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How to gain more from your reading

psyche.co

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Re: How to gain more from your reading

#71

Post by BeetleB »

mrjivraj wrote: post #57
BeetleB wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles where I need to enlarge first). I print using either Firefox's "Simpli…

Do you have a simple system to keep track of the notes you take? I ask because I also started taking notes, primarily because I want to write about some of the things I come across. I write an investment newsletter ( https://playingfordoubles.substack.com ) I probably need to get myself some type of filing cabinet to keep track of articles I'd like to revisit in the future.

> Do you have a simple system to keep track of the notes you take?

Not a good one. I used to just use org modes' capture templates, but it wouldn't be organized, and it became a write only system. I recently switched to org-roam. Still, it takes work to organize so I don't really take many notes.

To be clear, when I said I take notes while reading, over 90% are "transient" notes - just something relevant for that reading and not intended for long term storage. So they're lost once I discard the article.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#72

Post by BeetleB »

splittingTimes wrote: post #46
BeetleB wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles where I need to enlarge first). I print using either Firefox's "Simpli…

When I had more time (before having kids) i would print out a couple of articles every other day to read while commuting with public transport or during the evening. I became a bit obsessed with the optimal usage of paper space per article. So I wrote a HTML-to-LaTex converter as a golang learning project and applied the scientific paper style to the articles. I was quite happy with the results. Some HN classics can…

That's pretty good. How robust is it to various types of articles (e.g. stripping out headers/footers/comments/menus etc)? Since I do it often, it's critical for me to have the process as smooth as possible (minimum number of clicks to get a preview before printing).

Also, the amusing thing is kids were part of the reason I started doing this. I detest reading on the phone, and I cannot be glued to my desktop because I have to watch the kids/babies and they love turning off my PC. Printing them out lets me read them while monitoring them and being away from the PC.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#73

Post by roudaki »

Great article. I agree with rereading. When I got into hardware part of networking which I am allergic to it took months of rereading until something clicked

BTW. I was surprised how sensitive this topic is at reddit. They are calling anything and everything gatekeeping. So even telling people how to retain more knowledge will get them to start screaming how you are putting pressure on people and killing the joy of reading. You get 10 downvotes instantly.

My problem with reading non-fiction books, esp while I worked in bookstore where I read book a day, is retaining knowledge. So I reinvented college syllabus like a dumbass I am.

Basically I went on to creating my own reading list of related books so I have this data cloud in my head that makes retaining what I read faster and better. I wasted months on this until I realised I am doing what universities are for in the first place and yep, after checking I found my reading list is bad version of collage syllabus that includes better books and way more current white-papers. And it is easier to shop around for better syllabus then spend months creating and reading books just to find something better later like how you skip patterns in programming while reading more and more workbook type programming books.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#74

Post by electrondood »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #44
wombatmobile wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you read one book at a time? Have you tried more than that and found it unsatisfactory? I usually have two books on the go. I leave them in different places. That’s key. I am a different person in each place, and I can keep my associations separate and distinct for each book. Given enough places, I’m confident I could read more than two books in parallel.

I was a one-book-at-a-time person for the longest time, and in the last two years relaxed what I realized was an arbitrary rule and allowed myself to read any of a number of books (because I buy them faster than I can read them anyways) depending on my mood. I currently have at least one going in each of these areas: - technical - design - autobiography - classic fiction - short nonfiction anthology - history Progres…

I read promiscuously. I want the ideas from disparate topics to have sex and produce novel offspring in my mind.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#75

Post by jldugger »

alessivs wrote: post #69
jldugger wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For professional development books, my process is is two steps: first, read a chapter. Second, extract key insights I want to remember into an Anki card. I may have to re-read the chapter in part to do so, which definitely helps with recall. I generally try to do about one chapter a night, or ten pages an hour. And I admit it can be hard to get both steps done in the time allotted. Also, the resulting new card review…

Every mentioned problem (workload, new vs. old reading task distribution, scheduling, plus retention) is exactly what incremental reading–at least, as implemented in the other prominent SRS–aims to solve (which it does, rather well). Does the Anki IR plugin not tackle them?

