8 ms·

Does anyone have any advice on how to make the most out of books like these? I'm trying to read more textbooks in subjects that I really phoned in during colleg

Does anyone have any advice on how to make the most out of books like these? I'm trying to read more textbooks in subjects that I really phoned in during college this year. My current strategy is to make some note cards and take notes (which is kind of tedious), wondering if anyone has any advice as to their own workflows.

late2part 6y ago
I typically take a book like this and read it. Then I think about it. I also think about it as I read it. I ask my friends in person and online if they've read and talk with them about it. Sometimes I'll look for online forums which discuss the book. This is how I make the most out of books like these.
Dzugaru 6y ago
As a programmer I usually try to implement some of the algorithms in language of my choice and throw them at some toy problems (it's good there is no shortage of interesting toy problems in this field). It was really fun with Artificial Intelligence: Modern Approach book (ex: implementing a SAT solver from scratch and solving Minesweeper by pure logic is very satisfying).
nefitty 6y ago
Anki is basically the most efficient method to study facts. I use a gamified version called Memrise.
sgt101 6y ago
Get in a group. Work is a good place to do this. Pick out some books, send a mail round saying that you are running a tech book group. Get folks together and read a chapter a week (this is hard in reality - be cool with everyone and sometimes let chapters slip over a few weeks). Every week someone leads the discussion. Every week someone volunteers to do the next weeks. You meet for an hour to discuss.
abnry 6y ago
My suggestions, not for this book in particular but technical textbooks in general: - Get very familiar with the table of contents first. Then note and filter out the sections you are less interested in or don't appear to provide the biggest bang for your buck. - Annotate, annotate, annotate. Active reading is better than passive reading. I use a 2-in-1 chromebook and a passive pen to highlight in the adobe pdf reader. - Write detailed notes in addition to annotating (i.e. in a separate notebook or markdown file). Cull/convert your notes into Anki/Memrise digital flashcards. Drill on your phone when you are lying in bed.
currymj 6y ago
it's hard for me to learn something if i don't have something I need to do with the knowledge. it's not that I can't sit down and do it, but things won't stick in my brain. so I would say, try to find something you want to do that requires the information in the textbook. or else just don't bother reading the textbook and go do something else you actually want to do.
taqd 6y ago
I enjoy typing, so I like to simply type out the entire textbook. It's a bit ridiculous to some, but it slows down the pace that I actually learn and engage with the content. A textbook usually takes me a couple months to type, and I'm never in a rush though finishing chapters is satisfying and an easy goal for an evening. I find it similar to as if I were to attend a lecture on the topic.
- nullsense 6y ago
  David Goggins makes the claim that due to his learning disabilities he acquired the diving instruction manual 18 months ahead of time and wrote it out by hand 10 times in order to learn the material. Thought that was really interesting.
  - kylewins 6y ago
    Seems like a really bad way to learn. But gotta love goggins, dude likes taking the hardest path to success.
    - nullsense 6y ago
      I guess he had to do it that way in order to be able to learn it at all. Quite a remarkable level of determination.
- Pamar 6y ago
  For people whose first language is not English maybe translating the book could be a good substitute (never tried this approach personally though)?
  - randomswede 6y ago
    As somsone who's currently trying to translate an instruction manual from one language to another, it is... somewhat fragmentary. Yes, you read the text, multiple times (and in multiple languages). But, the focus is not on internalising the material, the focus is on producing something that makes sense in a different language. I guess part of the problem is that the source material I am working from is from 1596, in blackletter, and pretty archaic "source language", so the actual process is "transcribe original", "translate transcription".
jldugger 6y ago
The way I did this with a stats book was: 1. Ten pages a day 2. Do all the exercises, and redo all the ones you get wrong. 3. Add anki cards for all the key terms, ideas, formulas, etc. The best textbooks include a summary the end of every chapter that you can double check your notes / anki against. Prefer cloze markup to question / answer cards -- more cards per "fact" but longer retention. 4. Double check your cards against a source like Wikipedia for completeness / accuracy, since sometimes there's an author bias to content with. This takes about an hour a day for #1 and #2, and an hour a week for #3/4 plus a few minutes a day extra in the Anki review queue. For this book, you're looking at about 2 months start to finish.
whiddershins 6y ago
Anki can be a supercharger, if you have notes that are clear and concise.

late2part 6y ago

I typically take a book like this and read it. Then I think about it. I also think about it as I read it. I ask my friends in person and online if they've read and talk with them about it. Sometimes I'll look for online forums which discuss the book. This is how I make the most out of books like these.

