This book is about how learning makes a difference to people’s lives, as indi- viduals and as members of their community. It is more than likely that anyone picking up the book – you, the reader – will be broadly predisposed to believe that learning does indeed bring benefits; we do not on the whole devote time to reading about things in which we have no belief. Whether as students (and former students), teachers or some other form of educational professional, or simply as members of a society where learning is increasingly emphasised as the sine qua non of personal or collective achievement, most people have a.
