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There are really salient points in the article about how the general purpose smartphone/tablet adds small friction to simple tasks that end up being large distr

by kev009 11y ago

There are really salient points in the article about how the general purpose smartphone/tablet adds small friction to simple tasks that end up being large distractions. I have a huge collection of print books and that is my preferred way to learn because I can step away from the computer and digest what I am trying to learn. An epaper reader would be a semi-acceptable compromise, but the tactile feedback of page flipping and bookmarks are also very gratifying. A physical book also has the tangible affect of being physically present; not something to just purchase and file away. Generally I don't want to search books as I'm trying to understand overall concepts, or perhaps quickly consult the ToC to zip to a specific concept. When I want to search I want to search a code base, API docs, or something like stackoverflow/mailing lists/newsgroups so I've never missed that from ebooks. For note taking, I can use either pen/paper, or a laptop with a simple vim session. The paper is most useful if there are non-text things that need to be quickly noted, and can be turned into charts/graphs or whatever later on if needed.

dozzie 11y ago
> I have a huge collection of print books and that is my preferred way to learn because I can step away from the computer and digest what I am trying to learn. Paper has different profile of use friction than computer or tablet. You can't easily search it for words, and paper book forces you to use its index and table of contents, so you have to actually think about what you're looking for. This is stark contrast with how digital text works. You can make notes in a book, you can put shims and bookmarks, you can bend a page corner. How it works in a computer is not as seamless as with paper; you have to spend some attention to make a mark, and the mark will be limited in one way or another. And you can flick through a paper book. This is an important way of working with a textbook, and no software can render that. > An epaper reader would be a semi-acceptable compromise, but the tactile feedback of page flipping and bookmarks are also very gratifying. Page flipping is an unimportant detail, and you can have markers in digital text, too. What is important is how much and how cheaply (in terms of attention) can you put in your notes, and -- much less tangible thing -- how the medium inclines your mind for its content. > For note taking, I can use either pen/paper, or a laptop with a simple vim session. The paper is most useful if there are non-text things that need to be quickly noted, and can be turned into charts/graphs or whatever later on if needed. I actually design my code on paper. And I'm not talking about UML diagrams, which I hate. I'm talking about rough sketches on programming interfaces (which covers pretty much everything, since I build my systems out of libraries written specifically for the system I'm building). I'm taking advantage of the friction that paper gives. It forces me to think in different way than when I'm writing on a computer, and that different way works very well for me.
- kev009 11y ago
  Uh, thanks for contradicting everything I opined with out own opinions I guess.

by kev009 11y ago

dozzie 11y ago

> I have a huge collection of print books and that is my preferred way to learn because I can step away from the computer and digest what I am trying to learn. Paper has different profile of use friction than computer or tablet. You can't easily search it for words, and paper book forces you to use its index and table of contents, so you have to actually think about what you're looking for. This is stark contrast with how digital text works. You can make notes in a book, you can put shims and bookmarks, you can bend a page corner. How it works in a computer is not as seamless as with paper; you have to spend some attention to make a mark, and the mark will be limited in one way or another. And you can flick through a paper book. This is an important way of working with a textbook, and no software can render that. > An epaper reader would be a semi-acceptable compromise, but the tactile feedback of page flipping and bookmarks are also very gratifying. Page flipping is an unimportant detail, and you can have markers in digital text, too. What is important is how much and how cheaply (in terms of attention) can you put in your notes, and -- much less tangible thing -- how the medium inclines your mind for its content. > For note taking, I can use either pen/paper, or a laptop with a simple vim session. The paper is most useful if there are non-text things that need to be quickly noted, and can be turned into charts/graphs or whatever later on if needed. I actually design my code on paper. And I'm not talking about UML diagrams, which I hate. I'm talking about rough sketches on programming interfaces (which covers pretty much everything, since I build my systems out of libraries written specifically for the system I'm building). I'm taking advantage of the friction that paper gives. It forces me to think in different way than when I'm writing on a computer, and that different way works very well for me.

kev009 11y ago
Uh, thanks for contradicting everything I opined with out own opinions I guess.