12 ms·

How to Learn New Things as an Adult

296 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

mbrumlow 10y ago
It's not that we are getting dumber. We are just changing our skill set. Remembering where to find a set of information or how to find a set of information is more effective than remebering each item in the set. Search engines have changed us so we don't have to remember trivia and can focus on larger ideas that can't be searched.
- valine 10y ago
  I feel like academia will be much more efficient once universities start getting on board with this idea.
  - Mayzie 10y ago
    Out of curiosity, what do you think that adoption will look like?
    - ftlio 10y ago
      Term projects. Those are what prepared me for getting paid to apply my academic knowledge more than anything. All the better when it was left up to me to create the spec. Most of the time I had to abide by some requirements, like 'Must use SPI for communication between two or more microcontrollers', but it was pretty obvious in these classes if you were actually applying what you were learning or not.
    - valine 10y ago
      Personally I'd like to see a large reduction in the emphasis on exams and repetitive homework. Today, at least to some degree, classes are designed to rank students against their classmates by who can memorize the most trivia. The primary objective of every class should be that the students know how to find info related to the subject. The final project in an algorithms course could be something like, "Using google and a programming language of your choice provide an implementation of $ALGORITHM." Where $ALGORITHM could be an algorithm that was not explicitly covered in the course material. This would show that the students have a broad enough understanding of the material that they can seek out solutions to types of problems they haven't seen before.
      - NotOscarWilde 10y ago
        It depends on what you want from an "Algorithms" course; you could even split it into levels as follows: 1. Graduates can implement algorithms given a nice and thorough description in a textbook or a website. 2. Graduates can implement algorithms given a few minute whiteboard explanation by a colleague or a short answer on a Stack Exchange site. (For a short answer example, look at some at cs.stackexchange or cstheory.stackexchange, where expertise is often assumed.) 3. Graduates can design and implement algorithms that are simple derivatives of those they have seen or implemented before, without any textual advice. 4. Graduates can design non-trivial derivatives of algorithms that they have seen before, given a problem that is not googleable (for example, it came up as a secondary question in your research). The actual goal depends on the aims of your university or class. The problem with any level besides 1 is that it seems to require an artificial test environment. You want to give the students easy exercises, say solvable within 60-90 minutes, and you want to give them as much freedom for their implementation environment -- but the reality is, any popular and "time-tested" exercise is fully solved online, most likely in full detail on Stack Overflow. (Speaking from experience, trying to "dress up" the problem in some alternate description doesn't work if the students can Google.) And, predictably, if you forbid the access to the internet you get upset students, you provide an easy and effective way to cheat, and you give ammunition to the critics who call your testing methods "distant from any actual practice". I don't know what the "right" answer is, but I am fully convinced that stopping at level 1, the only level where you can realistically allow access to the internet, is not the right way.
- rimliu 10y ago
  See already recommended course https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn Without small building blocks comfortably sitting in your brain there will be no larger ideas to focus on.
- dozzie 10y ago
  Except that without knowing those useless trivia you won't even have the chance to draw connections and associations between them, which is essential for working with these "larger ideas" of yours. No, search engines won't make up for simple lack of knowledge. You have to know what to search for in the first place.
  - mbrumlow 10y ago
    I see your point, and I feel you have unfairly made my comment mean something much more than it originally was intended to be. I want to make it clear. I am not advocating not knowing things. I am advocating that some things are "trivia" and some things are not. I feel from your post that you have put more things in the "trivia" category than I would. This article opened up asking a single question; "what’s the capital of Australia?” -- in an attempt to make the reader feel dumb. The name of a capital of a country you don’t live in is just the sort of data I would classify as trivia. Knowing that there is something called an atlas, or even more precise that there is a book that organizes this sort of information, or even more recently a website that you can ask this question to and receive back reasonable answer is far more important to know than knowing Canberra is the capital of Australia. Without knowing where to find or how to find the answer you would just have to answer “I don’t know”, but knowing these other concepts would allow you to answer “I don’t know, but I am reasonably sure I can find out”. It should also pointed out that countries have capitals -- is the "larger idea" -- and the fact that Canberra is the capital of Australia is triva. A good way to look at this; things that have unique names but can be categorized in groups are often trivia and the groups they make are the knowledge. The article actually picked a excellent topic to illustrate this notion. The big ideas are countries, states, provinces, territories. Learning the unique names of these things teaching you nothing new -- other than the name. No new ideas are conveyed by learning a new name. Learning that there are states and provinces, how they work, and what their differences is far more valuable than the names of each of the individual states and provinces. So yes, not knowing the triva can still allow you to work my “larger ideas”.
    - glandium 10y ago
      Plus, "what's the capital of Australia?" is the kind of trivia that changes (not often, for capitals, but that's definitely something that happens). In the end, you're better off knowing where to find it when you need the answer rather than knowing a fact that might as well be obsolete.
slmyers 10y ago
> Boser explains why some of the most common ways we try to memorize information are actually totally ineffective, and he reveals what to do instead. I couldn't get past the first paragraph. I don't think memorisation and learning should be conflated as it appears to be in this article. Perhaps it's the fault of the title -- clickbait?
- IpV8 10y ago
  Clearly you didn't get past the first paragraph.
taneq 10y ago
How to learn new things as an adult: 1) Accept that you're going to suck at the thing. 2) Do the thing. 3) Keep doing the thing.
- clentaminator 10y ago
  Brain plasticity and learning "power" aside, I believe the biggest difference between learning something as a child and as an adult is simple how conscious we are that we're trying to learn something and how much we self-reflect and analyse our own abilities and progress. As a child we typically do things just because we enjoy them, and often don't have an idea of a goal or target, other than simply doing the thing because we find it intrinsically fun. As an adult however we become highly analytic, self-reflective and critical of both ourselves and others, and we start to do things with a consciousness and awareness of others. Additionally, by the time you reach adulthood there's a high chance that there's a thing that you've done enough to be in a fairly experienced position with, so anything new undertaken as an adult will now be judged in terms of the things you can already do, which means it will feel difficult and you'll believe that you suck at it. Which you do, because you're a beginner, and that's normal and is precisely what it means to be taking up something new! While trying to play the piano as a child I had no thoughts of achieving a goal or getting to a specific level, and I certainly didn't compare myself to others. I just did it because it was fun. By the time I was more conscious of enjoying it and knew that I wanted to learn more seriously I'd already acquired a basic level of keyboard fluency. So, having bought a guitar a few weeks ago and finding that all of a sudden trying to acquire a new physical skill is actually difficult (particularly important to remember as a developer where often what we're learning is a variation on an existing technique), I keep having to remind myself that it only feels difficult because it's new, and it would feel just as difficult if I were starting from a younger age, except I just wouldn't be so darn self-conscious about it.
