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Writing by hand is good for your brain

nealstephenson.substack.com

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Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#541

Post by RealityVoid »

LiteUser wrote: post #315
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

I've always been pretty skeptical of the data which says handwriting is better for learning than typing. Yes, handwriting causes more brain activity, but just because your brain is doing more does not mean it's doing the right thing! For example, if I asked you to code FizzBuzz while riding a unicycle, I'm pretty sure you would show more brain activity than if you were just sitting at a desk. This does not mean it's…

That's completely the wrong analogy. It's fairly well established through studies that language acquisition in preliterate kids is improved through handwriting (as opposed to typing or tracing letters).

Yes, but that is a different kind of improvement compared to note king during a lecture as an adult. I think hadriting ability is important, I just don't think note taking dutin a lecture is useful in any way.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#542

Post by imp0cat »

joeriddles wrote: post #345
Diogenesian wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

I disagree. I love buying used books and seeing what other people found interesting, whether it's by way of notes in the margins, highlights, etc. I also love it when people write their name in the front of the book and when they read it. I like the idea of a single copy of a book making its way among many people, all adding their own thoughts.

Yeah, I am always reminded of the "property of the Half-Blood Prince".

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#543

Post by imp0cat »

Waterluvian wrote: post #53
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

I love nothing more than going through my mom’s cookbooks and seeing all her notes. It connects me with her even though she’s gone.

Also, most cookbooks desperately need notes as everyone's kitchen equipment is different.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#544

Post by hasmolo »

jibal wrote: post #539
jianfenglin wrote: post #535

This is why Microsoft created Tablet PC and later Surface with handwriting pen: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/surfaceitpro/thinki...

No, that's not why. And it's good for your brain to read the whole article, not just the title: "Don’t use a gadget"

feel like he is saying 'do not use a frictionless writing surface' and generalizing that as 'gadget'. my remarkable is very similar to real pen and paper and has helped me immensely in retaining course material when taking notes vs my laptop

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#545

Post by krzyk »

bstsb wrote: post #85
Diogenesian wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

different people work in different ways. just because you hate it doesn't mean it won't be helpful for others. also if you're buying used books, expect them to be used!

Writing on a book is a bad way to treat a book. I hate it.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#546

Post by delis-thumbs-7e »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

I've always been pretty skeptical of the data which says handwriting is better for learning than typing. Yes, handwriting causes more brain activity, but just because your brain is doing more does not mean it's doing the right thing! For example, if I asked you to code FizzBuzz while riding a unicycle, I'm pretty sure you would show more brain activity than if you were just sitting at a desk. This does not mean it's…

> universal theory of learning.

There is no such thing. Presumably there is a person who concentrates on algorithmic problems better while riding a unicycle. To the best of my knowledge the research shows people do not learn in the same way, although our hardware is more or less the same. The trick is to recognise what works for you, and only way to find it out is bu trying different things. Most people who succeed at all in higher education become experts on how they themselves learn best, simply because you won’t learn multivariable calculus, become fluent in Mandarin Chinese, or become an expert in late medieval poetry without trying every trick in the book to ram all that information into your brain.

Saying that, there is things that work for _most people_, active recall being probably the most universal one. Which simply means that if you do something a lot with a lot of repetition, you will eventually get quite good at it.And the probably is something in hand writing that forces you to actively engage with information processed better than typing for most/many people.

Personally, I have also noticed the better I get at touch typing the smaller this gap in enforcing learning by writing by had versus typing comes. That is purely anecdotal of course, but when we forced all the kids to use laptops to learn, did we teach them how to type properly first? Or to use computers in general? Or did we just gave them Chromebooks and said “good luck kiddo”?

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#547

Post by jibal »

Diogenesian wrote: post #74
postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

I buy used books: it sucks to see someone else's notes scribbled all over the page. It's like a really annoying guy whispering at you with vapid explanations while you're trying to pay attention to a lecture. "Cross out stuff you disagree with" actually makes me sick. It also seems useless for understanding and retention, since highlighting is almost always misleading and margin notes are almost always empty. If you…

No one is forcing you to buy books that have been scribbled in.

If someone buys a book then they own it and can do what they want with it, without concern that maybe some day they will sell it and some narcissistic rando will resent them for what they have done with their own property.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#548

Post by imp0cat »

The_Blade wrote: post #357
The_Blade wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marginalia is the best! I have a handwritten note about Ayn Rand in my 27 year old copy of Enchridion, a great reminder that she is like chicken pox, better catch her as early as possible. And several books such as I Claudius held together with duct tape. And soy sauce stains in Gargantua and Pantagruel from the place my grad school gf worked. Those count. A bit of irony, going through old stuff I found a copy of Nea…

it is fun to get a reminder not regretting being obsessed with Ayn at 18 alongside my duct-taped copy of Foucault's Pendulum (note: the actual pendulum is at Musée des Arts et Métiers which was by far my favorite such place after a couple multiday trips to Paris). i still feel The Fountainhead is pretty far from Atlas Shrugged Since this morning I happened to grab Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by DeLeuze…

No worries, there is even a Radiohead song about that (the weirdo part). ;)

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#549

Post by jambalaya8 »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #271
RRWagner wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current administration

+1 I have read most of Rand's works. She grew up in the Soviet Union and hated collectivism and carried it very much too far. Still I find value in her work, and if she were here today I would bet $100 that she would disapprove of the current administration.

The Trump one, the NY or CA ones, or all three?

I liked some of Rand's insights, especially about quality, and encouraging the act of deliberately trying to learn, analyze, and reason for oneself.

It is weird how a lot of Rand's stuff encouraged a calming environment while at the same time her books were so packed full of interpersonal drama, though. Not sure at what point her writing became less a warning against something and more 'for' something. It didn't originally read as the selfish crazy stuff a lot of the more vociferous "profit only" types seem to think. I have no clue how they ever read her stuff that way.

I suspect I read both Rand and Pirsig differently than most people, though. Rand was less of a hardass than people think, Pirsig much more of a stickler for; more in common than maybe at first or second read.

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