Once again, thanks to the efforts of Information Age Publishing, an out-of-print classic is available. Charles Wedemeyer's Learning at the Back Door: Reflections on Non-traditional Learning in the Lifespan has been reprinted. This book has a special place in my professional mind because, as a young associate professor, I reviewed it for Educational Technology in 1982. The book was unforgettable, but I hoped my review was forgotten. I panned Wedemeyer's classic.
Here are two excerpts from that review:
Scholarly writing can be both effective and stifling. Learning at the Back Door is definitely scholarly writing. The four sections and 12 chapters of this book contain 344 direct quotes and citations. Almost every idea, concept, and statement is backed up by a reference. Sentences range in length up to 50 words, each. They are mostly well-written, but they are long and difficult to understand.
It is obvious that Professor Wedemeyer did his homework before he wrote this book. Readers of Learning at the Back Door will have to do their homework, too. It is not a book to be browsed or scanned.… Wedemeyer believes that learning is a natural and continuous process, and because society is changing so rapidly, the need for educational opportunities throughout a person's life is important. This message is the basis for his book and for why non-traditional, back-door learning (Wedemeyer's term) is needed. Wedemeyer believes educational institutions must respond to this need or lose their vitality and impact.… Wedemeyer's book is complete, well-researched, and amply documented … my final recommendation on this book is … as a reference and research source … it is excellent.
Recently, I reread Learning at the Back Door, as well as my decades-old review. Looking through the prism of experience rather than enthusiasm, I now see what a great and classic book Professor Wedemeyer offered us. I still had a hard time reading much of it. My fault, not his.