  - criddell 10y ago
    How far along are you with the guitar? I bought mine in 1996 and have been trying to learn it on and off since then. I still don't know a single song, other than the little toy songs in the Hal Leonard books (and only if I have the books in front of me). It's incredibly frustrating. I bought a second guitar a few years ago to keep at work and I use it during times when I need a break. Even though all I do are scales and nursery rhymes, it's still pretty relaxing. I've had two different teachers, I've used games like Rocksmith, I've done online self-study courses (Justin Sandercoe seems like a wonderful person), bought the sheet music for my favorite records, etc... My kids, on the other hand, made progress on their instruments (piano and violin) unbelievably quickly.
lacampbell 10y ago
I find it much easier to learn things as an adult than I did as a teenager. I have more discipline, confidence, and experience in learning.
pmoriarty 10y ago
Motivation and perseverance are the keys. If can somehow keep those fires burning in the long run, you'll do well. My problem is that I tend to get really interested in learning something, work really intensely at it for a while, then get bored and move on to something else, leaving dozens of unfinished projects in my wake.
- sotojuan 10y ago
  > My problem is that I tend to get really interested in learning something, work really intensely at it for a while, then get bored and move on to something else, leaving dozens of unfinished projects in my wake. This isn't necessarily bad, just that the thing you learned wasn't actually something you needed to learn. I don't mean that negatively though. For example, I use JavaScript and Python at work. I recently read a Haskell book and learned enough to do its exercises. I won't use Haskell at work any time soon and I don't have that much time for personal projects... so was it a waste of time? I don't think so, since I enjoyed the process of learning and a lot of concepts will stay with me. If you want to do project X and can't focus on learning what you need for that, that's a problem. Otherwise, you're not much different from figures such as Theodore Roosevelt who'd read books on a thousand different subjects every year, for fun.
  - pmoriarty 10y ago
    It's not a complete waste, at least not all of the time, though I do forget much more than I remember. It's just frustrating to know I could achieve something but miss out again and again and again due to lack of discipline and perseverance.
jacquesm 10y ago
The trick to learning new things as an adult is to never stop learning. For many people university (or highschool, for the slightly less fortunate) is the last time they will actively learn, after that they are 'done learning'. But you're never done learning! In a world that changes as fast as ours does you'll be learning until you die if you want to keep up and stay relevant in the near future. Even more so in the IT domain. So don't stop learning, or you'll be playing catch-up with very little chance of success once you do stop.
- daodedickinson 10y ago
  I wish people would understand that such a world means that new children have less and less of a chance at success.
  - selimthegrim 10y ago
    Do you think that every idea people have can be carried out with their hands alone?
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    No, that's not true. They will simply have a new baseline when they exit their secondary education. Secondary education levels have been a moving target ever since we started educating people to the state-of-the-art. It's been a long time (centuries, really) since an individual could hold the complete state of science in their head so it is all teamwork now and nobody knows everything. So if you do your education today you simply learn more of something narrower.
  - vacri 10y ago
    Life was much better for children back in the 19th century, before adult education really took off!
  - CalRobert 10y ago
    There are two issues here, I suspect. 1) Will people be able to meaningfully "produce"? So far our ability to learn has not outstripped the ability of the universe to provide interesting insights. 2) Will we share the fruits of that production in a way that helps new children? This, I'm not so sure about. I'm expecting a child soon and this worries me.
personjerry 10y ago
This article seems to be an advertisement so I don't have a positive disposition towards it. There's this free online course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn which I think might be preferable to the book in the article, since it has transcribed video that you can speed up, exercises, and quizzes.
- kornork 10y ago
  I took that course. I didn't gain much from it. There is some interesting theory about how we learn. The best (er.. only) trick I remember: rather than re-reading material, reflect on it for a few minutes after you've read it, trying to recall and organize it in your mind.
  - anuragojha 10y ago
    You are probably already a great learner then. I took the course and can definitely say it was an eye opener. Few additional tricks I picked up: * Recall(as you mentioned) is critical to understanding. Effective recall also connects a topic just learned with other known topics. * A problem looks solvable but its important to actually apply yourself and arrive at the solution. The process of learning does not offer rewards until the mind has been exercised. * Deliberate practice of poorly understood concepts. Don't fall into the trap of fooling yourself to believe that you have understood a concept or practicing problems that you are already good at. * Read through material quickly to to create a "framework" or stick-figures in the mind. Gradually add new concepts to the basic framework. * Learning is best done with frequent breaks to absorb information. Learning is also a passive process where the neurons need time to grow. * Repetition spaced across several days forces us to recall. This helps strengthen memories and filing concepts into long-term memory bank. * Better sleep helps. I could go on. Really wonderful course.
    - z0ltan 10y ago
      All these are basic Common Sense, aren't they though? In fact, structuring them like this appears to take all the fun out of the process of learning, reducing it to a mere mechanical algorithm. My take is this - you learn best when you are curious or can get curious about something. That kind of learning sticks. Or maybe I'm just different.
Icedcool 10y ago
Spoilers: the same way you did as a kid. Just with more attention.
peruvian 10y ago
I really don't think there's much difference between learning as an adult or a teenager. It's just that we have less time. A few months ago I wanted to learn to appreciate and listen to classical music. I woke up an hour earlier every morning and read a book, listened to an audio course (Robert Greenberg's How to Listen to and Understand Great Music), and listened to actual music then and throughout the day. A few months later I can recognize the structure of most pieces and if the composer "broke the rules" (and why). I can't read music or tell which note is which (yet!) but I made a lot of progress. Unless it's a particularly difficult subject, simple daily practice and learning goes a long way.
- drvdevd 10y ago
  This is one reason I want to make the use of some sort of spaced repetition software a habit for myself. I can't think of any better way to keep learning new things than structured practice..
- transposed 10y ago
  I agree, but I'm finding it's hard to follow through with the extra hour in the morning, before the commute and everything. Maybe an audio book could still work.
- LanceH 10y ago
  I'm mid 40's now. It is significantly different than when I was 20 or younger. It was like I had more horsepower back then. I could sit down and do 200 vocabulary words 90% retention after a single pass. I'm nowhere close now. On the other hand, I can organize my attack on learning something so much better than I could before.
  - enraged_camel 10y ago
    I'm the exact opposite. Back in my 20s I was surrounded by countless distractions: bar-hopping, parties, girls, video games, you name it. Sitting down and applying myself to learning something took tremendous effort. Now that I'm in my 30s though, I have way more focus. I can easily sit down and work on a project for hours at a time. On top of that, I have way more motivation, because I have a very good idea of what I want in life and I know how to get there.
partycoder 10y ago
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".
known 10y ago
"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -- Confucius
goldenkey 10y ago