Dzugaru 6y ago

As a programmer I usually try to implement some of the algorithms in language of my choice and throw them at some toy problems (it's good there is no shortage of interesting toy problems in this field). It was really fun with Artificial Intelligence: Modern Approach book (ex: implementing a SAT solver from scratch and solving Minesweeper by pure logic is very satisfying).

nefitty 6y ago

Anki is basically the most efficient method to study facts. I use a gamified version called Memrise.

sgt101 6y ago

Get in a group. Work is a good place to do this. Pick out some books, send a mail round saying that you are running a tech book group. Get folks together and read a chapter a week (this is hard in reality - be cool with everyone and sometimes let chapters slip over a few weeks). Every week someone leads the discussion. Every week someone volunteers to do the next weeks. You meet for an hour to discuss.

abnry 6y ago

My suggestions, not for this book in particular but technical textbooks in general: - Get very familiar with the table of contents first. Then note and filter out the sections you are less interested in or don't appear to provide the biggest bang for your buck. - Annotate, annotate, annotate. Active reading is better than passive reading. I use a 2-in-1 chromebook and a passive pen to highlight in the adobe pdf reader. - Write detailed notes in addition to annotating (i.e. in a separate notebook or markdown file). Cull/convert your notes into Anki/Memrise digital flashcards. Drill on your phone when you are lying in bed.

currymj 6y ago

it's hard for me to learn something if i don't have something I need to do with the knowledge. it's not that I can't sit down and do it, but things won't stick in my brain. so I would say, try to find something you want to do that requires the information in the textbook. or else just don't bother reading the textbook and go do something else you actually want to do.

taqd 6y ago

I enjoy typing, so I like to simply type out the entire textbook. It's a bit ridiculous to some, but it slows down the pace that I actually learn and engage with the content. A textbook usually takes me a couple months to type, and I'm never in a rush though finishing chapters is satisfying and an easy goal for an evening. I find it similar to as if I were to attend a lecture on the topic.

nullsense 6y ago
David Goggins makes the claim that due to his learning disabilities he acquired the diving instruction manual 18 months ahead of time and wrote it out by hand 10 times in order to learn the material. Thought that was really interesting.
- kylewins 6y ago
  Seems like a really bad way to learn. But gotta love goggins, dude likes taking the hardest path to success.
  - nullsense 6y ago
    I guess he had to do it that way in order to be able to learn it at all. Quite a remarkable level of determination.
Pamar 6y ago
For people whose first language is not English maybe translating the book could be a good substitute (never tried this approach personally though)?
- randomswede 6y ago
  As somsone who's currently trying to translate an instruction manual from one language to another, it is... somewhat fragmentary. Yes, you read the text, multiple times (and in multiple languages). But, the focus is not on internalising the material, the focus is on producing something that makes sense in a different language. I guess part of the problem is that the source material I am working from is from 1596, in blackletter, and pretty archaic "source language", so the actual process is "transcribe original", "translate transcription".

jldugger 6y ago

The way I did this with a stats book was: 1. Ten pages a day 2. Do all the exercises, and redo all the ones you get wrong. 3. Add anki cards for all the key terms, ideas, formulas, etc. The best textbooks include a summary the end of every chapter that you can double check your notes / anki against. Prefer cloze markup to question / answer cards -- more cards per "fact" but longer retention. 4. Double check your cards against a source like Wikipedia for completeness / accuracy, since sometimes there's an author bias to content with. This takes about an hour a day for #1 and #2, and an hour a week for #3/4 plus a few minutes a day extra in the Anki review queue. For this book, you're looking at about 2 months start to finish.

whiddershins 6y ago

Anki can be a supercharger, if you have notes that are clear and concise.