Try to learn the topic top down rather than bottom up. If you reach for a technical book about some new language, chances are that it will be broken down into

Try to learn the topic top down rather than bottom up. If you reach for a technical book about some new language, chances are that it will be broken down into chapters, each of which goes into a lot of detail about some specific area. By reading material like this, you can come away with a lot of specific memorized details, but without feeling like you've learnt anything about the overall topic or are able to put it into practise. Instead, I like to start at a really high level, asking what problems the technology solves, what is the sales pitch for it, where should it be used and where isn't it appropriate. Understanding things like this give you an angle to learn the technology from. I'll then drill down a little and try to understand the main concepts. I'll make a few diagrams at this stage, identifying the main components in the technology, and start to question why it works in the way it does. After that it might make sense to drill into specific areas as and when I need or for reference. I think it's really important to see the wood for the trees when learning technical topics. The reference details are a Google search away. It's understanding the concepts and making the mental leaps that are the real meat of the learning.