Trick question. Australia has 8 capital cities. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_cities https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_c... That aside, the article is rather bunk and claims to have authority. Memorization isnt learning.
- lazyasciiart 10y ago
  It's not a trick question at all. There is only one capital of Australia, the others are capitals of their respective states. This response is as though I asked where the US government is located and you said "trick question, there are 51 US governments!"
rodionos 10y ago
A much harder thing for adults is to re-learn something they already know in a different way. For example, I thought I knew how to swim until I took private lessons with an instructor. I spent most of the time 'unlearning' the wrong techniques. The muscle memory was just engraved. I know guys don't ask for directions, but if you want results, pro help can really pay off.
- wingerlang 10y ago
  Why did you take private lessons if you already knew how to swim? I also swim in a non-proper way and I recently found a "new way" of swimming after seeing some video about it, and it is fairly easy. But due to muscle memory I find myself going back to my own way. My own way being: Imagine doing a front split[1], then pushing your body up into a standing position, while angling your upper body 90 degrees (plane with the water, that is). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(gymnastics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(gymnastics)
  - rodionos 10y ago
    I wanted to learn how to swim butterfly. This is difficult to master on your own.
    - wingerlang 10y ago
      Oh I see, makes sense.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
lotusko 10y ago
in my opinion,just absorb the knowledge or the information is not enough, we should practice them.
MarkG509 10y ago
My favorite teacher in grade school, and echoed by my favorite teachers later in life, told me that the most important thing they are trying to teach us is how to learn because we'd all be learning for the rest of our lives. I still strongly agree with that sentiment, but the difference/problem with learning as an adult is two-fold: why I am learning, and how much time I have to learn/apply that knowledge. There is a difference in learning material to 'ace' a midterm/final exam, versus learning something to figure out a novel way, or picking up a new technology, to accomplish some task (e.g., at work). Part of the difference is who decides what can be "pruned", and especially when. I think back on all the 'stuff' I knew I would never need again once the final was over. Admittedly, I wasn't always correct, but age and experience increased my hit rate, and what subjects I under or over estimated could be whole other threads. I am retired now, but have gotten into learning, mostly just for fun, some of the most complex (nasty) subject matter that I never had time for before. If I want to go off on some tangent, or deep dive, I can. The amount of free (or inexpensive) courses out there is wonderful and exciting.
nsomaru 10y ago
There's some value to be gained here from orthodox Indian philosophical schools. All roughly agree to three stages of learning: - shravana (literally 'listening', as India's philosophical traditions were mostly oral, but more broadly may be understood to also be 'reading.') - manana ('reflection' upon that which was heard. May include exercises, debate and such) - nididhyasana ('meditation,' may be taken to mean experience) Further, knowing is then classified into two types - jñana and vijñana. These correspond to mere apprehension of information ('knowledge') and integration of that into action, life and experience ('wisdom'). Knowledge is transformed into wisdom by a process of reflection which is active. Passively obtaining new information is unlikely to result in wisdom (which is useful) without reflection. Thought this might be interesting to those in this thread who are looking to learn and improve themselves. Questions? my_hn_username at gmail. Disclaimer: Have studied Vedanta in India under a master (A Parthasarathy). This information may be found in his magnum opus, Vedanta Treatise: The Eternities[0]. [0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/9381094160/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489989012&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=Vedanta+Treatise https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/9381094160/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=... EDIT: formatting and email address.
kshitij_libra 10y ago
Because we’re all getting `dumber in the age of Google` What's wrong with that ? I fail to understand ? If you start putting everything into your brain, you'll soon go mad. A regular cleanup of the information in your brain to retain only what's relevant for your survival is okay. It's best such things are left googleable. What is the use of keeping in memory the capital of australia, when that trivia contributes a total `0` to do what you do. If you keep doing, implementing and executing stuff that you are passionate about, I think you'll keep learning. Only thing is that we become more focussed as adults about our interests, than we are as children (inquisitive about everything).
tuxidomasx 10y ago
Nootropic supplements should be mentioned here as a way to boost brain performance in general, which could assist in learning new things both for children and adults. The scientific consensus on the effects of nootropics is kinda all over the place (there are a bunch of different types out there, and different studies for the different types), but there's enough information to make an informed decision. I had a daily nootropic "stack" that included choline and piracetam, and noticed an improvement in recall and focus. Whether it was placebo or not, I certainly felt like I was more capable of learning than baseline. During my foray into the nootropic world, I also came across discussions about Hericium erinaceus, or lion's mane mushrooms. Studies have shown it to increase the 'nerve growth factor' which is a key measurement when it comes to growing new neurons. And since growing new neurons and making new connections between them is correlated to learning new things, and if this factor of 'neuroplasticity' decreases with age, my guess is that lion's mane can come in handy if you are an adult and want to learn to do other stuff good too. However, I'm no expert; maybe someone with more direct experience or knowledge can weigh in.
teekert 10y ago
I don't really think there is a difference between adults and children in learning, this whole piece is simply about efficiency in learning and different ways of learning. Still I think this piece misses some points. I believe there is a threshold (perhaps different for everyone) for the types of learning the piece is about. There is learning by forcing knowledge in by repetition. If you need to remember a small list not based on any logic, this is the only way. Knowing that Canberra is the capital of Australia is a poor example for the point the author tries to make. There is no logic behind capital city names, a human choose the name and it was not chosen according to any rules. There is no understanding involved at all. However, for a Buick (or i.e. the Human Body) it is different, those "things" work according to the laws of physics, a Buick is build using a specific design and it has a limited set of necessary components. During its operation a repeating cycle of steps is executed. There is a very limited number of states in which a Buick can function but not be completely broken compared to the number of states it can be in. If you understand how a Buick was build, you can play its function in your head and simulate what could cause the noise a person on the phone is describing. From childhood onward this is the way I have learned, I always felt like there was a point in time in which my knowledge became like self contained ball in my head, I would even visualize said ball. There is a moment of understanding, of seeing the beauty and logic of a system. In that moment you say: "Ah yes it felt very complicated before, but now that I get it, I would have designed it quite like that actually." In programming it works the same, that moment when you understand what a class is... it's beauty, you will program differently from that moment on. In biology one can have the same but often one must conclude: "Ok I would have designed it differently but in terms of evolution, it does make sense indeed." I have a lot of trouble learning new languages, I also struggle playing elaborate games like Descent... Until that feeling of ahhhh I understand why a game designer put that weird element in, it balances the game, it adds some unpredictability to it. Only then does it become fun. I'm told I am a very good and fast learner and have a good memory but I feel it is not true, I use this systems approach. As soon as you understand what a carburetor should do, it becomes very easy to remember how it does it. As a scientist that means constantly updating and changing ones view of reality itself based on new evidence. It's about building a mind model but always knowing that model is an oversimplification that is only useful as long as it explains your experimental results (more specifically, as long as it explains your experimental controls). My wife is often amazed at how I can be so highly educated and smart in some ways and so stupid or un-understanding in others. I feel it is because I sometimes lack a "mind-model" for certain things of situation that I can interact with/in, I still need to build it, or it is insanely difficult to build it. Trying to build such models for the humans in my life may my biggest fallacy yet. It leads to countless hours of grinding thoughts, simulating conversations that will never occur.
