8 ms·

Ask HN: How do you learn and research every day?

• opem 3y ago
  Just follow the links ;)
  • fuzzfactor 3y ago
    Like a bloodhound. Whether the trail is familiar or not, but I don't really want to go down any rabbit holes. I'm not after blood, I just want to come across the rabbit when he's not tucked away too deep and see what he has to say.
• sturza 3y ago
  I use my own RAG implementation to learn with. Contact me for a tool demo.
• vik0 3y ago
  I wouldn't say I "research," but I do learn. I do that by reading books I don't read *that* much (for reference: I read 24 books last year; this year 5, so far). Every month I have a goal of how many pages I want to read. This month it's set at 8 pages per day, but usually I go well above that, only going to 8 pages if I'm not feeling like reading that day, which is rarer and rarer. I also stopped taking notes, it's distracting and makes reading feel like a chore and pretty unenjoyable for me, but YMMV with regards to note-taking. If I feel like I don't understand something, I will go back and re-read that, or re-read the whole book, multiple times if I have to. By re-reading books, you pick up pieces you missed on your first or second time (or third, and so on) reading them. It's also better to read a single book 1000 times than to read 1000 books one time, something I've learned thanks to Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Speaking of Taleb, he recommends not continuing to read a book if it gets boring to you - to be bored of a single book but not of the act-of-reading-itself-type of a deal. I think that's very smart too. I intuitively did that before I read this recommendation of his. Did I mention you should his books? Because you should, everyone should.
• benthecoder 3y ago
  i use https://exa.ai/ https://exa.ai/ to find good resources and https://curius.app/benedict-neo https://curius.app/benedict-neo to save and tag them
• sasha_fishter 3y ago
  I think everybody is struggling with this. I found very good example and that is Duolingo, it forces you to take lessons every day. And after month or so it's just in your mind, that feeling you need to finish something, no matter if it's 2 minutes, it's just that you are doing it each day. I.e. I started learning Data Science lately (frontend developer here), and I just picked one course and learn each day few lessons. More and more, I'm convinced that these small steps are once that moves you forward whether you are learning something new or going to gym, what ever. Just show up, and do that small step each day. Everything else will come together. You will need to do some research anyway if you want to 'finish' some task, so I don't bother with that. Just go, and learn.
  • sujayk_33 3y ago
    I can vouch for that, Duolingo is a very good example, it creates that urge to complete the lesson so that we don't break that streak. It also helped me in habit stacking, which led to better productivity too. routines help.
    • sasha_fishter 3y ago
      Exactly!
    • lamroger 3y ago
      The big icon with the streak and it turning red toward the end of the day really helps. Recognizing that some days you won't want to learn but just getting through it is ok. It's a really slow process if you're not deliberate but slow is better than none IMO.
      • authorfly 3y ago
        A great experiment to do would be to sit people down and have a quiz application like Duolingo randomly choose answers, them seeing if the answers are right/wrong. I suspect, much like experiments showing how people prefer/like (Familiarity effect) art they have seen in a previous session (even if months later and they don't remember and can't explain why they like it more than other art!), that students would pick up some correct/incorrect answers, because they can't help but read and notice any interesting differences from their mental model. I have built an app which prepares exercises for you based on your subject and uses LLM-chosen emojis to represent each exericse. It notifies you with the emoji for each lesson each day with the idea of a visual cue but now you mention it using a dynamic icon for the app might be more important of a visual cue (to get the daily cadence/habit), rather than something recognisable
• mettamage 3y ago
  I'm going through this right now. What I'm beginning to notice is that I need to have a direction. If I don't have a direction, I'll consume all content that seems interesting. It's frankly too much. So I should be more specialized/directed at a particular goal/purpose. This is purely for the sake to not experience content overload. At least, that's my working hypothesis for now, still testing this out.
