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How I read books: a guide on how to learn

denzhadanov.com

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Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#41

Post by galoisgirl »

kungito wrote: post #9

Sometimes I wonder how I would turn out if I did organized people stuff like this. What bothers me is these life advices always feel like bullshit. Like, check this guy out. He has his own website with a title "Den Zhadanov\nTechnology. Productivity. Inspiration.". This is life coaching 101. He writes about how burning man didn't change his life and has pictures of books on beaches. How does one take this person seri…

May I recommend Maria Markstedter? https://azeria-labs.com/the-process-of-mastering-a-skill/

90% of her content is about ARM exploitation (which I'm personally not interested in). However, she has a couple of posts on how she learns and works, that are believable to me thanks to the rest of her content.

She's also not selling coaching, she's selling her technical skills.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#42

Post by alfonsodev »

Veen wrote: post #29
kungito wrote: post #9

Sometimes I wonder how I would turn out if I did organized people stuff like this. What bothers me is these life advices always feel like bullshit. Like, check this guy out. He has his own website with a title "Den Zhadanov\nTechnology. Productivity. Inspiration.". This is life coaching 101. He writes about how burning man didn't change his life and has pictures of books on beaches. How does one take this person seri…

Your comment reminds me of something Andy Matuschak wrote: > But most people who write about note-taking don’t seem particularly accomplished in their own fields, whatever those may be. In fact, most such writers aren’t applying their notes to some exogenous creative problem: their primary creative work is writing about productivity. These writers offer advice on note-taking to help scientists and executives with the…

This comment is gold, it reminds me also about how when we build something we tend to show it to our friends or peers, when we should be reaching out to whom has the problem we are trying to solve.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#43

Post by notjes »

Veen wrote: post #29
kungito wrote: post #9

Sometimes I wonder how I would turn out if I did organized people stuff like this. What bothers me is these life advices always feel like bullshit. Like, check this guy out. He has his own website with a title "Den Zhadanov\nTechnology. Productivity. Inspiration.". This is life coaching 101. He writes about how burning man didn't change his life and has pictures of books on beaches. How does one take this person seri…

Your comment reminds me of something Andy Matuschak wrote: > But most people who write about note-taking don’t seem particularly accomplished in their own fields, whatever those may be. In fact, most such writers aren’t applying their notes to some exogenous creative problem: their primary creative work is writing about productivity. These writers offer advice on note-taking to help scientists and executives with the…

So, essentially "You shall know them by their fruits". Seems like false prophets existed in all millennia.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#44

Post by agumonkey »

Veen wrote: post #29
kungito wrote: post #9

Sometimes I wonder how I would turn out if I did organized people stuff like this. What bothers me is these life advices always feel like bullshit. Like, check this guy out. He has his own website with a title "Den Zhadanov\nTechnology. Productivity. Inspiration.". This is life coaching 101. He writes about how burning man didn't change his life and has pictures of books on beaches. How does one take this person seri…

Your comment reminds me of something Andy Matuschak wrote: > But most people who write about note-taking don’t seem particularly accomplished in their own fields, whatever those may be. In fact, most such writers aren’t applying their notes to some exogenous creative problem: their primary creative work is writing about productivity. These writers offer advice on note-taking to help scientists and executives with the…

I remember asking IBMers if they used rational modeling to make their programs. The silence answered the question.

I'm guilty of this myself. My interests and struggle become topic of suggestions to others even though it's half good ideas half fluff.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#45

Post by harperlee »

rglullis wrote: post #37
harperlee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your skepticism, and I think it is healthy, but on the other hand what is being said in the post is sensible. The best way to read this, or most of the internet really, in my opinion, is as if he were a friend, a colleague, family or an acquaintance, not as an authority; you listen politely, nod and smile, and reflect/research on your own on what it seems useful. At the end of the day, the web enabled an…

If my friends made a habit of giving unsolicited advice for things that they don't have the results to show for what they are preaching, we wouldn't be friends for long. So, yeah, I wish people applied some self-restraint when posting these things. As much as we can develop a bullshit detector, there is only so much time we can spend calling out BS vendors in our lives.

