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12月
How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country’s Top Students
The only guide to getting ahead once you’ve gotten in-proven strategies for making the most of your college years, based on winning secrets from students just like you
College. You-ve been hearing about it and planning for years, and now at last it’s finally here. You’ve taken the SATs, written the perfect admissions essay, and packed your bags. Now what?
How to Win at College is a must-have road map for making the most of the next four years: how to ace your classes, choose the be
Rating: 
(out of 43 reviews)
List Price: $ 11.95
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Live At Luther College
Rating: 
(out of 501 reviews)
Price: $ 16.99
Review by Mr. Me for How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country’s Top Students
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I wish I’d had this book in college. There seem to be a million breezy, humorous books about college life on the shelves, but they’re all about cooking, cleaning, reducing stress and buying futons. This one is better than most at breezy humor, but it gets five stars because it’s about COLLEGE: the core tasks of getting good grades, an employable resume, and the critical thinking skills necessary for a richer appreciation of life. My little brother is starting Harvard next year, and I’ve bought him a copy. Hard to believe the college-survival genre has been around so long and this book is just being published now.
Review by Book dallier for How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country’s Top Students
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Not for the average student, this book, the only one in its category, will teach you how to have brilliant success in college. While other college survival-type books are about healthy habits, emotional balance, how to do laundry etc., this one is for those who probably haven’t needed such hovering help in awhile. In an excellent format (lots of little, very concrete tips, each of which gets a few pages of explanation), Cal Newport, himself a recent grad, lays out what separates the truly high achievers from the simply smart. The tips are not obvious or general, but precise and interesting (“Use High-Quality Notebooks”, “Apply to Ten Scholarships a Year”), and well-researched (the author says he compiled them by speaking to many exceptional students, including Rhodes scholars, entrepreneurs, productive researchers and published writers, from all over the Ivy League.) The tone, unlike in many advice books by older adults, is never cute or patronizing. This is a very, very useful book if you’re motivated and in for the long haul.
Review by christopher burns for How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country’s Top Students
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my little brother is going to st. andrews next fall. he asked me, a recent nyu graduate, if i had any sage advice on how to do well. i told him ‘nope. i did it the hard way. all nighters & pestilence.” but there’s a better way. this alleged 23 year old ‘cal newport’ seems to have written precisely the book i should have had back in 2000 when i still had a shot at doing things right. i regret nothing but like i told my bro, read this book and take advantage of the tips you’ll learn, cause you won’t get them from your professors or your peers. a book for that rare kid willing to seek out advice on how to succeed in college. this book won’t disappoint.
Review by Michael Jackson for How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country’s Top Students
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Wow, I just graduated from college and this book is full of little tidbits that I wish I’d known 4 years ago. The best part is that it is written by an actual student to students and contains bits of advice you won’t get reading an ordinary college “How To” book. And with dozens of two or three page chapters highlighting specific points, it’s an enjoyable read that will get anyone thinking critically about how to succeed in college.
Review by Johnny thunder for How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country’s Top Students
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As an admitted skeptic before I read this book, I felt like I had seen it all before. What could a 200 some page book offer me with 75 “secrets” of success in college? Even then, with at the most a 4 page explanation of why its important?
Call me crazy, but I think that this book was what I call a “Quick shot at success”. Although its a quick read, in terms of other overloaded “expert” college success guides, I found this to really open my mind and give me the ambition to succeed.
What makes this book special is that it works two fold:
First, many of the secrets I had NEVER heard before! Yet, as soon as you read it, you just want to go tell all your friends what they’ve been missing while they were inevitably buried beneath a stack of books! Even with the rare “common sense” tips, Cal puts a new spin on them. He explains them so you can understand them, why they are important, and what you can do to become inspired to put them into action. Best of all, he does this with EVERY tip! This book REALLY makes your college life easier and more enjoyable!
Second, as I noted before, this book is a “quick shot at success”. When you are done reading it, you WILL feel inspired. Even then, you will inevitably fall on some rough times in college. You may forget a few tips here and there. When you feel down, just pick up this book again and take another “shot” at success!
However, i’d recommend getting his latest book “How to become a straight a student” in addition to this. Combined, you WILL see results!
Review by tropic_of_criticism for Live At Luther College
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Hearing this album, I only wish I had been live at Luther College. There’s a spirit of playfulness and genuine fun about the performers which easily translates onto the CD and lets the listener know that these guys have the greatest jobs on the planet. You can tell, especially on tracks like “Little Thing” and “Ants Marching”, that they genuinely love what they do. Not only do they frequently joke with the audience, but they take their music along decidedly frisky pathways. Their music soars with an improvisational ease in which Dave Matthew’s voice is as elastic as Tim Reynold’s guitar. I’ve read in other reviews that this album is, perhaps, only for Dave Matthews fans, but I would have to disagree. This is a fine album to start one’s appreciation of Matthews. The connection they were obviously able to make with the listeners at Luther College is infectious: you can’t help but like performers who were so entirely adored by their audience. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they’re able to play like the devil harboring a speed habit, either.
Review by B. Jorgensen for Live At Luther College
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Having lived with two DMB fans, one of whom virtually worships the man and his band, I have been exposed to the vast majority of their tunes. I think they’re talented, but between Dave’s somewhat indecipherable vocals and the sometimes over-the-top instrumentation, I find that whatever message they’re trying to convey often gets buried.