• dvcoolarun 3y ago
  I typically use Google to search for links and usually end up finding the top 2-3 most helpful ones. After reading through them, I have recently begun saving these links to my GitHub account for future reference. I use a web extension along with a keyboard shortcut to do this. Here is an example of a saved link: https://github.com/dvcoolarun/til https://github.com/dvcoolarun/til
• 11001100 3y ago
  The question reminds me of the dilemma between exploration and exploitation [1]. The art (or skill) is learning when to stop and redirect. Talking to friends about certain learning curves and making sure I don't waste my time just researching or building things that are overloaded with features has helped me a lot. I think it's generally good to know that there's a tradeoff no matter what you're trying to learn or explore. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration-exploitation_dilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration-exploitation_dilem...
  • chatmasta 3y ago
    This is my second time seeing a reference to this concept today, but apparently the Wikipedia article was created in 2023. It's an interesting idea though... did it come from machine learning research? I remember learning something akin to this in social psychology in the context of a single risk-taker fish breaking from the school of fish to explore and take risks which ultimately benefitted the whole group.
    • hlfshell 3y ago
      The terminology is widely used, and has been for decades, in reinforcement learning; so you're close. The general idea is that your agent, however it is training, has to balance trying new things to possibly find the global maxima instead of getting hooked on a rewarding local maxima. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement_learning#Exploration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement_learning#Explora...
    • gryn 3y ago
      it's about a century old but the recent popularity of AI made more people aware of it, I personally became aware of it more than a decade while learning about reinforcement learning (the old kind with GOFAI) but it's also used in social fields, biology stuff like foraging theory or really anything that involve an agent with a brain. here an n-gram of the first mentions: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Exploration-exploitation%2C+Exploration+exploitation&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Exploration-ex...
• kirubakaran 3y ago
  I built https://histre.com/ https://histre.com/ to help with this. We all go through the explore -> filter -> decide loop when researching online. There weren't any good tools to help with that, until now :)
  • codingrightnow 3y ago
    A demo video at the top of the page would grab attention and further interest. I'm not 100% sure what this really does.
    • kirubakaran 3y ago
      Will do, thanks!
• continuational 3y ago
  I work on a programming language with a friend. We try to remove as much of the pain points of day to day programming as possible, and it's very motivating to find solutions to various problems we've had for a long time.
• fullstick 3y ago
  I take classes as a starting point. Then if a course is interesting, it will usually spark ideas that I want to explore further.
• chatmasta 3y ago
  I procrastinate and sometimes I learn stuff while I'm procrastinating.
  • casper14 3y ago
    This is 100% true
• memothon 3y ago
  I really love Anki as a tool, especially to learn mechanical things (like vim key bindings), to remember arguments of key articles, and to situate myself back in the thoughts that I previously had. For mechanical things: I was able to learn lazygit keybindings by heart in a week that take care of 95% of my usage. To remember key arguments of an article: I make a card like In the article _The Bitter Lesson_, what types of methods work better in the long run? General methods that use computation (search/learning) For situating myself: I take a project I worked on and I make a card on what I found challenging, or the tools I used. Or what I learned after. A lot of our problem solving is pattern matching to things we've seen before so leveraging this is really powerful.
  • velyan 3y ago
    Interesting! I didn’t know about this tool. What do you think helps you the most - making a card or revisiting or both? Is there anything that this tool is lacking atm?
• hooverd 3y ago
  Well, I don't every day.
• voidhorse 3y ago
  I read a lot. I used to have time to read basically whatever, and would generally just follow the bibliographic of referential trails in other books. Now, my time is much more limited, so whenever I want/need to learn about something new, I'm more disciplined and devise an "essential reading list" as a first step. To do this, I'll perform a basic google search for the topic, check a wikipedia article, or search for the topic on a publisher's website. I'll read the abstract for each book and try to determine which ones are oriented toward beginners. I'll usually select at least three "beginner books" and read them, along with a couple of select "advanced" books that I know I'll have to wait to get to until later. I try to read for at least 45 minutes each day and I take notes on the books I read. From there I move on to the more advanced stuff I gathered and use my old habit of following bibliographic references for more. Umberto Eco has a book on how to write a PHD thesis, How to Write a Thesis . I think a lot of the techniques described in that book are valuable for any kind of research, whether your aim is to write a thesis or just to learn something new.