Well yeah the good thing about the internet is that you pull the info you choose to pull. Sometimes HN curation does not align with your interests; it will pass.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#46

Post by harperlee »

kungito wrote: post #27
harperlee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your skepticism, and I think it is healthy, but on the other hand what is being said in the post is sensible. The best way to read this, or most of the internet really, in my opinion, is as if he were a friend, a colleague, family or an acquaintance, not as an authority; you listen politely, nod and smile, and reflect/research on your own on what it seems useful. At the end of the day, the web enabled an…

I mean, I'm visiting it because it showed up on HN high enough for some reason. It's not like I reached out to find him. And now he's in my face and I'm annoyed. I guess you could say I have anger management problems but these guys give off such a "punchable" vibe. Big smile, nice suit, lots of self promoting bullshit. And then people start calling it charisma and flock to it and we end up in the realm of populism an…

The reason being people you trust in curating things upvoted it. Not the guy’s fault!

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#47

Post by unklefolk »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #33

>> Instead of reading 100 books, it’s better to find one that really changes your life This is just flat out wrong for non-fiction. This is not a good way to use books or any research material, except perhaps meta-analysis’ but even then with caution. It doesn’t matter how many 5 star reviews it has, or who wrote it. You will be far better served by reading many writers on the topic and using your learning from each…

Plus there is a great deal to learn out there that is not instructional and can't be captured by a single book. Reading good fiction, biographies etc opens your horizons, builds human understanding and empathy. It is more subtle than the "10 habits of successful people" style books but more valuable in my opinion.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#48

Post by dhikapow »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #33

>> Instead of reading 100 books, it’s better to find one that really changes your life This is just flat out wrong for non-fiction. This is not a good way to use books or any research material, except perhaps meta-analysis’ but even then with caution. It doesn’t matter how many 5 star reviews it has, or who wrote it. You will be far better served by reading many writers on the topic and using your learning from each…

I believe the author's point is that there are just too many books out there.

Book reviews and ratings saves you time by helping you avoid the bad ones to begin with. In that case good star reviews does matter. The reviews helps you avoid those books that you mention in your example.

Though I agree that reading widely does help, it makes sense to focus your limited time to read and use sources that have been thoroughly reviewed by other people

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#49

Post by mtgx »

Veen wrote: post #29
kungito wrote: post #9

Sometimes I wonder how I would turn out if I did organized people stuff like this. What bothers me is these life advices always feel like bullshit. Like, check this guy out. He has his own website with a title "Den Zhadanov\nTechnology. Productivity. Inspiration.". This is life coaching 101. He writes about how burning man didn't change his life and has pictures of books on beaches. How does one take this person seri…

Your comment reminds me of something Andy Matuschak wrote: > But most people who write about note-taking don’t seem particularly accomplished in their own fields, whatever those may be. In fact, most such writers aren’t applying their notes to some exogenous creative problem: their primary creative work is writing about productivity. These writers offer advice on note-taking to help scientists and executives with the…

This applies to coaching in general. Don't take coaching advice from someone that is less accomplished than you. He should be as least as accomplished as where you'd like to be in 5-10 years, etc.

Re: How I read books: a guide on how to learn

#50

Post by hue3 »

dhikapow wrote: post #48
CraigJPerry wrote: post #33

>> Instead of reading 100 books, it’s better to find one that really changes your life This is just flat out wrong for non-fiction. This is not a good way to use books or any research material, except perhaps meta-analysis’ but even then with caution. It doesn’t matter how many 5 star reviews it has, or who wrote it. You will be far better served by reading many writers on the topic and using your learning from each…

I believe the author's point is that there are just too many books out there. Book reviews and ratings saves you time by helping you avoid the bad ones to begin with. In that case good star reviews does matter. The reviews helps you avoid those books that you mention in your example. Though I agree that reading widely does help, it makes sense to focus your limited time to read and use sources that have been thorough…

If that's the author's intended point, he should have written it in a way that makes it clear.
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