Why books don't work (2019)
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Why books don't work (2019)
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Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#2Why does it have to be a long book with a million anecdotes?
Just give me the idea.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#3For the given examples: The Selfish Gene; Thinking, Fast and Slow; Guns, Germs, and Steel, there is another issue not covered in the article: the books are philosophical interpretations of some facts the author chose to support their theories. Even more so, some of those facts and studies have been since debunked.
So for these examples it is my opinion that it's not a case of books not working, but of very healthy brain garbage collector discarding information that is not actionable and in a lot of cases not even correct. Popular edutainment is not exactly "some serious non-fiction tomes".
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#4I'm not sure if that's always the case.
I love to read history books, and I'll devour anything Antony Beevor writes. I might not remember exact dates and troop movements, but I will remember the general ideas. The anecdotes only help to drive those ideas home.
The same can be said about the movies I've watched. I rarely remember the plot that well, but I remember how much I enjoyed them, and occasionally some good lessons.
I've also had some fascinating conversation that I simply can't recall. They still shaped how I see the world.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#5Endless blog posts don't work either.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#6Why does it have to be a long book with a million anecdotes? Just give me the idea.
Most longform (like this post) are not to educate but to convince. To learn, one has to do.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#7“people absorb knowledge by reading sentences”
Such a boring take on books.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#8Innovative ways to improve learning are always exciting, but leading with a hypothesis contrary to my personal experience[1] is unlikely to convince me the conclusion be valid.
https://billwadge.wordpress.com/2020/02/06/the-secret-of-aca...
> "The temptation is to write papers proclaiming the superiority of your work and the pathetic inadequacy of the contributions of A, B, C, …"
[1] in particular, working memory is not an issue with books: rereading is a thing.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#9I don’t see how this is an argument for how “books don’t work”. The author’s point seems to be that books don’t support learning, because books are static and can’t adapt to the thinking and working process of the reader/student. Something more is needed to “learn”.
This implies that the purpose of books is to “teach”, but is that so? Books at best “inform”. It is up to the reader to bring the framework for learning, be it the class setting, a study group or just experience enough to self-study.
Re: Why books don't work (2019)
#10Why does it have to be a long book with a million anecdotes? Just give me the idea.
IMX it's safe to pass by those long books with millions of anecdotes, and more enlightening to attempt to untangle the cultural trends behind the specific products (and their visual and textual presentations) in the duty-free catalogue.