  • matthew-wegner 3y ago
    How much did you read per day before your time was more limited? I am curious what that means for you!
  • hooo 3y ago
    What's your note taking strategy for when you're reading?
  • lkdfjlkdfjlg 3y ago
    What do you have going on in your life, that being a person who reads a lot struggles to read 45 minutes per day?
    • ativzzz 3y ago
      Children probably
      • lkdfjlkdfjlg 3y ago
• slowhadoken 3y ago
  Because I never stop having questions.
• senectus1 3y ago
  I dont, then i realize i'm getting behind and madly try to catch up then realize its so hard to do when you dont sleep properly and start sleeping better then realize I'm getting behind and the cycle starts again.
• lamroger 3y ago
  I'm unemployed. Joking aside, I worry when I start working again too. I think recognizing that struggling is learning and aiming to get into the rhythm/habit of struggling even when you're tired - even a little bit - compounds. I'm also toying with the idea of cohort-based learning
• cushpush 3y ago
  Keep a notebook with you at all times, make time to study and reflect on your notebook pages. Also use a computer if you want grad-level dialogue with the ai, very helpful as well. But strongly recommend sticking to physical notebook because can flip pages and can commit pages to memory as landscapes more readily.
• interbased 3y ago
  Regarding learning, I usually start with YouTube videos to get a foundation of the topic to see if it interests me. If it does, I’ll look more for advanced courses or books and go from there. For research, I usually just use a search engine and read what seem to be credible sources. News articles, court documents, studies, etc.
• pgustafs 3y ago
  Follow your innate curiosity, and respect the edifice of knowledge constructed by those who came before us (i.e., don't get sucked into quackery without a deep understanding of the SOTA).
• tianqi 3y ago
  Nowadays when I'm ready to learn a new field, I start by talking to chatGPT to get a general picture of the field and a few introduction books, specifically ones that are admittedly objective, not propagandistic. After reading these books, I will have an understanding of the field in order to reasonably plan what and how to learn next. The key is de-fragmentation, which is the most important discipline in this age. Read serious publications by professional authors. Stay away from any traffic-driven information. I can't say they are 100% rubbish, but spending time on them causes far far more damage than gain.
• maddynator 3y ago
  I have started using chatgpt with assistance on research and now I am able to go down rabbit holes faster and further on a topic i am researching. The full technique is written on this post https://thinkingthrough.substack.com/p/going-down-the-rabbit-hole-with-chatgpt https://thinkingthrough.substack.com/p/going-down-the-rabbit... tl;dr “In my ChatGPT custom instructions, I have instructed ChatGPT to “Give me 2-4 follow-up questions that I can ask on the topic” (⬅ copy-paste that into your prompt ). And the results are marvelous.”
