# Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel

2 Hacker News commenters recommended Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a helpful overview of current learning research, including why cramming feels effective but hurts long-term retention.

## Why people recommend it

- Helpful for personal learning (2 comments): "The latter goes over the current state of learning research and it's helped me out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152868)) "The book Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel is helpful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48639787))
- Summarizes current learning research (1 comments): "The latter goes over the current state of learning research and it's helped me out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152868))
- Explains why cramming fails (1 comments): "Cramming often feels more satisfying, more like you're learning, but actually leads to worse retention." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858767))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-read-a-book.md): 12 recommend
- [Mindstorms by Seymour Papert](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mindstorms.md): 7 recommend
- [The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto](https://hackerapproved.com/p/underground-history-of-american-education.md): 2 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674729013?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780674729018) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel", https://hackerapproved.com/p/make-it-stick/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).