Make It Stick

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel's 2014 synthesis of cognitive science research showing that retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and interleaving are far more effective for durable learning than re-reading and massed practice.

Establishes the counterintuitive core finding: that desirable difficulties — retrieval practice (self-testing), spaced sessions, interleaved topics — produce more durable learning precisely because they feel harder, while fluent re-reading produces an illusion of mastery without retention.