• nelsoch 3y ago
  I don't normally post here- normally I lurk. But this spoke to me. Learning and research is something you(someone) has to impose on themselves as a self-discipline(like working out, eating right or some other habit). I learned this early in my adolescent years- but it was not honed or realized until university. Once I got into college, I found out that I need to push myself to do the research for things I wanted to pursue- even if it wasn't directly related- in order to achieve my end goal. In comparison, as a naive kid- I would research hitboxes, best shooter tactics and related gaming notes. Now, I open myself to anything and everything- because I realize now 20 years later, that I can easily make what I learn into something I benefit/enjoy from with enough effort and perspective insight. Long-story-short(tldr)? Just because you don't know something now, doesn't mean it won't be important to you later. When that day comes, the last thing on your mind will be passive interest- and moreso long-term passion. Which, in retrospect- the former is the dopamine calling you home to stay placated with who you are- rather than you want to be. Read a book. Save a life. -Chuck
• sowbug 3y ago
  I'm working my way through Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte. I can't say I've digested it well enough to recommend it, but a key point that stuck with me is to get into the habit of making a note of things you encounter day-to-day (including while reading and researching), and using the "PARA" method to file them into projects, resources, areas, or the Gmail-like "archive." Projects are things you're actively working on -- 2023 taxes, planning a night out for your anniversary, reaching a level of proficiency with LLMs, etc. Resources are a little longer-lived than projects; they're subjects you find interesting that don't have a clear start or finish the way a project does, like a bash cheatsheet, or a gardening hobby. Finally, an area is something that never goes away, like personal finances or family paperwork. These groups have helped me organize my "lifestream" a lot better. Rather than torturing myself about deciding the perfect place for everything I learn, PARA helps me understand that organization is more of a lifecycle with stages over time. Something might go into a project folder today, but when that project is complete (or abandoned), its parts can go into reusable resources, mini-brain areas, or the archive. That fluidity has made filing of information a lot easier. This isn't a full answer to your whole question. But knowing how to deal with the influx of daily information, and developing more of an opinion what a research session's work product should look like, is a piece of the puzzle. *https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/ https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/
  • michael_michael 3y ago
    GTD, BASB, bullet journals, org-mode, todoist… What do we do? There are infinite methods, tools, apps, and only so many hours in a day. Do you just keep trying tools/methodologies till one clicks with you?
    • harshhpareek 3y ago
      Fell into that trap before. You recognize that no note taking system is perfect, so you just pick one that doesn’t get in your way. After shuttling between a bunch, I was most productive just using Apple notes for a long time. I use Obsidian now. Feels good and doesn’t lock me in.
    • VladimirGolovin 3y ago
• __rito__ 3y ago
  Embrace a project-oriented approach. The project can be an app, a paper, or an article. Define what you want to do. Then start working on that. Embrace a top-down approach. Learn only on a need-to-know basis. When you need to know something for the app or the paper, learn that. Don't touch anything else. Make a list of stuff that you find interesting. Always keep the completion of the project in your mind, and nothing else. Project-based learning/research works the best. Also allocate some hours per week for goal-free learning. Read/do whatever you want. But, keep it limited.
  • atomicnumber3 3y ago
    This is my strategy too. It always pays off in unexpected ways. Things I never thought I'd end up learning, then turn into things I never thought I'd end up using even once I'd learned them.
  • iman453 3y ago
    Could you share some examples of articles/paper projects you undertake? Do you always publish them or keep them for yourself?
    • __rito__ 3y ago
      For the last ~3 years I worked for companies. No proper publication. But some articles here and there [0]. My Master’s thesis [T]. A (trivial) game to learn Ruby [1]. There are a lot that are not published anywhere. I have left my full time job this month, and now pursuing full time research independently hoping some papers + job exp. + GRE lands me a PhD in a good research uni. When you are working, try to make sure that the job aligns with your long term goals. Then learn a lot from work. Learning at work is effortless. [0]: https://www.kaggle.com/code/truthr/learn-jax-from-linear-regression-to-neural-networ?scriptVersionId=91121887 https://www.kaggle.com/code/truthr/learn-jax-from-linear-reg... [T]: https://zenodo.org/records/7840239 https://zenodo.org/records/7840239 [1]: https://ritog.itch.io/silly-dragon-target-game https://ritog.itch.io/silly-dragon-target-game
      • iman453 3y ago
• 0x008 3y ago
  I look up articles about topics I am intersted in HN and read the comments. Sometimes I use HN search to look for good threads about a topic.
• flowzai 3y ago
  Forum discussion is helpful for any market.
