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Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#71

Post by tigershark »

pdog wrote: post #25
tigershark wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is extremely inefficient to just read a book 5 times, it is like throwing mud to the wall hoping that it sticks. It's much more effective to focus on each topic and try to remember and repeat the informations just read. Having a general mental framework on the book on the other hand is very helpful.

Sorry, but you're wrong. You're not reading a book five times, cover to cover. That's not a productive use of your time. Instead, you should breeze through the table of contents. Skim the first chapter. Still interested? Skip to the last chapter and read that. Jump around to the parts that interest you. Read through it again with a broad outline of what you're reading. Encounter a boring section? Skip ahead by twenty…

I'm sorry, but I don't think you have much experience in learning. In this way you will only remember a fraction compared to focusing step by step on the different topics and purposefully recall all the concepts, ideally putting them to practice starting from scratch without looking at all at the book. Source: pretty much every research about learning agrees that the conscious efforts of recalling, especially with spaced repetition is the best way to learn something. Plus anecdotally decades of experience in learning a huge amount of topics, programming languages, human languages and whatever. If you want to learn something useful I think that it may be helpful for you the course "learning how to learn", already cited by someone else here, in coursera that explains quite well why just skimming and reading a book is a very inefficient way of learning something. Accordingly to that course and a lot of the current learning research I'm not the one that is wrong.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#72

Post by tigershark »

adamnemecek wrote: post #23
tigershark wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is extremely inefficient to just read a book 5 times, it is like throwing mud to the wall hoping that it sticks. It's much more effective to focus on each topic and try to remember and repeat the informations just read. Having a general mental framework on the book on the other hand is very helpful.

Not it's not. It's not like each pass takes as long as if you were doing it in one pass. I would actually say that this approach is faster as it lets you focus better and on the things you want to get. > it is like throwing mud to the wall hoping that it sticks I must have not explained it well because that's the exact opposite of what I'm talking about. It's not about what sticks, it's about creating the connect-the…

To create the connections you have to consciously think and recall not only the topics, but also understand how they are connected and practice them. Seriously, I thought this was the last place on earth were I would have found people saying that to learn something the best way is to read a book 5 times. Because if you want to learn Java obviously the best way is to read a Java book 5 times, instead of reading one concept at a time, understanding it, recalling it, putting it in practice with exercises without looking at the book and connecting all the concepts. I will continue learning in my way that for you is for some reason so alien, good luck in learning reading 5 times.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#73

Post by adamnemecek »

tigershark wrote: post #72
adamnemecek wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not it's not. It's not like each pass takes as long as if you were doing it in one pass. I would actually say that this approach is faster as it lets you focus better and on the things you want to get. > it is like throwing mud to the wall hoping that it sticks I must have not explained it well because that's the exact opposite of what I'm talking about. It's not about what sticks, it's about creating the connect-the…

To create the connections you have to consciously think and recall not only the topics, but also understand how they are connected and practice them. Seriously, I thought this was the last place on earth were I would have found people saying that to learn something the best way is to read a book 5 times. Because if you want to learn Java obviously the best way is to read a Java book 5 times, instead of reading one co…

You are misunderstanding what I'm saying.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#74

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

pdog wrote: post #25
tigershark wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is extremely inefficient to just read a book 5 times, it is like throwing mud to the wall hoping that it sticks. It's much more effective to focus on each topic and try to remember and repeat the informations just read. Having a general mental framework on the book on the other hand is very helpful.

Sorry, but you're wrong. You're not reading a book five times, cover to cover. That's not a productive use of your time. Instead, you should breeze through the table of contents. Skim the first chapter. Still interested? Skip to the last chapter and read that. Jump around to the parts that interest you. Read through it again with a broad outline of what you're reading. Encounter a boring section? Skip ahead by twenty…

I wouldn't say that reading a book multiple times is wrong. People learn in different ways. One way works for some and another way works for others. Anyway, finding the interesting parts of a book is a good tip, one of the axioms of learning is that you'll learn much faster if you are interested. Building interest on the book/subject by reading what we find interesting is an excellent way to learn. Of course you have to eventually read what you previously found uninteresting. Hopefully by then you'll have enough knowledge or curiosity to get thru it. What helps is to constantly ask questions as you go through the book and finding the answers will help. Generally speaking humans need to solve problems to survive. Our brain gets a hit of Dopamine every time we get an answer. So, by asking why as we read, we'll be rewarded by learning.

