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Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?

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Re: Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?

#51

Post by jfil »

Your situation reminds me of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti

Perhaps some of his writings can help? Also, people who think/have an internal monologue are often in a state of constantly reacting/commenting/evaluating situations internally. It's often its own kind of torment and clouds the real experience of the situation. Perhaps your kind of brain opens up opportunities that are inaccessible to others? If you have a trusted friend, perhaps they can "think" through this with you, as a back-and-forth conversation.

Re: Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?

#52

Post by boundless88 »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #48
__rito__ wrote: post #14

Writing is very underrated way of thinking, but I can recommend it highly. Start journaling and/or writing essays. Just write down what you think, feel, want to communicate, and what you understand. Just be clear and honest. pg has repeatedly written about this [0]. You can also choose to write technical posts. Solving Math problems and competitive programming problems also enhace thinking. Teaching is an underrated…

Writing is the most powerful way. I must recommend this blog at least once a month https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zRbqwbnhmVdfLtKxMCibMoX The whole site is full of high quality wisdom on note taking and writing.

This is really awesome!

Re: Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?

#53

Post by EpicNinja »

ocean_moist wrote: post #18

I took a (turned into multiple) philosophy classes that forced me to explain hard concepts and my opinions on them to other people and then understand their perspective. I think this applies to many hard, deeply technical, subjects, but discussion is immensely popular in the pedagogy of philosophy. The harder and more valuable part was putting those discussions into focused, clear, essays. I am a much better writer a…

I agree that. I have learned to think since I started sharing a room with a friend who likes philosophy.

Re: Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?

#54

Post by prossercj »

If you want books that can help you learn to think, you can't do better than the classics. I suggest Plato's dialogs or the Analects of Confucius. You may find them more accessible than you expect. They were excellent teachers.

Here's a good translation of Plato by Benjamin Jowett: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/plato-the-dialogues-of-pl...

And one of Confucius by James Legge: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/legge-the-chinese-classic...

Both translations are from the 19th Century and so have entered the public domain. But both are also often considered the best English versions of these works, even today.

(Note you can download a facsimile pdf of the original book, and print it out as you go. I prefer to read anything long-form that way. Better for concentration in my opinion).

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