
Ask HN: What are the most effective ways to learn something quickly? - whitepoplar
Like many of you, I like to learn new things and get better at the things I already know. Do any of you use particular processes&#x2F;tricks to learn something more quickly? How about to learn something more deeply? Thanks!
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hackermailman
The Feynman Technique. This is basically the gist of it
[https://mattyford.com/blog/2014/1/23/the-feynman-
technique-m...](https://mattyford.com/blog/2014/1/23/the-feynman-technique-
model)

For example a text I worked through with exercises to determine the cache
performance of code snippets, ie: the total number of reads, the miss rate,
ect. When I first did that chapter I'd just work through the exercises and
move on. Then I'd forget everything a month later. The second time I explained
the answer to myself like I was giving a lecture, after working through each
exercise for example explaining spatial/temporal locality, stride-1 reference
patterns that will be prefetched by the cpu, ect. That was about 2 years ago
and I still remember that chapter. So slower at first, but you remember all
the concepts which means you don't have to go back and re-do the material
again which for me is 'faster learning'.

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usgroup
Yup... make it from scratch, or use it in a non trivial project, or try and do
some original research with it.

All three above will get you asking questions and seeing the thing from angles
you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. It’ll also connect your knowledge
to existing knowledge which is ultimately what will make it stick around.

I spend a LOT of time learning new things . I’m perpetually perplexed and live
in a constant state of confusion about a large part of my current thoughts,
and the way described above is how I perpetually integrate the new stuff
effectively.

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dubyabee2
It depends on the subject or skill. My suggestion is to look at meta-learning
that is the subject of Tim Ferriss 4-hour Chef..It's the first few chapters
and the rest of the book is an application of it. I am not advocating, just a
suggestion.

