How I read books: a guide on how to learn • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by chillwaves » Sat, Dec 05, 2020, 10:12 PM UTC

495636483 wrote: post #128

chillwaves wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to see a psychiatrist for the first time next week because I think I had ADHD. This has helped me think about exactly how I want to state my problem. That I lack executive function, that I can't focus on the things I need to focus on, that I have spent decades trying to create accountability systems that ultimately fail. > help your brain to dopamine with diet, with timing sugar Could you expand? I have bee…

Another thing... You want a sincere diagnosis, based on what you got. Don't stress about finding the right words :) There are a ton of other things, which overlap with ADHD symptoms. Bipolar PD, depression, hidden sleep problems (like apnea), anxiety, nutritional deficiencies, ... . Many of these things also come comorbid, unfortunately. Either way it's not an easy diagnosis and takes time to untangle. Wish you all t…

Thanks for all the insight.

I do want a sincere diagnosis but I am worried I won't be able to make progress if the doc is only with me for 15 minutes, as it has been in the past. Maybe that's just the medical culture in America.

The ADHD symptoms speak strongly to me, especially about focus and motivation. Anyhow I read all your replies, will give it a shot. Much appreciated.

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

#132

Post by comprev » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 8:14 AM UTC

495636483 wrote: post #126

comprev wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds more like metaphorical sugar - a brief top-up of excitement to keep the brain in high alert mode. Think Facebook notifications. The excitement is not knowing what the notification is telling you about.

No, actually meant sugar XD. But yeah, for the dopamine still. Otherwise your brain is looking for other sources. Stimulatory thoughts ("big ideas", exploding connections), or the usual procrastination with novelty mining. Sugar increases your "will power" by dopamine release. Dopamine manages how long you can do a task before you evaluate its success; the risk of energy expenditure. Think of how long a path finding…

Thank you for explaining. The range of knowledge communicated in an understanding manner on HN never ceases to amaze me. Definitely feel I learn something every day!

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

#133

Post by marek22 » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 10:36 AM UTC

Hey, I read at an average pace.About 20 books a month. Some are read in 3-4 hours, and some you won't read in a week. Sometimes I think that if there were no books, I probably would have shot myself. Working at the factory, I am the only one who sits with a book during a break - they consider me somehow strange and I look into their eyes and see such melancholy that I am grateful that I have such a hobby here https://pdfmania.com/adventure/57-peter-pan.html

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

#134

Post by bvrlt » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

It's kind of sad that his list only contains self-help book, and not a single novel, nor any classics.

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

#135

Post by Denzhadanov » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 9:13 PM UTC

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…

Thank you for the feedback. It's actually simple. I realised that I need to create a better system for myself to learn as I read. So I did some research and created a system that I will try myself. In that process, I decided to share because a lot of my friends asked me about this topic. HN picked this up organically.

It would be great if you add your feedback and ideas about the topic. I'd be happy to learn from you on how you read books and what works.

Have a great day.

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

#136

Post by Denzhadanov » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 9:14 PM UTC

garden_hermit wrote: post #73

Veen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Building on this advice, I highy recommend the essay titled "How to Read a Book" by Paul Edwards: https://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtoread.pdf Edwards is an academic historian of science who write incredibly long and dense books drawing on hundreds of sources. If anyone knows how to read, its him, and his advice was truly useful for my own reading.

Thank you for the advice! I'll add that to the list

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

#137

Post by Denzhadanov » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 9:19 PM UTC

pxtail wrote: post #61

kungito wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For some reason all of this induces negative emotions in me as well - it's like everyone and their mother wants to tell you how excellent they are and how you should live. Maybe it's this "write! you need to write! now!" advice which is frequently appearing on HN frontpage, maybe this is the reason why programmers with two years of experience are telling with authoritative tone 'how it should be done' It's annoying t…

Thanks for the comment. Could you please share why does this induces a negative emotion?

My intention was to become create a system for myself, and I decided to share that on my personal blog with friends and people who know me. So the original intention was to share something that I'm using myself, and something that I've spent 10+ hours researching.

Would love to hear your opinion

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

#138

Post by Denzhadanov » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 9:25 PM UTC

irfn wrote: post #58

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…

He has really not completed a single book on that list. I can see a bunch which are "Currently reading" but none are complete. and we are getting advice based on that.Maybe I'll be look to read his blog after some reading has been done.

Irfn, this is a list of books that I'm going to read (I haven't added books that I read there yet) and haven't made notes. I mentioned that is a new system that I made for myself and will be trying it out, and any feedback on how you learn and read would be great.

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

#139

Post by Denzhadanov » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 9:26 PM UTC

purplecats wrote: post #6

lmilcin wrote: post #2

My process: - If I find the book is very daunting but also very valuable, I read it multiple times from start till end. First time without stopping for reading references, then another pass for researching topics, references, etc. and then finally once more to read everything again with the newly acquired knowledge to find some things that I may have missed, things that I might have understood incorrectly and to impr…

> I have special place in my office where I put a book so that it is visible to me whatever I do. It serves as a constant reminder to get it finished. Tangential but I do this with everything. I like very high levels of organization (blame my aspergers) and thus I found that my motivation to hide unnecessary things from view is pretty high. High enough that I place things in view as a reminder to get them done. An ex…

Great point. James Clear was talking about organizing an environment around us that would encourage certain behaviours.

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

#140

Post by Denzhadanov » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 9:30 PM UTC

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #15

Articles like this should start with at least some reason we should think the author is actually in a position to give advice on this subject. Reading a bunch of popular bestseller self help books doesn't actually teach you anything, even if you read 5000 of them.

Thanks for the feedback. It's simple - I realised that having a better system to read and learn is needed, and I did research and created a system for myself. During this process, I decided to share as my friends and colleagues are interested in this topics. It got picked up by HN.

So no advice were given and you don't have to take it. But I'm also always happy to learn from others.