A head first reader is a learner.

Learning doesn’t happen to you. It’s something you do. You can’t learn if you don’t have some brainpower. Building more mental pathways, connecting new and pre-existing knowledge, and turning facts and information into knowledge are all part of learning. Head First books get your brain into learning mode based on the latest research.

We can help you do that.

We use casual language to tell stories. We don’t take ourselves seriously. Would you pay more attention to a lecture or a stimulating dinner party companion?

We make it clear. Images make learning much more effective. Things are more fun because of them.

We use attention- grabbing tactics. It doesn’t have to be boring to learn a new topic. The graphics are often funny or sarcastic. No two pages are the same, and each one has a mix of text and images.

Metacognition is thinking about something.

If you want to learn more quickly and deeper, pay attention to how you pay attention. Think about how you think. The trick is to get your brain to pay attention to what you’re learning. It’s important to your well-being. Your brain is trying to keep the new content from sticking, otherwise you’re in for a constant battle.

Here’s what we do.

Your brain is more focused on visuals than text. A picture is worth a thousand words to your brain. When text and pictures work together, we put the text in the picture because your brain works better if the text is within the thing the text refers to.

We use different ways of saying the same thing, and different media types, and different senses, to increase the chance that the content gets into more than one area of your brain.

We use concepts and pictures in unexpected ways because your brain is more likely to remember novelty and emotional content, and we use pictures and ideas with at least some emotional content because your brain is more likely to remember when you feel something.

Your brain is more focused on listening to a conversation than it is on listening to a presentation, so we use a personalized style.

Your brain learns and remembers more when you do things than when you read about them. The exercises are challenging-yet-do-able because most people prefer that.

We use multiple learning styles because you might prefer step-by-step procedures, while someone else wants to understand the big picture first, and someone else just wants to see an example. Everyone benefits from seeing the same content in multiple ways.

The more of your brain you engage, the more likely you are to learn and remember, and the longer you can stay focused. You can be more productive at learning if you give the other side of the brain a rest.

Asking questions that don’t always have a straight answer is one of the challenges we include.

Because you’re a person, we use people in our stories, examples, and pictures. Your brain is more focused on people than on things.