iopq 10y ago
I forgot the name of my first crush. I have since remembered it, but names still elude me. Of course, I knew the capital of Australia.
Rainymood 10y ago
If you really need to memorise hard numbers, use a memory palace. By mapping numbers to consonants and then putting vowels in between you can make any word. The system I use is the following: 1 - t 2 - n 3 - m 4 - r 5 - l 6 - j 7 - f 8 - k,g 9 - p,b 0 - s,z For example, Pi starts with 3.14159265. Chunk this into pairs of digits: 14, 15, 92, 65, or in consonants we find, tr, tl, pn, jl. We can create a story with this: trtl, pan, jelly. To find the numbers just "invert" the story! Shameless plug to my own blog [1], I get no advertising revenue or anything from this I would just love to share this with you guys as I feel like you guys might find it interesting. In the post I detail how I memorised the first 37 digits of Pi. I honestly think it's amazing that I can still recall, with ease, the first 37 digits of Pi 5 (!) months after first memorising them. [1] http://rainymood.github.io/jekyll/update/2017/03/13/how-to-memorise-pi.html http://rainymood.github.io/jekyll/update/2017/03/13/how-to-m...
- kbart 10y ago
  Does this really work? I've never had any success with mnemonics. The best way I've found to remember numbers is to type them on number keyboard from time to time and let the muscle memory do its work.
  - Rainymood 10y ago
    >Does this really work? Well, obviously N = 1 but if I can't convince you with "I can recall a string of 37 digits 5 months after memorising them" I don't know what will! It is SO weird but it just works. It's hard to explain and really paradoxical because I use it for everything now ... Allais paradox 1953 (lm => lam => drunk in dutch), Ellsberg paradox 1961 (jt => jeti => jeti chasing jedi with urns on a mountain). In my honest opinion its a skill worth learning. If this didn't convince you, Sherlock also uses it in the series ;)
lomereiter 10y ago
For learning just facts, solving crossword puzzles regularly helps a lot (not cryptic ones). More complicated matters are going to get forgotten rather quickly anyway unless you need them in your daily life.
Tepix 10y ago
Recommended free MOOC: "Learning how to learn" https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn They put some interesting brain research into that course. I started last week and love it so far.
soniman 10y ago
There are certain tennis strokes that adults can't learn. For instance, adults can't learn to hit a "kick" serve that has a lot of topspin. I think part of the problem is that the kick serve requires counterintuitively hitting the ball to the sky and letting gravity and spin pull it down to earth. Adults can't handle the idea of hitting up, it just seems wrong. I learned kick serves as a kid and it's like riding a bicycle, I never forgot though I stopped playing tennis for ten years. Also, some strokes decline with age. Federer's backhand is now much better than when he was in his physical peak at 26, though his forehand is probably not as good; the same is true of nearly all players, the backhand improves but the forehand declines. The more instinctive a shot is, the harder it is to maintain and learn as you get older.
- hvidgaard 10y ago
  There are certain tennis strokes that adults can't learn. For instance, adults can't learn to hit a "kick" serve that has a lot of topspin. Do you have anything to back this claim? I don't believe this at all. The plasticity changes as we get older, but the human brains does not lose the ability to learn things, counter intuitive or not.
  - jw1224 10y ago
    I agree - surely adults can learn these tennis strokes, even if they are harder to pick up. There is an absolutely fascinating video about plasticity of learning between adults and children that I'd highly recommend watching [1]. A man built a "backwards bicycle", where the handlebars steer the bike in the opposite direction to what you would expect. It was almost impossible for him to ride the bike more than a few feet at a time before falling off. Finally, after 8 months of consistent practice, he could ride it relatively well. When he put his 6-year-old son on the bike (who'd been riding a normal bicycle for 3 years), he had it mastered just 2 weeks later. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
    - animal531 10y ago
      I'm with you. But also from that video is the correlation where the son has only been riding for 3 years whereas the guy has been riding for e.g. 30 years. I'm interested in what would the difference be for them to alter a learned skill if they'd been practicing for the same amount of time (so that it's less set in stone)? I'm certain his son would have still been an order of magnitude or 2 faster, but probably quite a bit less than the original number. I remember a few years ago I learned that I had been tying my shoes wrong my whole life (tying a granny knot instead), so my shoelaces would come loose at least once per day. It took me a few weeks of practice to manually think through the hand movements to make the new know before my brain got used to just doing it without thinking about it. I'd imagine that as a child it should have been at least 10x easier to re-learn.
Disruptive_Dave 10y ago
I just re-learned skateboarding. I spent a lot of time skating in my late teens (37 now), and was decent at it. I noticed three things throughout the learning process this time around. First, there is so much more information available today than when I was a kid. YouTube videos alone could keep me busy for years. Then you add in the GoPro and my phone, and you have an entirely new world available. The one downside here is that I find myself edging towards "paralysis by analysis." Less doing, more thinking, which I never experienced as a kid. Second, I'm forced to take things a little slower because of my age and reluctance to get hurt. This means I've gradually progressed through the learning steps, which has resulted in a stronger foundation than I had as a kid. Third, and this is the big'un, I see angles I never considered before. I'll never be confused for a smart person, and I've always been one step away from "getting it" when learning most new things. Now that I'm older and more aware of what it takes to "get me there" I can better create that learning environment. Example: There is a very subtle part of the tail "pop" in an ollie that I just never fully understood until I started skating again recently, but this time I "got it." (I realize this falls more in the "relearning" than "learning something new" category, but I've typed too much at this point to bail.)
- branchless 10y ago
  As someone who tried snowboarding for the first time this weekend and fell over around 200 times, this gives me some heart.
  - munkeegutz 10y ago
    I snowboard a tremendous amount and have tought many people. Your experience is typical.... Even with a great teacher newbies spend their first two days eating it!
    - branchless 10y ago
      Okay interesting, thanks. Not just me, glad to hear this.
      - 10y ago
z0ltan 10y ago
In other words what the smart folks already do. Heh.
z0ltan 10y ago
It's more about drive than anything else. If one is able to maintain one's sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness, then one can always continue learning as effectively (albeit a bit more slowly) throughout one's life.
jhallenworld 10y ago
Youtube is an amazing resource. In the past I would read, but I'm finding that videos (and audiobooks) help speed learning: Basic machining from MIT (I now need a milling machine and lathe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4McYKCd2Hg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4McYKCd2Hg Learn about Synchrotrons from UC Berkeley (Undulators and Wigglers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WWnxA6odso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WWnxA6odso

