Haig, a dentist, and his brother Jeff, both UCLA alumni,
co-authored the book “Unlock Your Educational Potential: What Every Student
Needs to Know to Succeed” in order to guide students toward a perfect GPA.
Jeff Haig, who is working on his doctorate in education at USC, explained that the book is not an exhaustingly comprehensive guide on how to be a good student.
“It’s more like a blueprint,” he said.
Both Brian and Jeff Haig, who are identical twins, went to UCLA at some point in their educational careers. Brian attended for graduate school, and Jeff was an undergraduate.
“In high school, we didn’t take education seriously. We wanted to have as much fun as possible. It wasn’t until college when we realized our passion for education,” Brian Haig said. The two decided to write the book while living together because of this shared enthusiasm.
“I’m a dentist. This is something I’m doing on the side,” he said, explaining why they were willing to donate copies to the UCLA Library so that they could be accessible to all students.
Brian Haig started out at Berkeley studying neuroscience.
“(I) studied Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s at UC Irvine for about two years and it was fascinating, but I really liked being around people, so I decided to become a dentist,” he said.
However, he also had a lot of ideas about education, in which his brother leads a class at USC.
The brothers lived together while writing “Unlock Your Educational Potential,” making the process much easier, Brian Haig said.
Though they currently live separately, they said their closeness will make writing another book (which they plan on doing) easy as well.
“Jeff and I are best friends, so we’re always calling and bouncing ideas off of each other,” Brian Haig said.
The next book will be about self-regulation, said to Jeff Haig.
“Self-regulation is about having the students take control
of their lives. It’s about being a proactive, determined student and taking
charge of your educational future instead of letting circumstances and events
determine your life’s outcome.
“Unlock Your Educational Potential” features chapters that focus on such topics as the importance of health and fitness in getting grades, how extracurricular activities affect education and why getting an education is so important.
“If you read the book, it’s a really quick read, and we
didn’t want to make it complicated or esoteric. We wanted it to be as engaging
and inspiring to read as possible,” Brian Haig said.
Along with the book, the Haigs have created an audio disk titled “The Ultimate Student’s Guide to Getting As and Studying Effectively,” a one-hour and 20-minute in-depth outline on how to set forth and achieve perfect scores. While the recording is a more systematic way to achieve the grades, the book serves as a road map to learning as much as possible.
Despite it being like a road map, the Haigs tried to ensure their book was not a boring one. Brian Haig said he believes that many textbooks are dry and emotionless.
“This book is fun to read. It should be something you enjoyed,” he said.
The book has received positive reviews from best-selling author Jon Gordon, UCLA professor Dr. Russell Christensen and Olympic athlete Rebecca Soni, who was taught by Jeff Haig at USC.
A lot of the book comes from personal experiences that Jeff Haig had while studying at UCLA and that Brian Haig had while studying at UC Berkeley, according to the brothers.
Not only will “Unlock Your Educational Potential” be available in the UCLA Library, but it can also be purchased at major book stores.
“I made a lot of mistakes (when I was in college), and when I was done I looked back and shook my head. I wish I had known all this when I was a student,” Jeff Haig said.