4 ms·

I still encourage you to write though. Writing has seriously transformed the way that I think. I refer to my notes very often too.

beebmam 3y ago
How do you know that writing has improved the way that you think? By what metrics did you come to that conclusion? If someone else showed you that by writing their transformed thinking reduced their quality of life, would you be less prescriptive to others?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- scubbo 3y ago
  "prescriptive" is a strong word to apply to an _encouragement_.
- kaonwarb 3y ago
  It would be quite sad if metrics were the only acceptable means of conveying personal experience.
- pvg 3y ago
  By what metrics Before they started writing regularly they were just a Zambit and look at them now. And who knows, you could make beebman following their method.
- Zambyte 3y ago
  I have never experienced people telling me I have a good memory before I started my current writing habit. Within the last few months I have noticed 3 or 4 times people have made remarks about me having a good memory. I don't think that I actually have a much better memory than I used to, I think I have just offloaded so much that was occupying my brain into my computer without fear of forgetting it, that I am able to allocate a lot more memory towards things people actually notice. I also believe I spend much more of my mental capacity on reason rather than recall. I think I have gotten slightly better at reasoning due to that, just going off how I feel when I try to reason about things; I feel more lucid than I used to. Trying to "remember" things is really more of a mechanical process for me than it is a mental one. I think of some keyword that is vaguely related to the concept I'm interested in, and then hop around the hyperlinks and backlinks in my notes until I find what I'm looking for. Sometimes I will start this process to find a spot that I want to start writing a new note, only to discover that I have actually written the note already! That is always a trip when it happens.
al_borland 3y ago
I still write a fair amount, I just don’t write book reports. The environment I find comfortable for reading isn’t conducive to taking notes that would be needed for writing later. If there is a particular passages that really stands out I will note it down. I have a little collection of those (and other quotes) I sometimes read through.
- mudo 3y ago
  [dead]
- freilanzer 3y ago
  I use a blank paper sheet as bookmark and carry a pen, so that I write down important notes from the book content on the bookmark. Afterwards the book is - ideally and dependent on the content - condensed to one sheet, that I can refer to later. It also helps with retaining the content.
  - al_borland 3y ago
    I’ve tried this with an index card once and quickly filled it up. As I ran out of space I found myself question if someone was card worthy, which was a distraction. I also tried writing in the margins on a book. I don’t like writing in the book due to it losing a lot of ability to shared after the fact, or if the book isn’t mine it’s a non-starter. That said, it was a very different experience, it was more like having a conversation with the author. I may need to experiment more to try and find something that works.
    - freilanzer 3y ago
      > I found myself question if someone was card worthy, which was a distraction. I think having a whole sheet might help. It's not enough to copy everything, but enough not to get sidetracked. Also, you might write down a reference to a page and 1-2 keywords only, or a couple of keywords describing one's own thought regarding a piece of content + a page reference.
    - Zambyte 3y ago
skilled 3y ago
Writing is a powerful learning tool also. I am often surprised that programming books and other learning materials don’t encourage writing and note taking, outside of an academic environment. Just the act of writing an idea or a concept down helps to instil it in your mind, helping you either remember it or continue conceptualise the material you are learning about. Reading, learning, doing and writing it all down is a powerful combination to accelerate learning, at least in my experience.

beebmam 3y ago

How do you know that writing has improved the way that you think? By what metrics did you come to that conclusion? If someone else showed you that by writing their transformed thinking reduced their quality of life, would you be less prescriptive to others?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
scubbo 3y ago
"prescriptive" is a strong word to apply to an _encouragement_.
kaonwarb 3y ago
It would be quite sad if metrics were the only acceptable means of conveying personal experience.
pvg 3y ago
By what metrics Before they started writing regularly they were just a Zambit and look at them now. And who knows, you could make beebman following their method.
Zambyte 3y ago
I have never experienced people telling me I have a good memory before I started my current writing habit. Within the last few months I have noticed 3 or 4 times people have made remarks about me having a good memory. I don't think that I actually have a much better memory than I used to, I think I have just offloaded so much that was occupying my brain into my computer without fear of forgetting it, that I am able to allocate a lot more memory towards things people actually notice. I also believe I spend much more of my mental capacity on reason rather than recall. I think I have gotten slightly better at reasoning due to that, just going off how I feel when I try to reason about things; I feel more lucid than I used to. Trying to "remember" things is really more of a mechanical process for me than it is a mental one. I think of some keyword that is vaguely related to the concept I'm interested in, and then hop around the hyperlinks and backlinks in my notes until I find what I'm looking for. Sometimes I will start this process to find a spot that I want to start writing a new note, only to discover that I have actually written the note already! That is always a trip when it happens.

al_borland 3y ago

I still write a fair amount, I just don’t write book reports. The environment I find comfortable for reading isn’t conducive to taking notes that would be needed for writing later. If there is a particular passages that really stands out I will note it down. I have a little collection of those (and other quotes) I sometimes read through.

mudo 3y ago
[dead]
freilanzer 3y ago
I use a blank paper sheet as bookmark and carry a pen, so that I write down important notes from the book content on the bookmark. Afterwards the book is - ideally and dependent on the content - condensed to one sheet, that I can refer to later. It also helps with retaining the content.
- al_borland 3y ago
  I’ve tried this with an index card once and quickly filled it up. As I ran out of space I found myself question if someone was card worthy, which was a distraction. I also tried writing in the margins on a book. I don’t like writing in the book due to it losing a lot of ability to shared after the fact, or if the book isn’t mine it’s a non-starter. That said, it was a very different experience, it was more like having a conversation with the author. I may need to experiment more to try and find something that works.
  - freilanzer 3y ago
    > I found myself question if someone was card worthy, which was a distraction. I think having a whole sheet might help. It's not enough to copy everything, but enough not to get sidetracked. Also, you might write down a reference to a page and 1-2 keywords only, or a couple of keywords describing one's own thought regarding a piece of content + a page reference.
  - Zambyte 3y ago

skilled 3y ago

Writing is a powerful learning tool also. I am often surprised that programming books and other learning materials don’t encourage writing and note taking, outside of an academic environment. Just the act of writing an idea or a concept down helps to instil it in your mind, helping you either remember it or continue conceptualise the material you are learning about. Reading, learning, doing and writing it all down is a powerful combination to accelerate learning, at least in my experience.