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What Hacker News says
- When I was in my 20s, I would learn something about everything. Now at 30 I can learn everything about something.
I think the easiest way to learn new things are two simple steps:
1. Always be reading. 2. Teach yourself how to learn
There’s many great books on the latter topic. Once you get the basics and understand the different modes of your brain and the importance of rest, anything is possible.
- Books I have read [1,2,3] have all discussed the "incremental learning" approach without calling it that. They frame it in the context of daily repetitions of the material in order to gradually solidify it in your mind and commit it to longer-term memory. However, their approach goes well beyond that and explores many additional factors that play into the learning process as well.
The fact remains, in order to learn ANYTHING, there are no "tricks" for most of us. It takes effort, engagement, focus, self-discipline, commitment, and consistent application of the material, call it repetition whatever.
I have not found any short-cuts and while there may be techniques that might help with memorization (mnemonics and phonetics etc) your brain is dependent upon the amount of rest you get, the quality of your diet, the degree to which your brain is not under external stress while it is engaged in learning and a desire and willingness to be engaged with your topic, IMO.
[1] The Science of Self-learning, Hollins, Peter ISBN: 978-1731416735 (Although Hollins goes into more detail around how to read, self-discipline etc.)
[2] The Self-Learning Blueprint, Hollins, Peter ISBN: 978-1077241275 (This book, from the same author in [1] is completely different in that he addresses the 4 pillars of learning: Transform and Synthesize Knowledge, Combine the New with the Familiar, Self-testing and Retrieval, and Absorption)
[3] Teach Yourself How to Learn, MacGuire et al, ISBN: 978-1620367568 (This book treats metacognition, positive emotions and motivation as the cornerstones of Learning)
