iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 23/09/2026

Equinox Ramble on Bair Island, in the SF Bay. Look who I met on the trail!

Praying mantis on the trail, guarding the way so that no one shall pass! A woman in a blue skirt crouches down in the background.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 22/09/2026

Right back at you! May you find peace and balance in this day.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 22/09/2026

What a joyful noise! Makes me want to go out and sing up the sun, as well: I'm here! I'm alive! I'm well! And I feel a great day is dawning. Happy Equinox.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 21/09/2026

Enjoyed watching a swarm of juncos attempting to catch a small, yellow butterfly on the wing today. At least a dozen of them dove at it, and that precious little insect evaded them all! New respect. 🦋

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 09/09/2026

Ooh! And I thought we had it bad at 92. I love my little Bay Area hill!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 09/09/2026

Of course, I inadvertently chose our first 90-degree day to make them, but somehow the aroma of fresh-baked, cardamom-ginger shortbread cookies makes it all worthwhile. Anyone want to stop by for tea?

Ginger-cardamom shortbread cookies cooling on a wire rack. Red oven mitts sit off to one side.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/09/2026

Afraid to have to say it, but your students probably need to read this: understanding-matters.com

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/09/2026

Urgh! Never had a spam problem until this week. Submitted my new book to PW, Kirkus, and Booklist for reviews, and within 48 hours, the spam bots started flooding my inbox with "offers." Damn. I thought those were reputable organizations. So... which one of them sold my email address? 🤬

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 06/09/2026

I provide some ammunition for students and faculty seeking to make an argument against its use in EDU in my new book: "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning." Book Info at: understanding-matters.com

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 04/09/2026

Just went into the backyard restoration area for a break between classes (11am) and met a lynx, out hunting. Guess the local cougar is in town. Think I'll stay indoors, this evening!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 24/08/2026

Just wondering: If we take one of those new Scottish cruises on small, repurposed fishing vessels... Do we get to eat lox whilst traveling through locks in the lochs? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⛴️

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 20/08/2026

Just in from a reader: "I just finished reading your excellent book last night. Future scholars may remember it as the last work of rigorous intellectual honesty before the age of AI. I hope your book is well received and reaches its enormous potential to help others." #EduSky #AcademicSky #AI

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 05/08/2026

Ooooff! Loving life in the Bay Area more and more, every summer day!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 05/08/2026

Trouble w/ policy making re: AI in Edu is that few students & teachers have a good grasp of how humans actually do things like analyze & judge & create. So, the choice seems arbitrary. My new book tries to remedy that lack of understanding. Free book talk tonight, if curious. Via larisa-a-white.com

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 04/08/2026

I'm STILL a "berry-aged" child!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 03/08/2026

We have them here as well, but in my experience, they have nothing on the screaming, whining, high-pitched voices of juvenile peregrine falcons!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 30/07/2026

This is the stuff of nightmares... 😭 AI firms are systematically destroying human knowledge in the form of coherently organized, human-generated books, to slice and dice wisdom they contain into meaningless, contextless morsels of AI slop!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 26/07/2026

Yeah, me too! I was astonished, a couple of years back, when I went looking for it, for my own son, only to find it had not yet been written! Much of the research has been around for years - just not in language accessible to students. So, I wrote the book I needed, and dedicated it to him.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 26/07/2026

NEW: from the parent of a 14 y.o. boy: "Students often feel it is unnecessary to learn study skills, note-taking, or memory techniques until they hit a bottleneck. [...] My boy is reading your book this weekend and has found it incredibly useful for understanding why those skills are important."

Stacks of books awaiting owners. Facing front: one soft-cover copy of "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning." Link: https://understanding-matters.com

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 24/07/2026

Love watching the hummingbirds forego the birdbath, then struggle to bathe in dewdrops caught on the leaves of the Persian lime tree. 🪶🌳

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 23/07/2026

Congratulations! You have some very big shoes to fill. Keep that flame burning.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 22/07/2026

Wicked cool! Are you doing this free-hand?

