book learning
Noun
Meaning
book learning (uncountable)
Alternative form of book-learning
book-learning (uncountable)
Theoretical or academic knowledge acquired by reading books and/or through formal education, as opposed to practical or empirical knowledge of real life and the real world, gained through experience, or native as street smarts, common sense, or intuition.
Alternative names
book-learning
Synonyms
Examples
My early book learning came to me as naturally as the seasons in ... the little town in which I grew up. ... Quite early I began to find a special charm in an unpeopled world ... of lava rock and sagebrush desert. ... I was often more purely happy at such times than I think I have ever been since.
...only a fraction of book learning will seep into practical life anyhow; and the more foolish the theory, the less of it.
That night my parents told me what my cousin had suggested. I said no, absolutely not! I turned and walked away as fast as I could. My parents really had no idea how much it had hurt me all these years to go to school. I was done with all book learning.
He believed in the importance of experience over book learning and memorization.
This kind of knowledge (or "book learning"), like desire, should be diminished.
Tutors needed to teach students through experience rather than through the mere memorization of knowledge often practised in book learning.