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

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

#71

Post by Loughla » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 2:39 PM UTC

kungito wrote: post #27

harperlee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your skepticism, and I think it is healthy, but on the other hand what is being said in the post is sensible. The best way to read this, or most of the internet really, in my opinion, is as if he were a friend, a colleague, family or an acquaintance, not as an authority; you listen politely, nod and smile, and reflect/research on your own on what it seems useful. At the end of the day, the web enabled an…

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…

> 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 and fad instead of getting shit done.

This is the world we live in now. Self-promotion and public relations are the controlling factors in most large decisions I see in my profession (higher education) that it's just, well, sickening.

It seems like, across most fields, public relations and how we are perceived is far more important than the work actually getting done.

If you can wrap up a shit sandwich in a pretty bow and sell it, why worry about the quality of what you're selling?

It's depressing. Honestly, it drags me down on a daily basis to see people who plainly have no function except to be self-promoting and who can play the PR game get ahead consistently.

And the best part is, it's an impotent rage. What is there even to do about this? I have no idea.

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

#72

Post by yawz » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 2:42 PM UTC

On how to read books I trust and like the classic called How To Read A Book [0]. The rest, these articles, etc. always feel too fluffy and contrived.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Read_a_Book

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

#73

Post by garden_hermit » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

Veen wrote: post #29

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…

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.

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

#74

Post by siliconmountain » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

accountLost wrote: post #69

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…

On the other hand these people can sometimes lead you to some more serious material if they share their sources. Seems to be the case here with this link in the post : https://maartenvandoorn.nl/reading-guide/ (changed to the direct link to the author site to avoid medium.com)

I always open these links hoping to find some new source or concept on note-taking, thinking, meta learning etc. But Im dissapointed by the continuous flow of shallow hustle porn material

Looking at the more substantial link that you provided now, thanks for sharing!

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

#75

Post by zaptheimpaler » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 2:46 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…

Yep. All these fake people selling productivity bullshit to poor saps are a net negative in the world if you ask me.

The entire idea of “optimizing” the way you read or take notes is itself a farce built on the same desperate need for easy life hacks over just doing the damn work. If you enjoy reading, it won’t feel like work either!

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

#76

Post by abc_lisper » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 2:58 PM UTC

Not to make light of authors efforts, but the book “How to read a book” is much better, and more thoroughly thought about on the topic

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

#77

Post by troughway » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 3:01 PM UTC

More and more I feel like some submissions are here to nerd-snipe the HN crowd into a furor.

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

#78

Post by VoodooJuJu » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 3:14 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…

That he's a Forbes 30 under 30 is a strong signal to ignore him, rather than ignoring him despite him being on that list: The Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ Hustle | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21082523

The top comment at the link above says it all.

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

#79

Post by tartoran » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 3:16 PM UTC

venamresm__ wrote: post #11

Am I alone in thinking this reduces the essence of books as work instead of as leisure. Where you are more focused on extracting something of "value" out of it then to actually enjoy it. It doesn't have to be this reductionist and utilitarian. Maybe that explains the rise in companies that will summarize long books in 15min, or the rise of the small single rotating idea books.

It really depends on the books you’re reading. Doing this on fiction/literature will kill that pace the author wanted you to have but if you’re some literary critic or something, taking notes while reading may be useful for you

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

#80

Post by tartoran » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 3:22 PM UTC

AntiImperialist wrote: post #19

I took the other route and decided to read 100 books in a year. Did that for 3 years. They were mostly top rated or highly popular or highly recommended non-fiction books of all time, including the one pictured in the article. Most books are highly overrated. They usually take some useful ideas, usually what author perceived was useful to them, and add things to them to make it sound useful to their target readers, w…

> It's OK to read 3 whole books cover to cover on a Sunday.

It may be OK but wonder if it’s possible to do this, unless one is skimming through them heavily