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 22/07/2026

Did you know... Humans have 6 memory systems, used in learning; Only 2 of those 6 are consciously accessible; Only 1 of those 2 lasts longer than a few minutes; and what we do inside our brains while we study determines where our memories end up? Understanding Matters! #edusky #academicsky

Book cover for "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning" by Larisa A. White

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 21/07/2026

Beautiful! So much nicer than the original cover. Are you happier with this one?

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 20/07/2026

I intend to do a bit of nothinging, before deciding.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 19/07/2026

OMG Argentina played dirty today. God got them for that.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 16/07/2026

The world is truly filled with wonders!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 15/07/2026

“I read up to chapter 6 last night and am excited to keep… learning 😉? I slept when you told me I needed to, to make those neural connections, but am now interested in seeing what comes next." (comment from a reader, 24 hours after getting her book)

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 15/07/2026

Sunday's book launch was so much fun! Lots of people, great conversations, and lots of books flying out the door. 🥳 And apparently, some people went right home & started reading, and couldn't put it down — a non-fiction book on how humans learn! Comments started coming in, 24 hours later... 🧵

Author reading from her new book, "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning." She sits on a high stool, on a Persian carpet, with a small lectern off to one side. In the background: a window looking out on an oak tree.

Author showing her new book to a room full of attentive listeners.

Book cover for "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning" by Larisa A. White. A fruiting tree, rooted in a hill of "soil" composed of all the fields of human knowledge. A woman climbs the hill of knowledge, reaching for the fruit of wisdom. A child sits at the foot of the tree, reading a giant book.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 11/07/2026

Lovely story. Don't you love it when the critters do half the work for you? Our cedar waxwings come for the pink peppercorns on the tree outside our livingroom window; but I would rather they planted new cherry trees instead of new pepper trees!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/07/2026

One approach is to help our students understand exactly HOW human brains DO the higher-level thinking skills of analysis, evaluation & creativity, and the mechanisms by which premature use of AI prevents them from developing those higher-paying cognitive skills. (See understanding-matters.com )

understanding-matters.com

Understanding Matters

Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning is a master-teacher in your pocket, helping make new knowledge stick, and newly-learned skills become second nature, as efficiently and effectively as ...

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/07/2026

Oh, I'm intrigued by the Eco theology chapters. Please let me know when your book or chapters at least are ready to read. My new book is on human learning, as I realized that teaching people about climate change required them to be capable of, and unafraid of learning ecology. Bird by bird.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/07/2026

Oh, yes! I'm stealing that turn of phrase! And good to see you around, Adam.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/07/2026

Global climate change I believe in; global warming, sometimes, not so much. The hotter and longer the summer heat domes last inland, the colder our days and nights seem to get on the CA coast. Woke shivering this a.m. at 63F in the house w/ no AC! Three layers of wool this morning. ❄️❄️❄️

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 08/07/2026

OMG, our fruit trees are happy with their forest floor! First ripe lemon of the season, and the aroma is mind-blowing! (And haven't fertilized a thing in years)

One giant, ripe yellow lemon fills the hands of an adult woman.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 07/07/2026

New year; new resource: “Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning” understanding-matters.com How humans, as complex biological beings, actually learn, remember, analyze, judge, and create & how #AI affects those processes. In plain & simple language. For our students. #EduSky #AcademicSky

A hardcover edition of the new book, "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning," on an oak table. An open notebook, pen, and colored pencils surround the book, ready for note-taking. Cover image is of a great, fruiting tree of knowledge, with roots reaching deep into a word-art "soil" of all the fields of human knowledge. A child reads a giant book, while sitting at the foot of the tree. A young woman climbs the hill, reaching for the fruit of wisdom.

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 07/07/2026

Will look forward to your thoughts on it!

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 07/07/2026

While waiting for long-term study results, we might help people learn about how people actually learn, think, analyze, judge, and create, and about the biological processes behind those abilities & how AI use impedes them. My new book does just that: "Understanding Matters" (see larisa-a-white.com)

larisa-a-white.com

Larisa A. White – Author

Larisa A. White author website

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Larisa A. White @larisa-a-white.com · 07/07/2026

First day promoting my new book! Wheeeee!! "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning" Details at: larisa-a-white.com

larisa-a-white.com

Larisa A. White – Author

Larisa A. White author website

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