> (workload, new vs. old reading task distribution, scheduling, plus retention)

I've never really understood the appeal of IR as defined elsewhere. My reading queue isn't just wikipedia dumps or some other 100 percent valuable source, often it's somewhat speculative. I really don't want to read 3 sections from random journal papers and then create cards; I need to once over a paper to even be sure the cards created are worth remembering.

Also, I bought a Kindle to read papers from more comfortable locations than a desk, with less direct light, and AFAIK, that is not directly compatible with the IR approaches that want to track reading progress. So I have no idea if these problems are solved, because I've never felt compelled to try.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#76

Post by caddemon »

mrjivraj wrote: post #6

I sometimes fall into the trap of bookmarking interesting content but failing to go back to read it, especially long form content, although I find such content to be the best for learning about interesting things. There were a few articles I kept coming back to but couldn't get through because of distractions, so yesterday I decided to print out the articles I wanted to read. 30 mins later, I had gone through 3 three…

For those that want to do something like this regularly you might consider the ReMarkable tablet, which has a Chrome extension for sending website print outs to the device. It is essentially just high tech paper, so very little potential for distraction. I've not used the web extension much but the tablet more generally has helped me a lot with productivity in reading academic papers and note taking.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#77

Post by doc_gunthrop »

wombatmobile wrote: post #15
leokennis wrote: post #5

This article is, perhaps unsurprisingly, very well written and structured. A joy to read compared to most internet writing! It vibes pretty well with my own "rules" for reading: * I read one book at a time * In general I only read when I feel like it, but I will read every day: if I don't feel like it, I'll just read one page * At any point am I allowed to stop reading a book and pick up a new one * I do not track "p…

Why do you read one book at a time? Have you tried more than that and found it unsatisfactory? I usually have two books on the go. I leave them in different places. That’s key. I am a different person in each place, and I can keep my associations separate and distinct for each book. Given enough places, I’m confident I could read more than two books in parallel.

Reading a fiction and a non-fiction is doable. Non-fiction and another non-fiction as well. But not two fiction novels at the same time.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#78

Post by chana_masala »

mrjivraj wrote: post #6

I sometimes fall into the trap of bookmarking interesting content but failing to go back to read it, especially long form content, although I find such content to be the best for learning about interesting things. There were a few articles I kept coming back to but couldn't get through because of distractions, so yesterday I decided to print out the articles I wanted to read. 30 mins later, I had gone through 3 three…

> so yesterday I decided to print out the articles I wanted to read. 30 mins later, I had gone through 3 three great reads (plus made notes).

I do this too and find it very enjoyable and easier to handle. I learned this from my grandfather. He was a civil engineer and one of the first people in the neighborhood to get a computer and internet at home. He had a good balance of traditional and modern.

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#79

Post by chana_masala »

BeetleB wrote: post #43
mrjivraj wrote: post #6

I sometimes fall into the trap of bookmarking interesting content but failing to go back to read it, especially long form content, although I find such content to be the best for learning about interesting things. There were a few articles I kept coming back to but couldn't get through because of distractions, so yesterday I decided to print out the articles I wanted to read. 30 mins later, I had gone through 3 three…

Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles where I need to enlarge first). I print using either Firefox's "Simpli…

> Bad for the environment. Good for the brain.

Get some composting worms. They like cellulose

Re: How to gain more from your reading

#80

Post by PebblesRox »

oh_sigh wrote: post #56
wombatmobile wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you read one book at a time? Have you tried more than that and found it unsatisfactory? I usually have two books on the go. I leave them in different places. That’s key. I am a different person in each place, and I can keep my associations separate and distinct for each book. Given enough places, I’m confident I could read more than two books in parallel.

Yeah, I don't understand this. I actually read 5 to 10 books at a time. Many "classics" that we have these days were actually published as periodicals/in serial form. So when War and Peace was first published, no one sat down and just read 1500 pages. New chapters were released once a month or so over the period of 2+ years. So if that's how War and Peace was originally read, why shouldn't I read it the same way?

It would be neat to be able to subscribe to a monthly email that sends a chapter at a time.
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