
Richard Feynman and the tyranny of measurement - hgennaro
http://andrewgelman.com/2015/07/20/richard-feynman-and-the-tyranny-of-measurement/
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marincounty
If I was a technical editor, I would encourage my authors to keep the word
count down. I think Feynman knew time was limited; why wast it on bloated,
badly written research papers?

I don't buy bloated books anymore. My reading skills have never been great. I
drift--unless I'm reading Vladmire Nabokov, or the like?

If technical books were in comic book form I would be happy--kinda like some
military manuals? I just want the information. When I'm learning someting, I
like a brief summary of what we're doing, or explaining. Then, I like simple
numbered steps. Then give me the theory. The least amount of words; the
better! I do like a lot of relevant pictures.

In college, I think I was a visual learner? In pretty much every class I ever
took-- I would sit down-- I would open my organized binder to the
corresponding course. I would get a visual picture of what the professor is
trying to teach us that day. I would draw a picture in the middle of the
page.(someting that correlates to the lecture. Draw a femur in anatomy, trig--
draw a funny looking triangle.) I would then write my lecture notes legibly
around the picture. I would never re-copy my notes. When taking the exam--even
if I was unsure of a question, I could usually recall that distinctive looking
picture, and recall some of my notes that day. I used this technique all
through college. I got good grades. If you are a visual learner this technique
might work for you? I guarantee it saves a lot of time. I never had to cram,
or spend a lot of time studying. The night before the test, I would thumb
through my visual notes, and try to get a good nights rest.

I had a learning disorder before they tested for learning disorders. I went to
someting called early primary. Basically, I flunked kindergarten. How does a
kid do that? I managed to do it. I then flunked second grade. I have never
been a natural reader. I need to be interested in the subject,and the author
needs to write well. Personally, I'm in awe of natural readers. I can't even
get through a thick Steven King book? I can get through his short stories,
like Dolan's Cadillic! Maybe, his best writing though?

~~~
joshuapants
> If technical books were in comic book form I would be happy--kinda like some
> military manuals? I just want the information. When I'm learning someting, I
> like a brief summary of what we're doing, or explaining. Then, I like simple
> numbered steps. Then give me the theory. The least amount of words; the
> better! I do like a lot of relevant pictures.

I think there could be a real market for that.

~~~
RogerL
They exist:

[https://www.nostarch.com/catalog/manga](https://www.nostarch.com/catalog/manga)

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luck87
I think that it is not important if the concept it is yours or not, but it
should be important if the concept is reasonable and clear. I have pretty good
mathematical skills but I have also a short time memory and I forget a lots of
things. So if a concept is not really clear in my mind, sooner or later, I
will forgot it.

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nerd_stuff
Some useful background for the story: Feynman, Schwinger and Tomonaga shared
the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physics for their work in QED.

That being said taking shots at Feynman is a public act of rebellion these
days, like running up and touching the scary neighbor's house as a kid.

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CardenB
Of course it's ideal to think of cognitive skills in as many ways as possible.
However, there is always a need to quantify these skills. It's hard to
consider more abstract strengths at a large scale if they aren't quantifiable.

~~~
kstenerud
The trouble comes when you can't be sure that you're even measuring what
you're attempting to compare.

