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Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

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Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#91

Post by ianburrell »

xondono wrote: post #76
ants_everywhere wrote: post #41

> Over the next 6 months, I read 30+ books on entrepreneurship, startups, marketing, “growth hacking,” and everything tangentially related I could find. And that doesn’t include the countless blog posts, articles, reddit threads, and whatever else I could get my hands on. Self-help books in general (and entrepreneur porn books in particular) are notoriously thin on substance. It's no wonder that most of this was a wa…

It’s a problem of how book publishing works. Most of these self-help books are made because publishers can sell them, mostly on the name of the author. At the same time, most authors could condense their “insights” into a 3-4 page article. The issue is publishing a 4 page article is not profitable, there’s too much fixed cost, and too little market price to absorb it. The logical result is publishers that insist that…

I wonder if ebooks would help with length of books. There are short stories, to novellas, to novels on Amazon for fiction. Novels are definitely more popular partly people complain about the value of shorter fiction.

Self-help books could try having shorter ebooks. They would have to forgo printed copies since pamphlets don't work in the store.

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#92

Post by g9yuayon »

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #71
hintymad wrote: post #59

I buy the author's point that we should minimize the time on tactical knowledge, but the following particular point seems over generalized: > The school model focuses on just in case knowledge. Take my math education, for instance, I may have wasted a bit time on all kinds of trigonometry tricks and way too much time on conic sections in the analytic geometry classes before learning calculus. But "focuses on just in…

I'm pretty sure 95% - 99% of my school education was useless. Most of it went from one ear to the other as well, because I had no interest in something I couldn't apply. If I needed to do something I was much more effective when I learnt "just in time". But I had no problems building a web/full stack application when I was 13, despite nothing really preparing me for it. For most things especially in times today, all…

I'm not sure why people find studying fundamentals in school useless. And I don't think ChatGPT is the answer to in-depth learning. My experience is that it is the fundamentals that are the most valuable that a college can give to its students. A smart person can learn anything on her own, but for an ordinary student like me, what school teaches is invaluable as it is so hard to learn such fundamentals on my own. A few examples in my line of work:

  - Systems. Yes, you can read papers and case studies and what not. But it will not be easy for one to even tell which part of a paper is the essence, which paragraph needs deep dive, or which claim needs close examination. In a seminar, a professor will work with students to critique papers, to cross examine multiple systems on related ideas, to deeply understand the theoretical bounds and the practical implications, and etc. That kind of experience is just not easily available in other places. Besides, it's just miles easier for someone to tech Lynch's book on distributed algorithms, for instance, with properly designed hand-outs and homework than reading the tomb by oneself. Similarly, it's not that easy to grasp the idea of program analysis if one wants to get in the trench of writing a compiler backend. I got seriously confused in an introduction course on program analysis for all the concepts about lattices, partial orders, abstract interpretations and etc. It's hard to imagine that I'd have the same access or even energy to study such stuff out of school. 

  - High-dimensional stats and probabilities. Again, I'm sure a brilliant student can teach herself, but man, even finding the right accessible material can be hard, let alone digest the fundamental ideas and concepts in such readings without the help of my professors and classmates. 

  - Math, all kinds of math. I'm not sure about you, but math matters in software development. Understanding temporal logic and mathematical logic in general makes doing formal verification much easier. Understanding probability and queuing theory enables me to test and diagnose my systems at a whole new level. Understanding combinatorics makes it really easy to learn data structures and algorithms rigorously. Understanding formal reasoning in general makes it easy to follow the books and papers on distributed algorithms. Linear algebra and numerical optimization and calculus are also important but hard to learn by oneself if a person wants to tap into ML sys.
The bottom line is, fundamentals expand one's conceptual depth and breadth, as well as the ability to abstract and to dive deep, which in turn gives a person more choices. I didn't start as a system engineer, nor did I know that I would work on internals of ML algorithms. But when opportunities called, I could jump on it. And in the meantime, I regretted that I didn't learn more fundamentals when I could, which made it hard for me to dive to the desired levels.

Besides, even the fun of studying STEM topics is hard to get outside of school. I'm sure one can read about physics and chemistry and what not, but man, having labs and professors who can give you guidance... That makes a whole world of difference.

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#93

Post by Tycho »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #35
Tycho wrote: post #10

It's interesting to consider that being 'well read' may always be a function of, say, the last 10 books you read (or the number of books your read in the last 3 years, or something like that).

That would be more about philosophical knowledge, not tactical knowledge ?? And on its face, seems to be wrong, care to expand ? (And even some of the greatest fiction might apply here, not only nonfiction, not sure if you were considering that too ?)

Well what I mean is that eventually one forgets most of what was in a book, and all you remember was whether the book was particularly good. I’m thinking more about literature. So who is better read, the professor who read all of Shakespeare, but thirty years ago, or the student who has only read a couple of plays, but recently, and in depth, and can talk about them fluently and connect the to other works they recently read in depth?

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#94

Post by Scubabear68 »

Yujf wrote: post #43
great_wubwub wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just in time manufacturing has the noted weakness of having slack or resilience in the system Did you mean 'having no slack or resilience'? Assuming you did and I understand your point, I disagree with it insofar as it applies to knowledge. Yes, JIT manufacturing of real things can be easily tripped up and it screwed us during the pandemic, but does that apply here? The author is saying "when you figure out what yo…

If you read just in time, you will miss many ideas because you do not know you need them.

This.

To anyone entering a new topic for themselves, not knowing what you don’t know is the biggest barrier and risk. This is why, for example, cargo cult style development is so fraught with issues.