296 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

It's not that we are getting dumber. We are just changing our skill set. Remembering where to find a set of information or how to find a set of information is more effective than remebering each item in the set. Search engines have changed us so we don't have to remember trivia and can focus on larger ideas that can't be searched.

valine 10y ago
I feel like academia will be much more efficient once universities start getting on board with this idea.
- Mayzie 10y ago
  Out of curiosity, what do you think that adoption will look like?
  - ftlio 10y ago
    Term projects. Those are what prepared me for getting paid to apply my academic knowledge more than anything. All the better when it was left up to me to create the spec. Most of the time I had to abide by some requirements, like 'Must use SPI for communication between two or more microcontrollers', but it was pretty obvious in these classes if you were actually applying what you were learning or not.
  - valine 10y ago
    Personally I'd like to see a large reduction in the emphasis on exams and repetitive homework. Today, at least to some degree, classes are designed to rank students against their classmates by who can memorize the most trivia. The primary objective of every class should be that the students know how to find info related to the subject. The final project in an algorithms course could be something like, "Using google and a programming language of your choice provide an implementation of $ALGORITHM." Where $ALGORITHM could be an algorithm that was not explicitly covered in the course material. This would show that the students have a broad enough understanding of the material that they can seek out solutions to types of problems they haven't seen before.
    - NotOscarWilde 10y ago
      It depends on what you want from an "Algorithms" course; you could even split it into levels as follows: 1. Graduates can implement algorithms given a nice and thorough description in a textbook or a website. 2. Graduates can implement algorithms given a few minute whiteboard explanation by a colleague or a short answer on a Stack Exchange site. (For a short answer example, look at some at cs.stackexchange or cstheory.stackexchange, where expertise is often assumed.) 3. Graduates can design and implement algorithms that are simple derivatives of those they have seen or implemented before, without any textual advice. 4. Graduates can design non-trivial derivatives of algorithms that they have seen before, given a problem that is not googleable (for example, it came up as a secondary question in your research). The actual goal depends on the aims of your university or class. The problem with any level besides 1 is that it seems to require an artificial test environment. You want to give the students easy exercises, say solvable within 60-90 minutes, and you want to give them as much freedom for their implementation environment -- but the reality is, any popular and "time-tested" exercise is fully solved online, most likely in full detail on Stack Overflow. (Speaking from experience, trying to "dress up" the problem in some alternate description doesn't work if the students can Google.) And, predictably, if you forbid the access to the internet you get upset students, you provide an easy and effective way to cheat, and you give ammunition to the critics who call your testing methods "distant from any actual practice". I don't know what the "right" answer is, but I am fully convinced that stopping at level 1, the only level where you can realistically allow access to the internet, is not the right way.
rimliu 10y ago
See already recommended course https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn Without small building blocks comfortably sitting in your brain there will be no larger ideas to focus on.
dozzie 10y ago
Except that without knowing those useless trivia you won't even have the chance to draw connections and associations between them, which is essential for working with these "larger ideas" of yours. No, search engines won't make up for simple lack of knowledge. You have to know what to search for in the first place.
- mbrumlow 10y ago
  I see your point, and I feel you have unfairly made my comment mean something much more than it originally was intended to be. I want to make it clear. I am not advocating not knowing things. I am advocating that some things are "trivia" and some things are not. I feel from your post that you have put more things in the "trivia" category than I would. This article opened up asking a single question; "what’s the capital of Australia?” -- in an attempt to make the reader feel dumb. The name of a capital of a country you don’t live in is just the sort of data I would classify as trivia. Knowing that there is something called an atlas, or even more precise that there is a book that organizes this sort of information, or even more recently a website that you can ask this question to and receive back reasonable answer is far more important to know than knowing Canberra is the capital of Australia. Without knowing where to find or how to find the answer you would just have to answer “I don’t know”, but knowing these other concepts would allow you to answer “I don’t know, but I am reasonably sure I can find out”. It should also pointed out that countries have capitals -- is the "larger idea" -- and the fact that Canberra is the capital of Australia is triva. A good way to look at this; things that have unique names but can be categorized in groups are often trivia and the groups they make are the knowledge. The article actually picked a excellent topic to illustrate this notion. The big ideas are countries, states, provinces, territories. Learning the unique names of these things teaching you nothing new -- other than the name. No new ideas are conveyed by learning a new name. Learning that there are states and provinces, how they work, and what their differences is far more valuable than the names of each of the individual states and provinces. So yes, not knowing the triva can still allow you to work my “larger ideas”.
  - glandium 10y ago
    Plus, "what's the capital of Australia?" is the kind of trivia that changes (not often, for capitals, but that's definitely something that happens). In the end, you're better off knowing where to find it when you need the answer rather than knowing a fact that might as well be obsolete.

slmyers 10y ago

> Boser explains why some of the most common ways we try to memorize information are actually totally ineffective, and he reveals what to do instead. I couldn't get past the first paragraph. I don't think memorisation and learning should be conflated as it appears to be in this article. Perhaps it's the fault of the title -- clickbait?

IpV8 10y ago
Clearly you didn't get past the first paragraph.

taneq 10y ago

How to learn new things as an adult: 1) Accept that you're going to suck at the thing. 2) Do the thing. 3) Keep doing the thing.

clentaminator 10y ago
Brain plasticity and learning "power" aside, I believe the biggest difference between learning something as a child and as an adult is simple how conscious we are that we're trying to learn something and how much we self-reflect and analyse our own abilities and progress. As a child we typically do things just because we enjoy them, and often don't have an idea of a goal or target, other than simply doing the thing because we find it intrinsically fun. As an adult however we become highly analytic, self-reflective and critical of both ourselves and others, and we start to do things with a consciousness and awareness of others. Additionally, by the time you reach adulthood there's a high chance that there's a thing that you've done enough to be in a fairly experienced position with, so anything new undertaken as an adult will now be judged in terms of the things you can already do, which means it will feel difficult and you'll believe that you suck at it. Which you do, because you're a beginner, and that's normal and is precisely what it means to be taking up something new! While trying to play the piano as a child I had no thoughts of achieving a goal or getting to a specific level, and I certainly didn't compare myself to others. I just did it because it was fun. By the time I was more conscious of enjoying it and knew that I wanted to learn more seriously I'd already acquired a basic level of keyboard fluency. So, having bought a guitar a few weeks ago and finding that all of a sudden trying to acquire a new physical skill is actually difficult (particularly important to remember as a developer where often what we're learning is a variation on an existing technique), I keep having to remind myself that it only feels difficult because it's new, and it would feel just as difficult if I were starting from a younger age, except I just wouldn't be so darn self-conscious about it.
- criddell 10y ago
  How far along are you with the guitar? I bought mine in 1996 and have been trying to learn it on and off since then. I still don't know a single song, other than the little toy songs in the Hal Leonard books (and only if I have the books in front of me). It's incredibly frustrating. I bought a second guitar a few years ago to keep at work and I use it during times when I need a break. Even though all I do are scales and nursery rhymes, it's still pretty relaxing. I've had two different teachers, I've used games like Rocksmith, I've done online self-study courses (Justin Sandercoe seems like a wonderful person), bought the sheet music for my favorite records, etc... My kids, on the other hand, made progress on their instruments (piano and violin) unbelievably quickly.

