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Learn Voraciously (2015)

arbing.co.uk

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Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#21

Post by curiousgal »

blowski wrote: post #10
dmalvarado wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also an article about flossing on the front page. Crazy times.

From the guidelines: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it by clicking on its 'flag' link. Personally, I found the discussion about flossing quite interesting.

>Personally, I found the discussion about flossing quite interesting.

You should check out the latest episode of the Surprisingly Awesome podcast.

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#23

Post by dfan »

> Apparently after graduating from university 42% of people never read another book. Ever! Now I have no idea how accurate that statistic is, but if it is anywhere near remotely close to the truth, that’s amazing.

is not really the best way to try to convince me with statistics.

I spent 5 minutes poking around the internet and nobody seems to have the actual study, just summaries of it. The closest I could find to a real discussion was at [1]. One survey with data there said that 12% of college graduates had not read a book in the last 12 months, which is very different from 42% not reading a book ever.

[1] http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9446/do-33-of-hi...

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#25

Post by SatvikBeri »

blowski wrote: post #9

It's a bit aphoristic for my liking - up there with 'work smarter, not harder' and 'never give up'. How do I prioritise learning against using what I've already learned? Is it better to learn things I already know in more detail, or completely new things but only to a shallow level? Is it OK to learn from YouTube videos or should I register with a proper education establishment? And how do I balance learning against…

The point of posts like this is not to provide specific suggestions, it's to shift values and provide validation.

Many of us live in a culture which is decidedly anti-intellectual, e.g. where showing genuine interest in learning will get you derided as "weird" or "nerdy" and lower your overall social status. Humans tend to respond pretty strongly to social incentives, so this causes people to study less than they otherwise would. Conversely, positively reinforcing learning really does cause people to spend more time on it.

pg's "Cities and Ambition" covers this topic pretty well: http://paulgraham.com/cities.html

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#26

Post by SpruceSlope »

sotojuan wrote: post #19
epalmer wrote: post #3

My challenge is I want to learn everything. I have learned to focus what I spend time learning about. that has paid off in a number of career ways and in my ability to innovate at work. This applies to my learning "Slow down to speed up".

Learning to choose what to learn and what to spend time on is a very very hard skill to gain but one of the best. It'll save you so much time but also make you happier because you will actually master what you really want to learn rather than know a bit of everything and feel stretched out.

Any resources you can recommend on learning to choose what to learn?

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#27

Post by intopieces »

douche wrote: post #20
jasode wrote: post #6

>So why do so many people who have chosen to take that extra step, just stop educating themselves when they graduate? Because most people don't go to college to "get an education." They just go there as a hoop-jumping prerequisite to hopefully get "a job" and with that, a middle-class lifestyle. It's not that they want to know Shakespeare (running towards an academic milestone), but rather, they simply want to avoid…

As Twain said, "I never let my schooling get in the way of my education" Schooling is about doing what you have to do to get that piece of paper that signals you are worthy - anything beyond marking time and checking the boxes is your own responsibility. Once you've learned to read (which should only take through 1st or 2nd grade), the world and all the accumulated knowledge of mankind opens up to you, as long as you…

>the world and all the accumulated knowledge of mankind opens up to you, as long as you're willing to go after it.

And have the time and access, two things that are lacking for many who are willing to go after it.

I could have learned twice what I did in college were I not working 40 hours a week to pay my rent and feed myself.

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#28

Post by sotojuan »

SpruceSlope wrote: post #26
sotojuan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning to choose what to learn and what to spend time on is a very very hard skill to gain but one of the best. It'll save you so much time but also make you happier because you will actually master what you really want to learn rather than know a bit of everything and feel stretched out.

Any resources you can recommend on learning to choose what to learn?

Not specific to learning but the book "Essentialism" is good.

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#29

Post by fu9ar »

sotojuan wrote: post #17
50CNT wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American Universities do seem like they are playing dress up in the clothes of the older aristocratic systems whilst having dropped the key features that made these systems desirable. As an example, take analytical reading, writing, and discourse. They used to be a key component (the trivium of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric) of higher education, and they are still valuable skills. Being able to dissect, evaluate and c…

American college students are plagued by mediocre and high-school level courses universities like to call "the core". It's a huge waste of time and money not because of the stuff taught but because of it's level. Rarely anyone takes the core seriously and most try to get out of it.

And legions of STEM graduates with poor critical thinking skills believe that is the norm for the liberal arts and post ceaselessly with poor grammar and qualitative reasoning about the superiority of their academic discipline. It is like an underwater basketweaving major taking one requires remedial course and declaring that all of Mathematics is blow off easy stuff.

Re: Learn Voraciously (2015)

#30

Post by Joof »

jasode wrote: post #6

>So why do so many people who have chosen to take that extra step, just stop educating themselves when they graduate? Because most people don't go to college to "get an education." They just go there as a hoop-jumping prerequisite to hopefully get "a job" and with that, a middle-class lifestyle. It's not that they want to know Shakespeare (running towards an academic milestone), but rather, they simply want to avoid…

At one point in my college life I decided I wanted to actually learn material that seemed important. Attempting to do this lead to an extroidinary depression; the professors often don't care and the system itself is fairly inefficient.
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