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#95

Post by rrr_oh_man »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #41

> Over the next 6 months, I read 30+ books on entrepreneurship, startups, marketing, “growth hacking,” and everything tangentially related I could find. And that doesn’t include the countless blog posts, articles, reddit threads, and whatever else I could get my hands on. Self-help books in general (and entrepreneur porn books in particular) are notoriously thin on substance. It's no wonder that most of this was a wa…

…especially something hands on like building a company. The marginal value of information is a rapidly falling curve.

It’s like kissing in 6th grade.

You can read all you want about theory and technique and tongue placement, but you don’t know shit until you’ve done it yourself.

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#96

Post by rrr_oh_man »

laweijfmvo wrote: post #58
rrr_oh_man wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What helped me: Glycine + Tryptophane + no coffee after noon + absolutely no devices after 10pm.

Consistent sleep schedule (+/- 15 minutes morning and evening) Get your room cool, dark, and quiet No caffeine after morning. No alcohol in the evening. Cleanup your diet. Quiet your mind. This isn't just an "at night" thing. In my experience people who lose sleep worrying are the same people worrying all day. Try therapy as needed. Screen time hasn't really impacted my sleep, but I don't have any social apps on my p…

> No caffeine after morning

What’s the theory behind that?

> Quiet your mind. This isn't just an "at night" thing.

Agree!! I try to avoid my phone in the first hour of the day (while drinking a mokka, though..)

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#97

Post by ebiester »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #66
kiba wrote: post #16

I think this is a shallow article. First, just in time manufacturing has the noted weakness of having no slack or resilience in the system. This is part of why we experienced supply chain disruption during the pandemic. Second, it is assuming that knowledge that's not being 'used' right now in production environment is useless. For example, the way people avoid scam and snake-oil medicine is not by directly knowing e…

I've only read the first part of the article, but something struck me here: : Over the next 6 months, I read 30+ books on entrepreneurship, startups, marketing, “growth hacking,” and everything tangentially related I could find. And that doesn’t include the countless blog posts, articles, reddit threads, and whatever else I could get my hands on. : A good plan, right? No, 80% of it was a waste of time, and most peopl…

I think there's even more to unpack, though. Yes, there will be a fair bit of repeated knowledge, but what the 30+ books do is cement your mental map and expose the common agreement and disagreements in the general field. From there, additional work may not be novel because there are a handful of insights and 200 pages of rehash once you have that mental map, but there is no single book developed that can implant that mental map.

And that is true in most fields. It takes seeing multiple perspectives to figure out what will "stick" with you. Tiago Forte's "Building a Second Brain" stuck with me because I had already read "Getting Things Done" and a number of other productivity books. (As but one example.)

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#99

Post by mewpmewp2 »

g9yuayon wrote: post #92
mewpmewp2 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure 95% - 99% of my school education was useless. Most of it went from one ear to the other as well, because I had no interest in something I couldn't apply. If I needed to do something I was much more effective when I learnt "just in time". But I had no problems building a web/full stack application when I was 13, despite nothing really preparing me for it. For most things especially in times today, all…

I'm not sure why people find studying fundamentals in school useless. And I don't think ChatGPT is the answer to in-depth learning. My experience is that it is the fundamentals that are the most valuable that a college can give to its students. A smart person can learn anything on her own, but for an ordinary student like me, what school teaches is invaluable as it is so hard to learn such fundamentals on my own. A f…

> And I don't think ChatGPT is the answer to in-depth learning.

I think ChatGPT is perfect for learning. Specifically because if you don't get something, you can keep asking it infinitely without worrying about seeming stupid. You could never do something like that in a classroom. Perhaps you could do it if your parents hired a special tutor with infinite patience for you.

In school my main issue was - my mind wandered for a moment - and now I'm all out of sync and without context. Everything from that point on is just a complete waste of time. And this happened every few minutes, so it's impossible to learn something in school.

> Math, all kinds of math. I'm not sure about you, but math matters in software development.

This is something that I largely disagree with. 99% of common software development doesn't rely on math at all. Or any knowledge of math. And I enjoy maths. Math was my favourite subject in school. Most I've touched maths is if I have tried to do game development or some sort of simulation software for my side projects, but everyday professional work - I have really never needed math beyond the simplest.

> Understanding temporal logic and mathematical logic in general makes doing formal verification much easier.

I think this type of logic is completely unrelated to what is being taught at school which is rote learning of formulas and NOT problem solving. What is being taught at schools is not true problem solving.

> The bottom line is, fundamentals expand one's conceptual depth and breadth, as well as the ability to abstract and to dive deep, which in turn gives a person more choices. I didn't start as a system engineer, nor did I know that I would work on internals of ML algorithms.

I see, if you are working more on that side, it may be true, that you are using more maths there - I've been doing mostly common full stack development, which really just doesn't require maths. While I've tried different ML things, which haven't really required maths at all, I assume you might need maths if you are developing some cutting edge algorithms. But usual ML that I have tried seems to be mostly about trial and error to find the correct parameters intuitively.

> Besides, even the fun of studying STEM topics is hard to get outside of school. I'm sure one can read about physics and chemistry and what not, but man, having labs and professors who can give you guidance... That makes a whole world of difference.

I've found it more fun outside school without the forced pressures and with natural interest...

Re: Fighting Infomania: Why 80% of Your Reading Is a Waste of Time (2016)

#100

Post by gausswho »

Luc wrote: post #11
runeofdoom wrote: post #6

I'm going to repeat a comment I made a few weeks ago: George Dyson has what I found to be an enlightening metaphor for how our relationship with information has changed. It is repeated here: https://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2010/01/george-dyson-media-li ...

Working link: https://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2010/01/george-dyson-media-li...

Skipping the blogwrapper: https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10357
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