That being said, “Live at Luther College” is most definitely one (or two, if a two-disc set can’t count as one) of the ten recordings I’d want with me if I were stranded on a desert island.
I’d give all but maybe one or two songs a 5-star rating. Even the “Christmas Song,” which, subject-wise, isn’t exactly my cup of tea, is just too perfectly executed to deny.
There are thousands of recordings that use electric guitar and of which I’m a huge fan, but if I had to choose, I prefer the purity of acoustic guitar. The use of acoustic guitars alone gives this set a huge edge.
And Tim Reynolds is a virtuoso–probably as technically gifted as many respected classical guitarists, but with an equally impeccable ability to reinvent each of Dave’s songs so that they have every bit as much groove, humor, emotion, and force (and often more) as they did with his full band backing him up. Dave isn’t half-bad either.
And while they take their guitars to the very limits of unplugged rock, Dave’s voice is still able to shine through clearly, and I can actually understand what he’s saying more often than not (I’ve actually memorized most of the album, although there are some areas where I still mumble incoherent phrases in conjunction with what seems to be coming out of Dave’s mouth).
Virtually all of the power and emotion is generated by the musicians themselves, not by special effects or gadgets, and you can really feel what a memorable experience it must have been to attend that show.
Review by Scott J Capodice for Live At Luther College
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Untill about a year ago I really didnt know any of Dave’s music. But I was introduced to Dave’s music because I am an avid guitar player. I have almost all of Dave’s cds now but this one by far is the one that I always find my self listening to. Dave’s talent combined with Tim Reynolds’ is just something that will just leave you speechless. And Tim Reynolds performance was unsurpassed by anyone I have ever heard. When you listen to this cd you can just float on the music and let it take you to a place that is so peaceful. But then again it can get you excited. This cd is a great cd for any mood you may be in. I listen to this cd many times a day. I really dont know why I have bought any other cds after I got this one. The performance by these two great musicians should be recognized widely which it is not. I urge you to buy this cd. You will not regret it, I PROMISE! And when you have experienced how great it is, share it with a friend and spread the word so one day these two wonderful musicians will receive the credit they deserve. Keep up the great work Dave and Tim!
Review by Chris Schaefer (schaeferc00@darden.gbus.virginia.edu) for Live At Luther College
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This release is a double CD set that chronicles a 1996 live show Dave performed with his old-friend and acoustic guitarist Tim Reynolds. The two met in C’Ville when Matthews was working as a bartender at Miller’s. Reynolds, who has played on each Dave Matthews Band album, also has his own group, TR3. Dave and Tim first began touring together in 1993 when Dave decided he needed an outlet for his creative energies when he wasn’t touring with the band. The duo started off playing small coffeehouses and theatres, and have since managed to keep their shows in somewhat intimate venues. These live shows don’t have the festival, party atmosphere of the usual Dave Matthews Band concert. Rather, they are characterized by a quiet sense of respect for his music as art. This particular show was recorded Feb. 6, 1996 before a capacity crowd of 1,600 at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Matthews and Reynolds selected the Luther concert for the live album based on their own assessment of the performance, the technical quality of the sound, and the concert atmosphere.As I listened to these acoustic versions of some of Dave’s best-known songs, it reminded me that the best rock n’ roll albums are really just collections of great songs done in a rock style. If you don’t have a great song that can stand alone, you really don’t have much. And few artists today can write songs like this – songs which are just as at home acoustically as they are layered with production and a full band.The concert mainly features acoustic versions of well-known songs from Dave’s albums: Tripping Billies, Jimi Thing, Satellite, Crash Into Me, What Would You Say, Ants Marching, etc. However, it also includes an interesting Tim Reynolds instrumental, Stream, as well as a few previously unreleased Dave Matthews songs like Deed is Done, Little Thing, and Granny, which he has played in concert for years but have never made it onto albums.This music is the perfect mellow soundtrack to a crisp, bright, fall day – perfectly suited to an autumn drive around the colorful Virginia countryside. The interplay of the two acoustic guitars reminded me at times of the pleasantly serene guitar music that characterized early Windham Hill new age recordings, especially on the sweetly sentimental version of Typical Situation. At other times, Tim accents Dave’s style with more bluesy fills, as on their bouncy rendition of What Would You Say.
Review by Zeb for Live At Luther College
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I disagree with the “daveheads” who say that this album is only for true DMB fans. In my opinion, they are using their familiarity with Dave’s material to play the underappreciated scholars and poo-poo the rest of the music world. I had never listened to much Dave Mathews, and what I had heard struck me as average if anything. I was out at a friends house recently and he put on this record. It was clearly Dave Matthews, but it was with an emotion and energy that I didn’t pick up from his other recordings. Everyone should hear this album at least once, if not shell out the dough and buy it. Ignore the “daveheads” who have labeled this album “for diehard DMB fans only.” Because Dave has produced superior work with Tim in concert only available to the public through obscure bootleg tapes is no reason to knock this album. It’s one of the greatest acoustic albums of all time, and you don’t need to be a lifelong fan of Dave Matthews to appreciate that.