Author's Note

In my quest for the perfect perspective with which to regard school, I created what I call the paradigm of the cyborg. It is the key manner in which learners will realise success. By viewing themselves as war-machines, of sorts, and the classroom as a battlefield, the students can destroy the notion that school is boring and mundane. This frame of reference also facilitates analysis of the situation in strategic and tactical terminology. In addition, the concept of "cybernetics" in the context of this book refers to the combined use of organic and inorganic tools to assist the student in achieving a common objective. Inorganic devices include, for example, personal computers and subliminals. Organic tools, on the other hand, refer to mental skills such as speed-reading and memory techniques.

I believe this book fills a void in the diverse array of literature on learning. Firstly, it is aimed at the student. This is not a handbook for educators. Teachers have been changing and revising their cirriculum constantly, and yet few books address the major issue: Student apathy.

This volume teaches the student skills in an exciting and lively manner, and recognizes that underachievers lack not the mental ability for success, but the motivation to do so.

One special point about my book is that in fact it is most suitable for fans of science fiction and technophiles. SF themes run throughout the book, and these are side-effects of my own interests and background in SF. An observation I have made is that a certain proportion of students who have trouble in school are, in fact, avid fans of science fiction. I was such a person.

For far too long, education has concentrated on content, and neglected presentation. Student discontent with school demonstrates the failure of ordinary vehicles of communication and persuasion.

This book also presents conveniently in the same place, perhaps for the first time for many readers, revolutionary skills and devices that will soon change forever the landscape of learning.