Don't Study at University

by Lagnard Benz

Rating: ****

Don’t Study at University is a self-help book with a difference, offering much more than the title suggests, covering extensive, often esoteric ground. Benz essentially lays out a manifesto, backed by personal experience and thorough research, that scrutinizes traditional educational methods and, consequently, expected career/life trajectories.

He rigorously questions and, in many cases, debunks prescribed belief systems, urging the reader to do likewise, offering stimulating theoretical debate, comprehensive advice, and forthright solutions for reprogramming their mindsets and changing negative habits.

Benz opens his illuminating book with a candid if slightly tentative Introduction.  It’s immediately interesting, and, as he concisely lays out his reasons for writing Don’t Study at University, his motivations become fiercely apparent, both for himself and the reader. It’s powerful and intriguing, free of woolly rhetoric or glib patronization.

Chapter One addresses the book’s moniker, which is, to a certain extent, deliberately provocative, and Benz makes no apologies for this.  He wants the reader to feel uncomfortable, question everything, and examine what, in all likelihood, they have been taught and accepted as fundamental truths.

His meticulous unpicking, discussion, and deconstruction of established academic tenets and the mental subjugation of the scholastic environment are eye-opening and thought-provoking. Having spent the best part of a decade as a teaching professor, Benz writes with single-minded conviction and first-hand knowledge, driving his persuasive argument home with force and insight.

Although there is a lot to absorb, and Benz presents his material in an uncompromising style, he is an intelligent, personable writer, directly addressing the reader in a sincere, straightforward manner that is engaging and connective.

Additionally, he shares personal details by way of illustration and peppers his chapters with observations from high achievers who did not follow the path of mainstream academia.

Chapter Two, “How Were We Programmed?”, is enlightening. Benz delves deep into the topic, offering profoundly fascinating theories, especially on the nature of emotions and, later in Chapter Four, the formation of bad habits and their psychology. 

Posing questions and scenarios, Benz draws the reader in, challenging them to re-examine their lives and their levels of awareness. It’s refreshing, hard-hitting in places, and Benz’s controlled enthusiasm is contagious.

Chapters that focus on providing guidance and instruction are loaded with common sense and provide several cerebral light-bulb moments.  There is nothing inaccessible in Don’t Study at University, but a combination of reflective, meditative, and proactive exercises.

Throughout, Benz remains focused, maintaining a constant thread between the book’s title and the chapter topics.  Although he uses subheadings and tabling in the later chapters, the book is occasionally a little textually dense in the early ones.

Nonetheless, the last two chapters, which compare the lives of the wealthy and the poor, are full of whip-smart, realistic observations that are as sobering as they are motivating.

Don’t Study at University is an unconventional, perceptive, and emotionally intelligent self-help guide written with infectious self-awareness, passion, and positivity. Highly recommended.

Buy from:

Amazon UK | Amazon US