News
Author of "How to Win at College" and "How to Become a Straight-A Student," Cal Newport '04 shared the insights presented in his books at a lecture in Moore Hall Tuesday evening.
Newport, who began his quest for academic success during his sophomore year at Dartmouth, compiled his most valuable findings into the two books after graduating.
"Maybe brilliant success is not necessarily the result of being a brilliant person, maybe it's an emergent property from a lot of small changes, a lot of small habits," Newport said of the inspiration for researching his first book.
Newport's research proved successful during that academic year, when he achieved a flawless grade point average, which continued through sophomore summer, despite factors that seemed to make academic success during that term unlikely -- including a house off campus with friends and a backyard pong table, a constant stream of beer he said Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity unknowingly supplied and an ongoing battle with mononucleosis.
During his second year of college, Newport began taking note of his study habits and experimented with them to learn what was successful.