• keiferski 3y ago
  I used to approach topics by picking the top five-ten books on the subject and reading them. This works, but not as well as I think most people assume. The reality is that you end up not really remembering most of the information you learn. Reading can shape your mind in a way similar to how a river shapes a canyon, but it doesn’t necessarily convert directly to actionable insights. Instead, I have begun to rely on encyclopedias and spaced repetition, with the idea being that I will actually remember all of the data I’m inputting. To use an example: I read a popular biography about Rockefeller last year. I can remember the vague outlines of it, but realistically if you asked me to summarize the book, I couldn’t write more than a page. I think most people have a similar experience with reading. Can you name the last ten books you read and write a brief essay about each? Almost certainly not, even if you read a ton. To combat this, I’ve been adding specific details about Rockefeller to an Anki deck. Things like, “Where was Rockefeller born?” Or “How many companies was Standard Oil split into?” My thesis is that knowing a few hundred facts like this is an order of magnitude more productive than reading a book about the subject. Encyclopedias are thus useful for this purpose, as they present a huge amount of information about a subject in a format amendable for memorizing.
  • hahamaster 3y ago
    Honestly, what exactly is the purpose of knowing when was Rockefeller born or how many companies was his company split into? I think what you get out of a book like this is gist of his character and what made him successful so that you can pick up some of his traits. All this information is stored somewhere in your brain in some way.. it can possibly be used at some point without you even realizing.
    • keiferski 3y ago
      It was just an example. More realistically the facts are about his specific decisions he made, business events, etc. – the kind of thing you'd want to know if you're interested in business history and/or reading the book to glean some kind of entrepreneurial knowledge. A better example might be related to the Roman emperor Augustus. Memorizing the various events of his life, his personal quirks, and so forth is absolutely going to give you a sense of the man moreso than just reading a random biography about him. I do agree that a book provides the "gist" of the subject's character, but I think you can get that from watching a 30-minute documentary, not reading a 500-page book. > All this information is stored somewhere in your brain in some way.. it can possibly be used at some point without you even realizing. It's a pretty big assumption, if you're implying that we somehow remember everything we read. In any case, I think the best approach is probably to combine reading a book with specific facts that easily fit into a SRS system. This is something I've been thinking about quite a bit, in fact: how would one design a narrative-based book such that it is more easily remembered? My initial thought is something like this: at the end of every chapter, a list of 100+ specific points made is presented. You could also include a premade Anki deck with the ebook edition.
• jmakov 3y ago
  I use Arch/Manjaro
• skirge 3y ago
  Practice. One hour under debugger teaches more than reading 10 books.
• kbrkbr 3y ago
  For learning new stuff or deeper understanding old stuff I use "browser tab based backtracking". I research some books and articles on the topic. As soon as I realize that I do not understand something (it doesn't click), I open new tabs researching the points I don't understand and so on. After understanding I backtrack by closing the new tabs. The important part is the meta analysis: does this rabbit hole serve my initial goal? Given what I understood, is my initial goal still valid or should I revisit it? Learned a lot, works great for my brain.
• brudgers 3y ago
  I learn best by doing. So I limit my research scope to domains close to what might be practical to do myself. Sure I go down infotainment rabbit holes. I justify infotainment as infotainment. I do not pretend it's research. I've been happier since I stopped making grand plans. Since I got over myself. Happier since I measured my growth by what I did rather than what I knew. YMMV. Good luck.
• mortallywounded 3y ago
  [dead]
• JohnFen 3y ago
  I do two things. First, I read voraciously (both fiction and nonfiction) -- and make it a point to include topics that aren't in my usual set of interests. Second, if I want to learn something in-depth, I invent a project that requires that knowledge to accomplish, then tackle it. Learn by doing, and all of that. Insights come when I'm listening to music. I listen to music like most people watch movies -- I sit down and actually listen without doing something else at the same time. It's very meditative and it's quite common that I get "aha" moments regarding things that I've been learning or doing.