lacampbell 10y ago

I find it much easier to learn things as an adult than I did as a teenager. I have more discipline, confidence, and experience in learning.

pmoriarty 10y ago

Motivation and perseverance are the keys. If can somehow keep those fires burning in the long run, you'll do well. My problem is that I tend to get really interested in learning something, work really intensely at it for a while, then get bored and move on to something else, leaving dozens of unfinished projects in my wake.

sotojuan 10y ago
> My problem is that I tend to get really interested in learning something, work really intensely at it for a while, then get bored and move on to something else, leaving dozens of unfinished projects in my wake. This isn't necessarily bad, just that the thing you learned wasn't actually something you needed to learn. I don't mean that negatively though. For example, I use JavaScript and Python at work. I recently read a Haskell book and learned enough to do its exercises. I won't use Haskell at work any time soon and I don't have that much time for personal projects... so was it a waste of time? I don't think so, since I enjoyed the process of learning and a lot of concepts will stay with me. If you want to do project X and can't focus on learning what you need for that, that's a problem. Otherwise, you're not much different from figures such as Theodore Roosevelt who'd read books on a thousand different subjects every year, for fun.
- pmoriarty 10y ago
  It's not a complete waste, at least not all of the time, though I do forget much more than I remember. It's just frustrating to know I could achieve something but miss out again and again and again due to lack of discipline and perseverance.

jacquesm 10y ago

The trick to learning new things as an adult is to never stop learning. For many people university (or highschool, for the slightly less fortunate) is the last time they will actively learn, after that they are 'done learning'. But you're never done learning! In a world that changes as fast as ours does you'll be learning until you die if you want to keep up and stay relevant in the near future. Even more so in the IT domain. So don't stop learning, or you'll be playing catch-up with very little chance of success once you do stop.

daodedickinson 10y ago
I wish people would understand that such a world means that new children have less and less of a chance at success.
- selimthegrim 10y ago
  Do you think that every idea people have can be carried out with their hands alone?
- jacquesm 10y ago
  No, that's not true. They will simply have a new baseline when they exit their secondary education. Secondary education levels have been a moving target ever since we started educating people to the state-of-the-art. It's been a long time (centuries, really) since an individual could hold the complete state of science in their head so it is all teamwork now and nobody knows everything. So if you do your education today you simply learn more of something narrower.
- vacri 10y ago
  Life was much better for children back in the 19th century, before adult education really took off!
- CalRobert 10y ago
  There are two issues here, I suspect. 1) Will people be able to meaningfully "produce"? So far our ability to learn has not outstripped the ability of the universe to provide interesting insights. 2) Will we share the fruits of that production in a way that helps new children? This, I'm not so sure about. I'm expecting a child soon and this worries me.

personjerry 10y ago

This article seems to be an advertisement so I don't have a positive disposition towards it. There's this free online course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn which I think might be preferable to the book in the article, since it has transcribed video that you can speed up, exercises, and quizzes.

kornork 10y ago
I took that course. I didn't gain much from it. There is some interesting theory about how we learn. The best (er.. only) trick I remember: rather than re-reading material, reflect on it for a few minutes after you've read it, trying to recall and organize it in your mind.
- anuragojha 10y ago
  You are probably already a great learner then. I took the course and can definitely say it was an eye opener. Few additional tricks I picked up: * Recall(as you mentioned) is critical to understanding. Effective recall also connects a topic just learned with other known topics. * A problem looks solvable but its important to actually apply yourself and arrive at the solution. The process of learning does not offer rewards until the mind has been exercised. * Deliberate practice of poorly understood concepts. Don't fall into the trap of fooling yourself to believe that you have understood a concept or practicing problems that you are already good at. * Read through material quickly to to create a "framework" or stick-figures in the mind. Gradually add new concepts to the basic framework. * Learning is best done with frequent breaks to absorb information. Learning is also a passive process where the neurons need time to grow. * Repetition spaced across several days forces us to recall. This helps strengthen memories and filing concepts into long-term memory bank. * Better sleep helps. I could go on. Really wonderful course.
  - z0ltan 10y ago
    All these are basic Common Sense, aren't they though? In fact, structuring them like this appears to take all the fun out of the process of learning, reducing it to a mere mechanical algorithm. My take is this - you learn best when you are curious or can get curious about something. That kind of learning sticks. Or maybe I'm just different.

Icedcool 10y ago

Spoilers: the same way you did as a kid. Just with more attention.

peruvian 10y ago

I really don't think there's much difference between learning as an adult or a teenager. It's just that we have less time. A few months ago I wanted to learn to appreciate and listen to classical music. I woke up an hour earlier every morning and read a book, listened to an audio course (Robert Greenberg's How to Listen to and Understand Great Music), and listened to actual music then and throughout the day. A few months later I can recognize the structure of most pieces and if the composer "broke the rules" (and why). I can't read music or tell which note is which (yet!) but I made a lot of progress. Unless it's a particularly difficult subject, simple daily practice and learning goes a long way.

drvdevd 10y ago
This is one reason I want to make the use of some sort of spaced repetition software a habit for myself. I can't think of any better way to keep learning new things than structured practice..
transposed 10y ago
I agree, but I'm finding it's hard to follow through with the extra hour in the morning, before the commute and everything. Maybe an audio book could still work.
LanceH 10y ago
I'm mid 40's now. It is significantly different than when I was 20 or younger. It was like I had more horsepower back then. I could sit down and do 200 vocabulary words 90% retention after a single pass. I'm nowhere close now. On the other hand, I can organize my attack on learning something so much better than I could before.
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  I'm the exact opposite. Back in my 20s I was surrounded by countless distractions: bar-hopping, parties, girls, video games, you name it. Sitting down and applying myself to learning something took tremendous effort. Now that I'm in my 30s though, I have way more focus. I can easily sit down and work on a project for hours at a time. On top of that, I have way more motivation, because I have a very good idea of what I want in life and I know how to get there.

partycoder 10y ago

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

known 10y ago

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -- Confucius

goldenkey 10y ago

Trick question. Australia has 8 capital cities. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_cities https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_c... That aside, the article is rather bunk and claims to have authority. Memorization isnt learning.

