Why books don't work (2019)

As a counterpoint to the article which is arguing that Books and lectures don't have a theory of learning and assimilation of information, I think that Video Games as a medium often do. Most games have tutorials or instructions on how to play the game, often introducing novel or complex concepts to the audience that are required to be understood before the work can be enjoyed.

More specifically, I find that exploration and puzzle games tend to exemplify this more than most. They introduce one concept at a time, demonstrate it, allow exploration and 'play' of the concept and perhaps even test the understanding of it before progression is allowed. They also allow for more interesting corollaries and combinations of rules to be presented to the player which may be intriguing, surprising or, appropriately, puzzling.

And of all the puzzle games, it is Jonathan Blow's game 'The Witness' that I feel exemplifies this the best. Having also listened to his commentaries and watched his talks I know that this isn't an accident. In many ways the game itself is a contemplation on knowledge transfer, information assimilation and wordless communication of ideas. This early video [0] shows him talking through the first 10 minutes of the game and how these principles apply to the first two sets of puzzle and the first 'boss' puzzle.

His talk from your comment is also excellent, but I think it's worth highlighting that Blow very much says that video games are a complement to current resources rather than a replacement (as the title might suggest). Video Games allow for a different way to play with certain types of idea that allows for them to be understood on a deeper or more nuanced level. This doesn't necessarily apply to all types of knowledge.

I would also suggest the work of Bret Victor [1], who has some excellent essays and talks on the subject of learning, especially around Maths.

Also honorary mentions to Acko [2] and NCase [3] who create excellent explorables, which I think hint at what a fusion of classroom learning and video games might look like.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSrYiheVow

[1] http://worrydream.com/LadderOfAbstraction/

[2] https://acko.net/blog/how-to-fold-a-julia-fractal/

[3] https://ncase.me/trust/

I actually agree with that. I think it depends on the nature of the material, how much else you already know about the subject, your intention in reading the book, etc. I was being a little overly general in phrasing it in terms of only walking away with "a vague memory".

It's not that it isn't serious. Pop science doesn't have to be BS. But it often risks conveying to readers that they have a better grounding than they actually have, which The Selfish Gene has also done. Pop science books are good ways to attract young readers to the sciences and to keep older readers engaged in it, but they are not in and of themselves contributions to the field.

Let's take a book that shaped how I think about the media: "The Powers that Be" by David Halberstam. It's a tome of a book, clocking in at over 700 pages. It is a history and analysis of American media in the 20th century. I cannot recite many anecdotes or facts from it - although it's entirely possible, maybe even likely, that facts and anecdotes related to the media I know are from that book, I just have forgotten that. But it shaped how I think about the media, its various mediums, the power it has, and in particular, its influence on, and relationship with, politics. This "shaping" thing is both nebulous but critical to how we think and understand the world.

Let's take yet another example: the astrophysics courses I took in undergrad. Two semester's worth: one semester on stars, and one semester on everything else in the universe. (Quoth my professor: "And that's reflective of our understanding.") I used to be able to narrate all of the steps of a main sequence star. I no longer can. I can get close, and I can throw out phrases like "hydrostatic equilibrium", but I have forgotten so much from those courses. It's a year of learning! But that is not a waste. My understanding of our solar system, galaxy and universe were shaped by this course, so that I at least can have an intuitive understanding of what we know. This influences how I think about these things, and it influences how I interact with new information about these things.