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Why books don't work (2019)

andymatuschak.org

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Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#171

Post by snickmy »

I might be controversial, but, from my experience, reading at least 1 fiction and 1 non fictional book every 6 weeks, there is a big difference in information density.

The non fictional books, especially the self helping/improving one, tend to be very diluted. whatever the reason is. This is naturally in conflict with the reader purpose: extracting value in the fastest way possible.

That is probably why apps like Blinkist or 'OneBookADay' have quite some success. This, by no mean, is to say that books are not an amazing format for the vast majority of content they are being used today, and for the past 700 years.

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#172

Post by mcguire »

Books represent captured, frozen, language. As in spoken language. The author's complaint is really that language doesn't work for communicating knowledge and understanding.

Unfortunately, the author's argument has two problems: first, that his definition of "work" is too narrow. No, reading a single book once, or listening to a single lecture, won't inform you or make you understand a broad, complex topic. Second, there isn't really an alternative; it's language or nothing.

The bottom line is that the reader has to put in some work, too, which is the point of the author's suggestions at the end of the article.

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#174

Post by mcguire »

pdonis wrote: post #170
amatic wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a very different reading of the article. The author acknowledges that books do work after the reader actively engages with the topic, does the exercises, rereads, etc. The issue is that this process of transmitting knowledge could be more efficient in a different medium. The post is not against books, but pro interactive teaching methods, as the author gives a link to his proposal https://quantum.country/qcvc

> The post is not against books, but pro interactive teaching methods It's both. The proposal is at the very, very end, after a boring, long-winded screed about how everything else doesn't work. > the author gives a link to his proposal I took a look. I don't see any significant difference between this and a traditional textbook.

"I took a look. I don't see any significant difference between this and a traditional textbook."

I think he emails problem sets at appropriate times after you finish the book to ensure you remember everything.

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#175

Post by potta_coffee »

Reading has been my main source of education. As I grow as an engineer, I find that books become more and more valuable. I'm at a place where the internet rarely provides the answers I need on deeper technical topics, instead I'm reading from the best books I can find almost daily, and it works for me.

In other areas, I've learned tons about history and other topics, by reading. What other form of knowledge transfer is better? Video? The books I read would fill thousands of hours of video.

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#176

Post by ninkendo »

Single most shocking line of the article for me:

> Adult American college graduates read 24 minutes a day on average [0]

If this is referring to actual books (and not just random articles on the internet), that number seems crazy high to me. I would guess the percentage of college graduates that read any book at all during a given day to be something like 5% (As in, even of the ones that read a book or two per year, most days they're not reading), and the average amount of time spread over all adults in this category would be closer to 1 minute than 24. 24 minutes a day would mean serious readers would have to do a lot of reading to make up for the (probably large) numbers of adults who simply don't read at all.

I think it's much more likely that "reading" includes articles on the internet (the big one) as well as newspapers/magazines (probably still significant among the older crows), and far less actual books. Which would sorta invalidate that particular point.

[0] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t11a.htm

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#177

Post by tildedave »

ihodes wrote: post #101
lthornberry wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't comment on the others, but I'm a trained historian, and hating Guns, Germs, and Steel is probably the single thing that unites our field. It's vastly oversimplified, and gives anyone who reads it the idea that they understand the major forces shaping world history while ignoring most of the things that historians agree are more important than environmental determinism in that process.

Do you have an alternative book (or list of) which you'd recommend instead?

Not a historian, but _Why the West Rules - For Now_ by Ian Morris was a good read. Covers the sweep of world history with the audacious goal of quantifying human development at all moments in history. It mainly focuses on the west (starting in the Mesopotamian region) and the east (starting in the area surrounding the Yellow river) and addresses questions like "why didn't China discover America" (basically - too far away). You might also find it interesting!

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#179

Post by [deleted] »

hacknat wrote: post #66

The very premise of this article shows how demented Western culture has become. The attitude of, “I invested 15-20 hours reading this book and, boohoo, I’m not a subject matter expert on the book’s topic” is absolutely insane. It takes a decade of serious work to really get a strong handle on a topic. Books aren’t supposed to teach you something to know, they’re meant to teach you how much you don’t know. Hopefully f…

[deleted]

Re: Why books don't work (2019)

#180

Post by pdonis »

mcguire wrote: post #174
pdonis wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The post is not against books, but pro interactive teaching methods It's both. The proposal is at the very, very end, after a boring, long-winded screed about how everything else doesn't work. > the author gives a link to his proposal I took a look. I don't see any significant difference between this and a traditional textbook.

" I took a look. I don't see any significant difference between this and a traditional textbook. " I think he emails problem sets at appropriate times after you finish the book to ensure you remember everything.

Ok, then a traditional textbook plus an instructor-led course (which could be online) that uses it--but the course would appear to have a lot more assistance available. Still not seeing how the author's proposal is anything groundbreaking.
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