lazyasciiart 10y ago
It's not a trick question at all. There is only one capital of Australia, the others are capitals of their respective states. This response is as though I asked where the US government is located and you said "trick question, there are 51 US governments!"

rodionos 10y ago

A much harder thing for adults is to re-learn something they already know in a different way. For example, I thought I knew how to swim until I took private lessons with an instructor. I spent most of the time 'unlearning' the wrong techniques. The muscle memory was just engraved. I know guys don't ask for directions, but if you want results, pro help can really pay off.

wingerlang 10y ago
Why did you take private lessons if you already knew how to swim? I also swim in a non-proper way and I recently found a "new way" of swimming after seeing some video about it, and it is fairly easy. But due to muscle memory I find myself going back to my own way. My own way being: Imagine doing a front split[1], then pushing your body up into a standing position, while angling your upper body 90 degrees (plane with the water, that is). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(gymnastics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(gymnastics)
- rodionos 10y ago
  I wanted to learn how to swim butterfly. This is difficult to master on your own.
  - wingerlang 10y ago
    Oh I see, makes sense.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

lotusko 10y ago

in my opinion,just absorb the knowledge or the information is not enough, we should practice them.

MarkG509 10y ago

My favorite teacher in grade school, and echoed by my favorite teachers later in life, told me that the most important thing they are trying to teach us is how to learn because we'd all be learning for the rest of our lives. I still strongly agree with that sentiment, but the difference/problem with learning as an adult is two-fold: why I am learning, and how much time I have to learn/apply that knowledge. There is a difference in learning material to 'ace' a midterm/final exam, versus learning something to figure out a novel way, or picking up a new technology, to accomplish some task (e.g., at work). Part of the difference is who decides what can be "pruned", and especially when. I think back on all the 'stuff' I knew I would never need again once the final was over. Admittedly, I wasn't always correct, but age and experience increased my hit rate, and what subjects I under or over estimated could be whole other threads. I am retired now, but have gotten into learning, mostly just for fun, some of the most complex (nasty) subject matter that I never had time for before. If I want to go off on some tangent, or deep dive, I can. The amount of free (or inexpensive) courses out there is wonderful and exciting.

nsomaru 10y ago

There's some value to be gained here from orthodox Indian philosophical schools. All roughly agree to three stages of learning: - shravana (literally 'listening', as India's philosophical traditions were mostly oral, but more broadly may be understood to also be 'reading.') - manana ('reflection' upon that which was heard. May include exercises, debate and such) - nididhyasana ('meditation,' may be taken to mean experience) Further, knowing is then classified into two types - jñana and vijñana. These correspond to mere apprehension of information ('knowledge') and integration of that into action, life and experience ('wisdom'). Knowledge is transformed into wisdom by a process of reflection which is active. Passively obtaining new information is unlikely to result in wisdom (which is useful) without reflection. Thought this might be interesting to those in this thread who are looking to learn and improve themselves. Questions? my_hn_username at gmail. Disclaimer: Have studied Vedanta in India under a master (A Parthasarathy). This information may be found in his magnum opus, Vedanta Treatise: The Eternities[0]. [0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/9381094160/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489989012&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=Vedanta+Treatise https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/9381094160/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=... EDIT: formatting and email address.

kshitij_libra 10y ago

Because we’re all getting `dumber in the age of Google` What's wrong with that ? I fail to understand ? If you start putting everything into your brain, you'll soon go mad. A regular cleanup of the information in your brain to retain only what's relevant for your survival is okay. It's best such things are left googleable. What is the use of keeping in memory the capital of australia, when that trivia contributes a total `0` to do what you do. If you keep doing, implementing and executing stuff that you are passionate about, I think you'll keep learning. Only thing is that we become more focussed as adults about our interests, than we are as children (inquisitive about everything).

tuxidomasx 10y ago

Nootropic supplements should be mentioned here as a way to boost brain performance in general, which could assist in learning new things both for children and adults. The scientific consensus on the effects of nootropics is kinda all over the place (there are a bunch of different types out there, and different studies for the different types), but there's enough information to make an informed decision. I had a daily nootropic "stack" that included choline and piracetam, and noticed an improvement in recall and focus. Whether it was placebo or not, I certainly felt like I was more capable of learning than baseline. During my foray into the nootropic world, I also came across discussions about Hericium erinaceus, or lion's mane mushrooms. Studies have shown it to increase the 'nerve growth factor' which is a key measurement when it comes to growing new neurons. And since growing new neurons and making new connections between them is correlated to learning new things, and if this factor of 'neuroplasticity' decreases with age, my guess is that lion's mane can come in handy if you are an adult and want to learn to do other stuff good too. However, I'm no expert; maybe someone with more direct experience or knowledge can weigh in.

teekert 10y ago

I don't really think there is a difference between adults and children in learning, this whole piece is simply about efficiency in learning and different ways of learning. Still I think this piece misses some points. I believe there is a threshold (perhaps different for everyone) for the types of learning the piece is about. There is learning by forcing knowledge in by repetition. If you need to remember a small list not based on any logic, this is the only way. Knowing that Canberra is the capital of Australia is a poor example for the point the author tries to make. There is no logic behind capital city names, a human choose the name and it was not chosen according to any rules. There is no understanding involved at all. However, for a Buick (or i.e. the Human Body) it is different, those "things" work according to the laws of physics, a Buick is build using a specific design and it has a limited set of necessary components. During its operation a repeating cycle of steps is executed. There is a very limited number of states in which a Buick can function but not be completely broken compared to the number of states it can be in. If you understand how a Buick was build, you can play its function in your head and simulate what could cause the noise a person on the phone is describing. From childhood onward this is the way I have learned, I always felt like there was a point in time in which my knowledge became like self contained ball in my head, I would even visualize said ball. There is a moment of understanding, of seeing the beauty and logic of a system. In that moment you say: "Ah yes it felt very complicated before, but now that I get it, I would have designed it quite like that actually." In programming it works the same, that moment when you understand what a class is... it's beauty, you will program differently from that moment on. In biology one can have the same but often one must conclude: "Ok I would have designed it differently but in terms of evolution, it does make sense indeed." I have a lot of trouble learning new languages, I also struggle playing elaborate games like Descent... Until that feeling of ahhhh I understand why a game designer put that weird element in, it balances the game, it adds some unpredictability to it. Only then does it become fun. I'm told I am a very good and fast learner and have a good memory but I feel it is not true, I use this systems approach. As soon as you understand what a carburetor should do, it becomes very easy to remember how it does it. As a scientist that means constantly updating and changing ones view of reality itself based on new evidence. It's about building a mind model but always knowing that model is an oversimplification that is only useful as long as it explains your experimental results (more specifically, as long as it explains your experimental controls). My wife is often amazed at how I can be so highly educated and smart in some ways and so stupid or un-understanding in others. I feel it is because I sometimes lack a "mind-model" for certain things of situation that I can interact with/in, I still need to build it, or it is insanely difficult to build it. Trying to build such models for the humans in my life may my biggest fallacy yet. It leads to countless hours of grinding thoughts, simulating conversations that will never occur.

iopq 10y ago

I forgot the name of my first crush. I have since remembered it, but names still elude me. Of course, I knew the capital of Australia.

