included a few great books about public school struggles and successes. You might learn something just by browsing our virtual shelves, which are arranged in simple alphabetical order by title. To read reviews or buy a book on Amazon or your favorite indie bookseller, click on the links or images provided. [Note: Alt Ed Austin receives a small commission from each purchase originating from these links.] You can also search for a particular author or key word using the Search box in the sidebar. This is an expanding collection, so be sure to contact us if you have suggestions!
The Art of Self-Directed Learning:
23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education
by Blake Boles
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Becoming a Bilingual Family:
Help Your Kids Learn Spanish (and Learn Spanish Yourself in the Process)
by Stephen Marks and Jeffrey Marks
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Better Than College:
How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree
by Blake Boles
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Brainstorm:
The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain
by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Creating Innovators:
The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World
by Tony Wagner
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Creative Schools:
The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education
by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
DIY U:
Edupunks, Edupreneurs,
and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education
by Anya Kamenetz
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Drive:
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
by Daniel Pink
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Educating for Human Greatness
an expanded 2nd edition
by Lynn Stoddard
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The End of Average:
How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness
by Todd Rose
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Escape from Childhood:
The Needs and Rights of Children
by John Holt
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Essential Montessori:
An Introduction to the Woman, the Writings, the Method and the Movement
by Elizabeth Hainstock
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Finnish Lessons 2.0:
What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?
by Pasi Sahlberg
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Fix the School, Not the Child:
20 Ideas for Parents Who Want to Advocate for the Rights of Their Child in School
by Lisa Nielsen
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Free Schools, Free People:
Education and Democracy after the 1960s
by Ron Miller
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life
by Peter Gray
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide:
A Teen Handbook
by Judy Galbraith and Jim Delisle
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Habit of Thought:
From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice
by Michael Strong
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Happy Child:
Changing the Heart of Education
by Steven Harrison
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Homework Myth:
Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
by Alfie Kohn
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
How to Be a High School Superstar:
A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out
(Without Burning Out)
by Cal Newport
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
How to Raise an Adult:
Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success
by Julie Lthcott-Haims
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Hundred Languages of Children:
The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation
3rd edition
edited by Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini, and George Forman
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
I Learn from Children:
An Adventure in Progressive Education
by Caroline Pratt
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Instead of Education:
Ways to Help People Do Things Better
by John Holt
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Intelligence Reframed:
Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century
by Howard Gardner
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Last Child in the Woods:
Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
by Richard Louv
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Like Water:
The Extraordinary Approach to Education at Fairhaven School
by Mark McCaig
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Lives of Passion, School of Hope:
How One Public School Ignites a Lifelong Love of Learning
by Rick Posner
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Making It Up as We Go Along:
The Story of the Albany Free School
by Chris Mercogliano
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Mighty Writing:
College Application Essay Guide
by Laurie Filipelli in collaboration with Irena Smith
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Missing Alphabet:
A Parents’ Guide to Developing Creative Thinking in Kids
by Susan Marcus, Susie Monday, and Cynthia Herbert
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Most Likely to Succeed:
Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era
by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Overschooled but Undereducated:
How the Crisis in Education Is Jeopardizing Our Adolescents
by John Abbott
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Place-Based Education:
Connecting Classrooms and Communities
by David Sobel
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Pursuit of Happiness:
The Lives of Sudbury Valley Alumni
by Daniel Greenberg
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Savage Inequalities:
Children in America’s Schools
by Jonathan Kozol
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Saving the School:
The True Story of a Principal, a Teacher, a Coach, a Bunch of Kids, and a Year in the Crosshairs of Education Reform
by Michael Brick
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Schools Our Children Deserve:
Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards”
by Alfie Kohn
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
SelfDesign:
Nurturing Genius Through Natural Learning
by Brent Cameron
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Self-Driven Child:
The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives
by William Stixrud, PhD, and Ned Johnson
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Soul of Education:
Helping Students Find Connection, Compassion, and Character at School
by Rachael Kessler
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Summerhill School:
A New View of Childhood
by A. S. Neill
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Teach Your Own:
The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
by John Holt and Pat Farenga
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Teaching the Restless:
One School’s Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed
by Chris Mercogliano
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Teaching to Transgress:
Education as the Practice of Freedom
by bell hooks
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Teenage Liberation Handbook:
How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
by Grace Llewellyn
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Test:
Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing — But You Don’t Have to Be
by Anya Kamenetz
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Turning Points:
35 Visionaries in Education Tell Their Own Stories
edited by Jerry Mintz and Carlo Ricci
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Understanding Waldorf Education:
Teaching from the Inside Out
by Jack Petrash
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Unschooled Mind:
How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach
Twentieth-Anniversary Edition
by Howard Gardner
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Unschooling Rules:
55 Ways to Unlearn What We Know About Schools and Rediscover Education
by Clark Aldrich
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Vitamin N:
The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life
by Richard Louv
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
What Are Schools For?
Holistic Education in American Culture
by Ron Miller
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
What School Could Be:
Insights and Inspiration from Teachers across America
by Ted Dintersmith
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Whatever It Takes:
Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America
by Paul Tough
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
The Whole-Brain Child:
12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind
by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Why Don’t Students Like School?
A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom
by Daniel T. Willingham
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
Wounded by School:
Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture
by Kirsten Olson
Buy from an independent bookseller or Amazon.
