Brett is embarking on an alternative path of education that I will be following with interest. He decided not to return to his university this fall to continue pursuing an engineering degree and instead will be doing what he calls "Real Life U" -- an idea originally inspired by this post on Ben Casnocha's blog.
The bet he is making is that self-paced learning guided by mentors will be more effective than a traditional 4-year college education. His plans include a board of trustees, intensive tracking (including books, websites, projects, and people met), and an online repository for lessons learned and book summaries, etc. I am crossing my fingers that the outputs will be available in blog form.
Speaking of blogs, one of the blogs in my “always good” folder in Google Reader is his personal blog. It is a lot like mine except with better photography.
I love his photos. I get a similar feeling viewing his photos as I do from reading an Alain de Botton book. Both have a way of representing the ordinary in such a way so as to remind us of all that’s there. There is nothing that saddens me more than sitting on a plane next to someone who takes more interest in his crossword puzzle than the view out the window. Brett’s photos are a welcome reminder that even a view “obstructed” by clouds can be damn spectacular. Only a subset of his photos are taken from the air, but I get a similar feeling viewing his photos taken from the ground.
Some samples:
If you want a lovely piece of photography on your wall, and you want to support his alternative education path, check out his photo store. Folks can also order photos from his Flickr (photosets) by contacting him at brett@brettbolkowy.com.