Rainymood 10y ago

If you really need to memorise hard numbers, use a memory palace. By mapping numbers to consonants and then putting vowels in between you can make any word. The system I use is the following: 1 - t 2 - n 3 - m 4 - r 5 - l 6 - j 7 - f 8 - k,g 9 - p,b 0 - s,z For example, Pi starts with 3.14159265. Chunk this into pairs of digits: 14, 15, 92, 65, or in consonants we find, tr, tl, pn, jl. We can create a story with this: trtl, pan, jelly. To find the numbers just "invert" the story! Shameless plug to my own blog [1], I get no advertising revenue or anything from this I would just love to share this with you guys as I feel like you guys might find it interesting. In the post I detail how I memorised the first 37 digits of Pi. I honestly think it's amazing that I can still recall, with ease, the first 37 digits of Pi 5 (!) months after first memorising them. [1] http://rainymood.github.io/jekyll/update/2017/03/13/how-to-memorise-pi.html http://rainymood.github.io/jekyll/update/2017/03/13/how-to-m...

kbart 10y ago
Does this really work? I've never had any success with mnemonics. The best way I've found to remember numbers is to type them on number keyboard from time to time and let the muscle memory do its work.
- Rainymood 10y ago
  >Does this really work? Well, obviously N = 1 but if I can't convince you with "I can recall a string of 37 digits 5 months after memorising them" I don't know what will! It is SO weird but it just works. It's hard to explain and really paradoxical because I use it for everything now ... Allais paradox 1953 (lm => lam => drunk in dutch), Ellsberg paradox 1961 (jt => jeti => jeti chasing jedi with urns on a mountain). In my honest opinion its a skill worth learning. If this didn't convince you, Sherlock also uses it in the series ;)

lomereiter 10y ago

For learning just facts, solving crossword puzzles regularly helps a lot (not cryptic ones). More complicated matters are going to get forgotten rather quickly anyway unless you need them in your daily life.

Tepix 10y ago

Recommended free MOOC: "Learning how to learn" https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn They put some interesting brain research into that course. I started last week and love it so far.

soniman 10y ago

There are certain tennis strokes that adults can't learn. For instance, adults can't learn to hit a "kick" serve that has a lot of topspin. I think part of the problem is that the kick serve requires counterintuitively hitting the ball to the sky and letting gravity and spin pull it down to earth. Adults can't handle the idea of hitting up, it just seems wrong. I learned kick serves as a kid and it's like riding a bicycle, I never forgot though I stopped playing tennis for ten years. Also, some strokes decline with age. Federer's backhand is now much better than when he was in his physical peak at 26, though his forehand is probably not as good; the same is true of nearly all players, the backhand improves but the forehand declines. The more instinctive a shot is, the harder it is to maintain and learn as you get older.

hvidgaard 10y ago
There are certain tennis strokes that adults can't learn. For instance, adults can't learn to hit a "kick" serve that has a lot of topspin. Do you have anything to back this claim? I don't believe this at all. The plasticity changes as we get older, but the human brains does not lose the ability to learn things, counter intuitive or not.
- jw1224 10y ago
  I agree - surely adults can learn these tennis strokes, even if they are harder to pick up. There is an absolutely fascinating video about plasticity of learning between adults and children that I'd highly recommend watching [1]. A man built a "backwards bicycle", where the handlebars steer the bike in the opposite direction to what you would expect. It was almost impossible for him to ride the bike more than a few feet at a time before falling off. Finally, after 8 months of consistent practice, he could ride it relatively well. When he put his 6-year-old son on the bike (who'd been riding a normal bicycle for 3 years), he had it mastered just 2 weeks later. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
  - animal531 10y ago
    I'm with you. But also from that video is the correlation where the son has only been riding for 3 years whereas the guy has been riding for e.g. 30 years. I'm interested in what would the difference be for them to alter a learned skill if they'd been practicing for the same amount of time (so that it's less set in stone)? I'm certain his son would have still been an order of magnitude or 2 faster, but probably quite a bit less than the original number. I remember a few years ago I learned that I had been tying my shoes wrong my whole life (tying a granny knot instead), so my shoelaces would come loose at least once per day. It took me a few weeks of practice to manually think through the hand movements to make the new know before my brain got used to just doing it without thinking about it. I'd imagine that as a child it should have been at least 10x easier to re-learn.

Disruptive_Dave 10y ago

I just re-learned skateboarding. I spent a lot of time skating in my late teens (37 now), and was decent at it. I noticed three things throughout the learning process this time around. First, there is so much more information available today than when I was a kid. YouTube videos alone could keep me busy for years. Then you add in the GoPro and my phone, and you have an entirely new world available. The one downside here is that I find myself edging towards "paralysis by analysis." Less doing, more thinking, which I never experienced as a kid. Second, I'm forced to take things a little slower because of my age and reluctance to get hurt. This means I've gradually progressed through the learning steps, which has resulted in a stronger foundation than I had as a kid. Third, and this is the big'un, I see angles I never considered before. I'll never be confused for a smart person, and I've always been one step away from "getting it" when learning most new things. Now that I'm older and more aware of what it takes to "get me there" I can better create that learning environment. Example: There is a very subtle part of the tail "pop" in an ollie that I just never fully understood until I started skating again recently, but this time I "got it." (I realize this falls more in the "relearning" than "learning something new" category, but I've typed too much at this point to bail.)

branchless 10y ago
As someone who tried snowboarding for the first time this weekend and fell over around 200 times, this gives me some heart.
- munkeegutz 10y ago
  I snowboard a tremendous amount and have tought many people. Your experience is typical.... Even with a great teacher newbies spend their first two days eating it!
  - branchless 10y ago
    Okay interesting, thanks. Not just me, glad to hear this.
    - 10y ago

z0ltan 10y ago

In other words what the smart folks already do. Heh.

z0ltan 10y ago

It's more about drive than anything else. If one is able to maintain one's sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness, then one can always continue learning as effectively (albeit a bit more slowly) throughout one's life.

jhallenworld 10y ago

Youtube is an amazing resource. In the past I would read, but I'm finding that videos (and audiobooks) help speed learning: Basic machining from MIT (I now need a milling machine and lathe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4McYKCd2Hg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4McYKCd2Hg Learn about Synchrotrons from UC Berkeley (Undulators and Wigglers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WWnxA6odso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WWnxA6odso