THE essence of Wise Up: the challenge of lifelong learning by Guy Claxton (Bloomsbury, £16.99 sterling) is that learning is going to be the ultimate life skill for the 21st century.

Claxton is a fellow of the British Psychological Society and currently visiting professor in the Graduate School of Education at Bristol University. His distinguished academic career started at the age of 16 when he discovered that success was based on being strategic rather than on being bright. In practical terms this meant focusing on developing good study habits and strengthening the most effective ones.

Claxton maintains that outmoded mindsets prevent people from learning. He believes that tinkering with the curriculum is not the answer and that more radical and imaginative changes are needed. He draws on the latest research to explain what it means to be a good learner and he emphasises that learning is a very rich seam involving far broader concepts than are normally associated with the function.

For him learning is as much about imagination, intuition and brainwaves as hard work. Claxton believes that subtle changes in family life, teaching style and management priorities can create positive and powerful learning climates. He also gives the "three Rs" a new interpretation. For him they mean resilience, resourcefulness and reflection - which he says are the tools required to survive in an uncertain future world.