Cappicuno U (FABULOUS name!) is indeed a pleasant read, and provides a lovely description of learning outside the traditional channels.

I have copied down the sentence about how we "will continue to look for new knowledge, not just because it is useful to us but because we have an instatiable desire to learn and become better at what we do." Nicely said, and a great learner model to base learning materials on! (Never occurred to me to check out Oprah's book club, but now I intend to).

But while this generation may have created the name "informal learning", let us not pretend we invented the practice! Folks have been learning every which way since learning began. Cappucino and coffee-shops are simply the new venues and metaphors.

I always wonder what the coffee-shop owners think about the legions of laptops occupying hours of table-space for the price of a coffee. I prefer to frequent the wifi-free coffee shops, because I find it a bit alienating to stare into the hardtops of someone else's laptop.

And who's kidding who? How many people have the discpline to focus on their work in public? Pas moi! Although I went to university before the days of laptops (I did write my essays on my roomsate's Osborne II!), I spent many a hour "studying" at Montreal's many Van Houte coffee shops. I certainly overheard many interesting, sometimes odd, conversations, and probably learned a lot from them. But from my reading? Not much.

Like golf ruins a nice walk, I think work can ruin a great coffee shop.