Blake Boles shares his personal journey of discovery about education, starting from his childhood experiences at summer camp. As a child and teenager, he found the freedom, engagement, and respect at camp to be a stark contrast to the rigid structure, superficial curriculum, and lack of autonomy he experienced at school.

This contrast sparked his interest in exploring alternatives to traditional education. In college, he chose to major in education theory, where he learned about thinkers like John Taylor Gatto who criticized the conventional schooling system. After graduating in 2004, Boles worked at various summer camps and even helped run a camp for homeschooled teens called Not Back to School Camp. He was deeply inspired by the campers' independence and passion, as they took charge of their own education, a concept known as "unschooling."

Driven by this inspiration, Boles started his own company, Unschool Adventures, which offered trips and programs for unschooled young adults. However, he noticed that some advocates of unschooling were completely against education, rejecting all forms of structure and formal learning. Boles, having benefited from summer camps and certain schools, wanted to find a balance. He sought a positive philosophy that valued student autonomy and real-world learning without entirely dismissing educational institutions.

Starting from 2009, Boles began researching educational innovators from all walks of life - from Ivy League universities to homeschoolers to edupreneurs. He interviewed artists, entrepreneurs, and thinkers from diverse backgrounds, asking them about their educational experiences and values. A common theme emerged from these interviews - the importance of helping young people direct their own learning, pursue their interests, solve problems, and collaborate.

Boles came to the conclusion that "self-directed learning" was the ideal term to describe this approach for 21st-century education. He shares the stories, insights, and diverse examples of self-directed learning that he discovered on his journey. His hope is to inspire unschoolers, independent learners, adventurers, and educators to further this model of learning, which is driven by student agency and real-world application.