My tip is to make sure you understand the subject. By putting it in your own words. A problem with reading is that it's easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we know something when in reality we don't. We need to constantly test ourselves.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#75

Post by whiteandnerdy »

edanm wrote: post #68

Depends on what I'm trying to learn, but for things like Math and other technical topics, I'll try to find textbooks/video lectures, go through them, while adding them to Anki. If you don't use Anki - you really, really should. I'd be lost without it - it's one of the greatest life-hacks I have. Without it, I don't really feel like I've learned something "for life", only just for a moment. Also, reading multiple text…

Totally agree on Anki. It's not just for language learning (although it's great for that - I use it for Japanese). I also have a deck for those day-to-day random facts I used to just keep forgetting - family birthdays, proportions for French press coffee, etc.

Gwern calculated the total time spent reviewing the average card is 2 mins across your lifespan (https://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20 repetition) - so anything worth ~3mins investment to learn can go in Anki and you'll never forget it. It's magic.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#76

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

danielvf wrote: post #43

The biggest test of what I've learned about learning was the day I had to learn embedded programming in twenty four hours. A customer called me at 5 pm. They had a possible six figure hardware sale, but a key aspect of their hardware was too slow, their only embedded software/hardware guy was no longer working there, and they had to have the new code in 24 hours for a demo. The software component to be sped up was th…

This is a great way to solve problems and it's something to be proud of but you get very superficial hit and miss knowledge this way. My previous job was to solve problems in very diverse subjects all in IT but it required research and quick solutions. After a while you get good at defining the problem and doing the research to solve the problem but as you move on to something else you never get a deep understanding and knowledge on the subject and quickly forget what you learned. To me, that's not long term learning.

Problem solving is a great way to learn quickly but make sure you stay around the subject to understand and acquire knowledge for the long term.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#77

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

Here's a quick clip on learning and knowledge from Richard Feynman one of the greats in physics. I suggest you watch the whole video, it's good but at the last minute or so he summarises learning and knowledge in his view. It's GOLDEN!!

Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQai9QikTBI&feature=youtu.be...

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#78

Post by hyfgfh »

Setup

[ ] Define a subject, and a goal

[ ] Get resources

[ ] Create a topic list

[ ] Filter the resources and assign resources to the topic list

[ ] Think about possible projects

Study - For each topic

[ ] Collect data in a reference note

[ ] Create flashcards

[ ] Search and create questions / exercises

[ ] Explain the subject in a piece of paper (Feynman's technique)

[ ] Apply the knowledge in quizzes and practical projects

[ ] With notes, explanation, quizzes and flashcards create a KL

-----

- Do you focus on one topic/book/course/project/article at a time, or split your time between multiple things?

> I focus on topics, not resources. But I split my time into multiple disciplines.

- Do you use any tools to track your resources, todos, notes, or goals?

> Yes. Evernote(Premium)

- Are there any pain points you have while learning, or are there any tools you wish existed?

> Yes, a good markdown 'platform' compatible with Linux/Windows/Android

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#79

Post by dpedu »

Joeri wrote: post #40

I almost always only learn things that I can immediately apply afterwards, because otherwise I find I don't retain enough useful knowledge that I have to go through the same learning resources again by the time I need the knowledge. I have two learning modes. When I first come across a new topic, e.g. hadoop, I will go broad and skim as many learning materials as I can to get an idea of the lay of the land. Once I fe…

>What I wish existed was a sort of wikipedia for learning

I write (private) wiki pages for myself when learning a new tool or tech. However, I think the process of taking in information and rewriting it in my own words is more valuable than the wiki pages themselves. Plus it's a handy way to store relevant links and brush up on a topic if I don't engage with it for awhile.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#80

Post by ivm »

No videos, taking notes in Scapple, searching for the most simple explanation in multiple articles at the same time, implementing what I need as soon as possible.

Focusing if the topic I learn is focused itself or not focusing if it's very broad.

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