Five Lies My Teacher Told Me

Author: Chandan Deshmukh

Publisher: Westland Publications

Price: ₹199

This book carries a crucial message for all students — of school, college, or even life: just because you haven’t met your version of success

yet doesn’t mean you’re not capable of it, that it’s not in your genes, or that you aren’t intelligent. The author takes five lies that you have been told — whether by your teachers, parents, peers or your own self — and unpacks them, citing several studies to prove why they are lies.

He has also positioned the lessons so that they are applicable for Generation Y (born from 1985 to 2000). For example, he explains how many from this generation are victims of the ‘you are special’ syndrome — assuming that they are destined for success, they have high expectations, even if they don’t put in the hard work to warrant such results. When they see the well-crafted images their peers post to social media, this discourages them further. Besides breaking down how to deal with this particular situation, the book also details why there is no science to suggest intelligence cannot be developed — while there are 300 genes linked to mental retardation, there are none that are suggestive of above average intelligence. This is to say that no one can be born a genius.

While the author mentions the rule that 10,000 hours of practice can help you master a field, he also acknowledges that this may not work when you’re preparing for a semester exam. However, there are concrete workarounds that he suggests to overcome this, and several other roadblocks to success.