How to unlock your brain – Limitless by Jim Kwik – book review

When I hear the word limitless I immediately remember the movie ‘Limitless’ with Bradley Cooper where the protagonist finds a pill which unlocks the full power of the brain and helps him to excel in every area of his life.

I bet Jim Kwik, the author of the book “Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life” was dreaming once of a similar pill to become limitless and he really had a reason for it. An accident in kindergarten, when he fell and injured his head, changed his life and caused a lot of learning problems. He couldn’t keep up to learn at the same speed as his colleagues, so much that he started reading three years later than his peers.

He found inspiration in comic books and superheroes became his best friends. Noone can doubt he was motivated to learn. In college Jim studied so hard that he neglected vital things like sleep, eating or exercise and ended up in hospital. A mug on the table triggered an association to a quote: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”. Because he remembered what Einstein once said, his mindset changed, and he viewed the problem from another angle. He was learning hard, but it was time to learn smarter.  

Jim overcame his disadvantages and proved that the brain with proper training can overcome its impediments. He founded Kwik Learning and started coaching  students, seniors, entrepreneurs  and educators and many CEO’s around the world. He set on a mission to teach as many people as possible how to learn, so nobody will suffer like he did.

“Limitless” is not a book where the author will throw at you some random techniques and facts about learning so you can use them and suddenly become better. This is a guide where he has deconstructed the main pillars of a better learning process but perhaps also a better life. Book focuses on areas: Mindset, Methods and Motivation and the author underlines their importance to becoming limitless. Although Jim’s knowledge is so broad that he could write a separate book about each area, he provides basic necessary information for each group, which forms the toolset to become limitless.

I find very practical the usage of activity boxes where author encourages the reader to take action. This is important as the book will only be of great value if you follow the activities and incorporate them in your daily routine. I have myself performed all the activities and saw significant improvement in speed reading (60% improvement after using Jim’s suggestions) and memorization.

Jim structures the material in such a way that’s easier to learn from. He also uses acronyms with the goal to help to remember the book contents with ease and for a long time. Such a difference to what has been provided to me in school.

Going back to the first association with the Limitless movie, Jim debunks common myths about learning and the brain. One of them is that we are not using the entire brain, which is false for several reasons. One counter argument is that there is no brain area, which could be damaged, without causing a loss of some ability. Hence the myth of not using the full brain can not prevail. By learning how the brain functions and how to learn, we can use our supercomputer more effectively.

Am I limitless after reading the book – no, but I have seen immediate effects in some areas. And this is a process of, as the author is saying: “unlimiting” yourself from bad habits, bad beliefs, bad thoughts.

Limitless is a great book to get started with learning how to learn. Best suitable for people who have some learning impediments or just haven’t really been taught how to study effectively. Better learning is a journey, and this book lays a very good foundation for this journey to success. This would be also a great resource for the teachers who could prepare their lessons in a more brain-friendly way and inspire their students to learn smarter.

Even if you are still unsure if it’s worth reading the book, I can tell you it will definitely pay off, because each book we read opens our minds, exercises our imagination, hence is valuable to our brains and your future self will thank you for each one.